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Cybersecurity workers are in high demand and the White House is even calling for action. With approximately 700,000 cybersecurity positions open, America faces a national security challenge that must be tackled aggressively, reads a July 2022 announcement from the White House National Cyber ​​Workforce and Education Summit.

The government and private sector are alike are so desperate for cybersecurity workers because of a massive talent gap in the industry. Cybersecurity gigs often require candidates to have certifications or training in the field, whether its through the company itself, a university, or other accrediting groups. Just one of the many ways to break into the cybersecurity industry is earning a masters degree in the field, which can be done online.

Ranked No. 1 in the nation for its online masters in cybersecurity by fortune, the University of California Berkeley sees its graduates go on to both high-ranking and high-paying jobs in the field. In fact, in 2020-2021, students entering the program self-reported salaries of $104,100 while their peers who were graduating during that same period reported salaries of $200,000almost twice as much.

While these arent the same student populations, this data could serve as an indicator to show what potential exit salaries can look like for graduates of UC Berkeley’s Online Masters in Cybersecurity (MICS).

Our UC Berkeley online masters in cybersecurity allows students to not only develop technical expertise in cybersecurity, but also essential skills in communications, product development, customer success, and business, Rebecca AndersenUC Berkeley senior director of student and alumni career development, tells Fortune. This allows our students to step into leadership roles within the cybersecurity field and attain significant salary increases as they make these career shifts.

UC Berkeley’s online masters in cybersecurity, which is hosted by the School of Information (I School), is coveted not only for its technical education, but its interdisciplinary approaches.

While the definition of cybersecurity is the protection of internet-connected systems such as hardware, software, and data from cyberthreats, it is not only a technical field; it is an integral aspect of product development, customer success, governance, compliance, risk management, and business leadership, Mary McHaleMICS career advisor, tells Fortune. Organizations want business-minded as well as technically savvy professionals.

MICS includes nine courses and takes 20 months to complete. Courses include anything from network and software security to privacy engineering and cryptography. Students also have the option to earn a certificate in applied data science in conjunction with their online masters degree in cybersecurity. UC Berkeley also ranks as having the No. 2 online masters in data science program in the US, according to Fortune.

In our increasingly digital world, cybersecurity affects everything: people, companies, government, infrastructure, homes, devices, [Internet of things], biotech, education, and health care to name a few, McHale adds. So a multi-faceted understanding of these intersections is critical to managing the risk of our digital world.

MICS students come to UC Berkeley from several industries including tech, semiconductor, aerospace, defense, military, health care, finance, fintech, government, and consulting, McHale says. After graduating from the program, many students go on to take new roles and frequently to ones with more responsibility and leadership.

Early- and mid-career cybersecurity masters graduates go on to jobs including software engineer, pen tester, cybersecurity threat analyst, network administrator, cybersecurity consultant, and security program manager, among many others.

Software engineers at top companies like Google and Capital One land starting salary packages of $133,000with lead or senior software engineers at these companies landing packages of $230,000 all the way up to more than $350,000according to data from career and salary platform Levels.fyi.

Each student has a unique background they bring to the MICS program and we would never tell an individual student to expect a particular salary increase, Andersen says. However, I can say that students should expect that if they are making career transitions into highly specialized technical or leadership roles within cybersecurity, they should expect strong salaries to match.

MICS grads who are in the more senior part of their career report holding positions including cyber warfare operations officer, product security engineer, and senior cloud security engineeras well as C-suite positions like chief technology officer (CTO), chief security officer (CSO) , chief information security officer (CISO), and chief information officer (CIO). These positions report average salaries well over the six-figure mark, according to several career and salary resources, with C-suite salaries up in the $200,000-and-up range.

To help land these lucrative jobs, students at UC Berkeleys online masters in cybersecurity also have access to professional networking and personalized career services and coaching, which Andersen says are critical ingredients that help their grads land top cybersecurity jobs.

Networking and building trust are extremely important in cybersecurity and now students say they are seeing the close-knit MICS community and the I School network as a key benefit, McHale agrees.

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