I wanted a six-figure remote IT career because I wanted useful work, enough income to have options, and more control over where I lived.
The salary mattered, but so did the life the job would allow me to have. Remote work was part of that goal; it wasn't proof that a role would offer flexibility.
That distinction changes how you evaluate offers. A higher number can be attractive while the travel, hours, or availability expectations make the job a poor fit.
The salary and the lifestyle are separate questions
A role can pay well and still demand a schedule you dislike.
It can be described as remote and still involve travel, fixed hours, or location restrictions that don't fit what you had in mind.
Those aren't automatically bad conditions. They are conditions you need to evaluate.
For me, freedom means being able to make practical choices about family, friends, and where I spend my time. A job that pays more while removing those choices isn't automatically an improvement.
The compensation conversation matters. So does the conversation about what the employer expects from an ordinary week.
Decide your work requirements before comparing offers
Write down your priorities before an attractive compensation number makes the tradeoffs harder to judge.
Check five things:
- Travel: How often would you be away, and for how long?
- Schedule control: Which hours or meetings are fixed?
- On-call work: What coverage is expected, and how frequently?
- Permitted locations: Where does the employer actually allow you to work?
- Compensation: How much is guaranteed salary, and how much depends on targets?
Ask for concrete examples rather than treating “flexible” as permission to design your own schedule. A role can be remote and still require constant availability during specific hours.
There may not be a perfect offer. The purpose of this exercise is to identify tradeoffs you can accept—and avoid discovering a deal-breaker after you've already resigned.
Specialization gave my career a direction
My path went through network support and security software before identity became my specialty.
I didn't choose IAM because every identity job promised the same lifestyle. They don't.
It became a direction where I could develop deeper technical capability and connect earlier experience to work I understood. That eventually supported a six-figure remote career.
The transferable lesson isn't that a particular acronym guarantees freedom.
It's that a useful specialty can give you a clearer set of roles to investigate, skills to develop, and responsibilities to become known for.
The employer still matters. So does your ability to do the work.
Evaluate the work you're agreeing to repeat
A career move isn't just an interview and an offer.
It's a set of responsibilities you'll perform repeatedly: troubleshooting, customer conversations, implementation work, documentation, coordination, or whatever the actual role requires.
Read the posting with that in mind. Which tasks would you be willing to become very good at? Which would drain you even if the salary looked attractive? What does the team consider an emergency?
You don't need to pretend every part of a job will be enjoyable. You do need an honest picture of the trade you're making.
Otherwise, it's easy to build a study plan for a job you wouldn't want to keep.
Turn the lifestyle goal into a practical search
For someone considering IAM, I'd save a handful of relevant roles that match both the technical direction and the life constraints.
Compare the responsibilities with your current experience. Pick one gap you can address through an approved work opportunity or a lab.
Then apply and ask better questions. Don't wait to master the entire field before learning how a specific employer operates. Interviews are also a chance to find out whether the job fits you.
My The Six-Figure IAM Career Playbook helps connect an existing IT background with identity roles, practical projects, and a plan for making the move. It's guidance for evaluating the path, not a guarantee of remote work or a salary. The ebook is $9.
Money is useful because it gives you choices.
I don't want to earn more by making every other part of my life harder. That is the standard I want a career move to meet.