🎯 THE BIG STORY — My Three Bets on Reaching $300KOne of my best-performing long-form posts this week was about the three paths I'm considering to reach $300K. I'm not there yet. I enjoy working remotely, controlling my schedule, and doing technical work. A higher salary isn't much of an upgrade if I sacrifice all that. 🤖 BET #1 — Become AI-Native in My Specialty I work in enterprise identity and security. I'm exploring how to make AI useful in the systems I already understand rather than start over as a generic AI engineer. 💼 BET #2 — Build My Own Consulting Practice There is earning potential in serving clients, but running a business means sales, delivery, and perhaps less schedule freedom. 🚀 BET #3 — Move Closer to the Business of Technology Combine technical expertise with customer-facing work and the commercial side of bringing products to market. My path to $300K isn't going to look like my path to $100K. I'm figuring out which route makes sense without starting over. 💸 THE MONEY MOVE — Your Next $30K Raise Might Be at Another CompanyOne of my most popular tweets this week said: The prerequisite to a $170K+ career is to get the certs and do the labs that get you to $100K. Over 6,000 impressions. Certifications and labs can help you get your foot in the door. But after years of experience, the next move might come from making what you already know worth more. Your next $30K raise in IT might require a different employer instead of another 500 hours of studying. You might earn $100K in one company while another pays $150K for much of the same experience. Check what the market values before committing to another six months of studying. The market reveals the path. 🤖 THE AI BET — The Next $200K IT Specialist Might Look DifferentFind a way to save your team ⏱ time, 💰 money, or 🛡 reputation. Then actually do that thing. People who already understand networking, identity, infrastructure, and support know the real systems and recurring failures. That's an advantage when putting AI to work. That's where I'm hedging my bets with AI. 🧠 FOOD FOR THOUGHTWhat would make your existing experience worth another $30K, $50K, or $100K? Another certification, a different employer, a different path, or AI solving a problem you already understand? 🎧 ON THE PODCASTA High-Paying Remote IT Job Can Still Be a Bad Career Move A six-figure salary and remote work sound great—until you trade away schedule control, freedom, or long-term opportunities. 📖 FEATURED READZero to $100K: How I'd Build My IT Career All Over Again I started out delivering pizzas, ended up suspended from university, and Googled how to make six figures without a degree. That led me to IT. Five years later, I broke six figures. Here is what I'd repeat and what I'd change. That's it for this week's brief. Yours truly, |
CyberAndChill Brief #2: Your Experience Might Be Worth More Than You Think
Originally published on CyberAndChill.