thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

thinQcompass

Tell us where you are standing and which way you want to go. We will lay out which certifications to take, in what order, and how long each one is likely to take you — including the ones we do not teach.

Plan my direction
Have a job in mind? Paste the details and we will read them

Paste the details of the position or offer — the requirements section is the part that matters. We will pull out the job title, the certifications it asks for, the experience and the pay, show you what we matched, and build the route from there.

Security Engineer

Building the defences rather than watching them. Hardening, identity, detection engineering, and cleaning up after the analysts find something.

$129,180Median pay
12 moYour horizon
8 hrsPer week
4Steps in range

Pay is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics median for Information Security Analysts, May 2025 — the occupation this job is counted inside, which is usually broader than the job title itself. Study times are our own estimates for someone working 8 hours a week, and they are ranges for a reason.

Most postings for Security Engineer name a bachelor's degree. Plenty of people hold this job without one, and certifications plus demonstrable experience are how they got there - but expect the résumé screen to be the hard part, not the interview.
Security Engineer is not usually a first job. The realistic route is a systems or network administration role first, then security. The plan below is still the right study order for getting there - it is the timeline to the title that is longer than the timeline to the certifications.
2 further steps sit past your 12-month horizon. They are shown so you can see the whole route; they are not lost, only later.

What are you aiming to earn?

$129,000
$62,000 $176,000

Security Engineer reaches this. Its median is $129,180.

Your sequence

In order. Each step assumes the one above it.
Scroll the steps — the marker follows  
$99,130 · Network and Computer Systems Administrators $129,180 · Information Security Analysts

Both ends are US Bureau of Labor Statistics medians, May 2025. Everything between them is a straight line we drew, not data: nobody publishes pay per certification, and real pay moves when you change job, not when you pass an exam.

  1. 1

    CompTIA Network+

    1.8-2.8 months · from month 1

    Vendor-neutral networking. The foundation almost every later path assumes you already have.

    ~$104,138 modelled Associate We teach this See dates →
    Other ways to take this step
    • Cisco CCST Networking — if Network+ feels like too big a first step, this is the same ground at half the depth
  2. 2

    CompTIA Security+

    1.8-2.8 months · from month 3

    The baseline security credential, and DoD 8140 approved - which is what unlocks federal and contractor roles.

    ~$109,147 modelled Associate We teach this See dates →
    Other ways to take this step
    • Cisco CCST Cybersecurity — if you want to show security intent before you are ready to sit Security+
  3. 3

    CompTIA Linux+

    1.8-2.8 months · from month 6

    Almost everything in cloud, security and automation is standing on Linux.

    ~$114,155 modelled Associate We teach this See dates →
  4. 4

    CompTIA CySA+

    2.8-3.9 months · from month 9

    Detection and response. The natural next step after Security+ for anyone heading to a SOC.

    ~$119,163 modelled Professional We teach this See dates →
    Other ways to take this step
    • Cisco CyberOps Associate — the Cisco equivalent - do one of these, never both
    • ISC2 SSCP — if you are heading toward CISSP eventually and want the ISC2 track early
    • EC-Council ECIH — if incident response specifically is the part of the job you want
Past your 12-month horizon
  1. 5

    CompTIA SecurityX

    3.9-5.5 months · from month 13

    Advanced practitioner level, DoD approved. The step before or beside CISSP.

    ~$124,172 modelled Expert We do not teach this

    Experience requirement. CompTIA recommends around ten years in IT with five hands-on in security. It is a recommendation, not an enforced gate, but the exam is written for people who have done the work.

    Other ways to take this step
    • CompTIA SecOT+ — if you are near manufacturing, utilities or energy, where OT security is the scarce skill (we do not teach this one)
  2. 6

    ISC2 CISSP

    4.4-6.7 months · from month 18

    The management-track security credential. Needs five years of paid experience to be fully certified - you can pass first and associate until you have it.

    ~$129,180 modelled Expert We teach this See dates →

    On the model, this is the step that reaches your $129,000 goal.

    Experience requirement. ISC2 wants five years of paid work across two domains. You may sit and pass the exam first and hold Associate of ISC2 status until you have the years.

Change your answers

Nothing is saved and no account is needed. Your answers live in the page address.

What interests you?

Pick as many as apply. If you are not sure, pick the one you would read about on a Saturday.

Where you are now

Both of these change the plan. Experience especially — it decides what we skip and how fast we think you will move.

How much time you have

Be honest rather than optimistic. A plan built on hours you will not find is a plan you abandon in week five.

$62,000 $129,000 $176,000

Anything you already hold

Tick these and we will not sell you a course you do not need.

I already hold some certifications

Free, and it will tell you about certifications we do not sell. If the honest answer is that you need something we do not teach, the plan says so.