Also called: Ethical Hacker, Offensive Security Engineer
Is hired to legally break into companies' systems to find weaknesses before criminals do.
This week a bank hired you to try to break in. You scan their network, find an outdated server, and sometimes even test whether you can walk into the building with a fake badge. Then you write a report showing exactly how you got in.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's helpful but skills matter most; OSCP and similar certifications are key.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, Self-taught, Military. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Cybersecurity, Computer Science.
Growing much faster than average (about 21% over 10 years). Counted within BLS information security analysts.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI agents now run automated pentests and find common flaws; creative, scoped attacks and client trust stay human.
Classes: AP Computer Science A, AP CS Principles, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-1212.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.