Money Money Money
July 22, 2010
As many of you know, Lee and I spent a bunch of time earlier this year doing a survey on compensation in information security. We had a few hundred responses to the survey, and the data is quite cool.
The survey results are up and available here. Simply input your email address and they’ll be sent to you shortly.
The results have the answers to some fascinating questions:
- How many of us think we’re worth more than the average IT professional just because we’re in security?
- How many of us think money is the most important thing?
- Is there a benefit that you value almost as much as saving your job?
- How much money would it likely take to divert you from your career path?
- Is the economy affecting our salaries and bonuses?
The results are definitely an interesting read.
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Career Advice Tuesday – “Referral Bonus Etiquette”
July 6, 2010
Dear Infosecleaders:
I am not sure if this falls into the advice category, but I am hoping that you may provide me with some guidance. Here is the situation:
I was recently recruited to a new position by a former manager. He just landed an information security director role with a new company, and part of his position was to build a team. We had worked together before, and it was a good professional experience. I went through an abbreviated interview process, and was offered the position. When the offer came, I was a little underwhelmed. Considering that I was a known commodity, and I was hand-picked by my manager.
I called my manager to discuss my options and concern. He told me that he would check and see what he could do. In the end, he was not able to make any adjustments based upon their internal compensation scale. I asked for salary, sign-on bonus, stock, vacation days – and every request was met by a dead end. In the end, I decided to accept the position knowing that the job was good, and I had grown in the environment that my manager had created. I was comfortable with my decision and I made peace with my disappointment surrounding the compensation.
When I began work, I sat through the HR presentation in orientation and I learned that the company had a policy to pay referral bonuses for incoming employees. The bonus associated with employees at my compensation level was about 5K. I was also told that managers are eligible for this bonus.
After learning this I was upset. It was confusing to learn that my manager had profited from my hiring, especially when he knew that I was unhappy with my compensation. Given the fact that he earned 5K for bringing me on board, I thought that at most, he could have asked HR to transfer this recruitment bonus to a sign-on bonus, or at least offer to split the amount in half (2.5K each) considering that he would ultimately benefit from my work product.
Can you provide me with some advice.
Signed,
Feeling Cheated
Dear Feeling Cheated:
I believe that your feelings are quite valid and I think that you have every right to be upset, considering that you sacrificed and your manager profited.
Although your feelings are correct, let me share some things about standard professional etiquette in these types of situations:
1) Managers should not received recruiting bonuses for building their teams.
By definition, team building is a component of being a manager. This includes all aspects of team building – recruitment, training, development, retention, and succession planning. Even if it is offered, for your manager to accept these monies is poor judgment on his behalf. This type of decision does not reflect management level thinking or actions.
As it relates to your situation, I think that this lack of judgment is magnified. Considering that you attempted to negotiate a better compensation package, your manager should have recognized that your hiring may have been in jeopardy. A savvy manager would have worked with HR to secure an additional 5K in sign on money – even if it meant surrendering it from his own personal compensation.
2) The handling of referral bonuses.
My belief is that in any professional relationship that requires equal participation by two parties, that the consideration should be equal to both parties. This particularly holds true in a scenario where a “Referral Bonus” is offered. I think that if a referral bonus is offered by a company, and you reach out to a professional friend to “refer” them to the position, then you should be willing to split the financial reward with your professional friend.
One thing that people may consider when they do this the amount of the reward and the depth of their friendship with the other party. For example, if the relationship is important to you, and the role does not work out, then it is possible that your friendship could be damaged and potentially destroyed. If someone takes a position because of you, you may feel a certain amount of obligation and responsibility, if you profit from the event. You have to determine if the risk is worth the reward.
If you are offered a referral bonus, you may want to have a conversation with the person that you are referring and set up some guidelines for the relationship. This way, both parties can fully understand the boundaries of the relationship and be comfortable with their individual obligations and risk.
I believe that if your manager had had this conversation with you, you would not be experiencing the same feelings that you have right now. If the relationship that you had with your manager is good enough to accept a job based on his suggestion, then I think that you should confront him with how you feel, and see if he can provide you with some resolution.
