Skill-first hiring now dominates security. A baseline certification, a home lab, and incident-response proof of work can land a Junior SOC Analyst role without four years of college.
Time to qualify
3–6 months to job-ready
Entry pay
$55k–$72k as a Junior SOC Analyst
Experienced pay
$85k–$130k+ as a Security Engineer or Incident Responder
Training cost
$400–$1,200 for cert prep, labs and exam
Credential
CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701)
Category
Tech
AI impact
Low-to-medium. AI handles tier-1 alert triage, but investigation, threat hunting and incident-response judgment remain human-led.
Key skills
Log and SIEM analysis (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel)
Network packet capture with Wireshark
Vulnerability scanning and MITRE ATT&CK mapping
Incident response playbook execution
Scripting basics in Python or PowerShell
How to start
Phase 1: Pass CompTIA Security+ and start a home lab
Phase 2: Build proof-of-work projects
Phase 3: Land a Junior SOC or security-support role