Generally, referral bonuses are tied to a minimum duration of employment. If you leave within 90 days, chances are he would have to return the referral bonus. Since we have already determined that he is motivated by money, now all you have to do is negotiate the price.
Let us know how this works out for you.
MIke and Lee
Job Satisfaction in Security
July 24, 2009
Lee and I had a great chat with Kelly from Dark Reading yesterday about the results of the survey that we released at last year’s Defcon talk. Kelly put up a great story about one of the results, called One In Two Security Pros Unhappy In Their Jobs. From the article:
“Kushner and Murray say they were surprised by security’s high number of unhappy campers — 52 percent of the around 900 security pros who participated in the survey are less than satisfied with their current jobs. Only 27 percent said they are are satisfied, and about 21 percent said they are more than content, according to the survey. “People in security are generally passionate about what they do,” Murray says. “You’d think in a progressive industry that [it wouldn't be the case] that one out of two are not happy…that shocked me.”
Shocked doesn’t begin to cut how I felt about this result:
These numbers show that an overwhelming majority of the people who are reading this blog are less than totally jazzed and excited about what they’re doing on a daily basis. In fact, only 6.2% of you are “extremely satisfied” (and removing the entrepreneurs from the survey, that number drops a full point to 5.2%).
The first question I ask people when I’m coaching them or working with them on their career is simple: “what do you want to do?“. Because I really believe that if you’re going to spend more than 1/3 of your hours every week doing something, I can’t believe that you’d want to be one of the more than 50% who are less than satisfied.
Not to mention that I’ve always been a believer in the idea of “do what you love and the money will follow”. The survey definitely backs that up – of the 6.2% who are “extremely satisfied” with their position, a whopping 56% of them have an annual salary greater than $120K. Only 26% of those in the survey as a whole are making that much. (Note: the cynical of you may suggest that they’re satisfied because they’re so well compensated, but studies have repeatedly found that money isn’t a good long-term predictor of job satisfaction).
Career Advice Tuesday – “When The Players Earn More Than The Coach”
June 23, 2009
Before getting into this week’s Career Advice Tuesday, we would like everyone to know that we will always respect the confidentiality of the person asking the questions. We want to make sure that everyone understands that these will remain anonymous. We try to come up with some clever nick-names to reflect the content of the question and potentially the answer. Keep the questions coming.
Dear Infosecleaders:
I am nearing my annual compensation review and I have recently found out that both members of the engineering team that I manage, are earning about 10% more than me. I am trying to think of a way to address this with my mangement during my review. I always thought that being a manager would equate to more pay. What am I missing?
Signed -”Miss-Conception”
Dear “Miss-Conception”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your compensation and value as a manager should be evaluated completely independent of your engineering team. Engineering and management are two different skills, and should be ultimately judged by different criteria.
It is true that in most organization’s managers are paid more than the staff, but that is not an absolute. Employers will place different values on different skill sets depending on their importance and availability. My guess would be that you work in a smaller company and your engineers are highly talented. It is most likely that their engineering skills may be more critical to the company’s success than the skills that you bring as a manager. (This may not be your opinion, but the opinion of executive leadership.)
In our opinion, it would be a big career mistake to compare yourself to the engineers on your staff within a review.
You are a manager and a leader – now is the time to act like one!
A week prior to the review, I would submit a document that clearly communicates your most significant accomplishments as a manager of your team over the past year, to the person responsible for your review. I would try to demonstrate to your superiors that the team would not be as productive without your guidance and direction. I would equate these personal victories to larger business successes, that had a measurable impact on the company.
Hopefully, your communication skills are effective and your management will recognize your value and contributions to the company. If you are able to provide solid documentation of your performance, there is a good chance that they will give greater thought to how you are compensated. This should result in a better than expected increase and more recognition of your success as a manager.
Many times we overlook the impact of the written word and the strength of the documenting of performance and accomplishments. When you “put it down on paper”, you always provide a more indelible impression.
Let us know how it turns out.
Lee and Mike