Computer Forensics Salary

Computer Forensics Salary - How Much Can You Expect

The world of computer forensics (also called digital forensics) is really booming right now, because more and more businesses and managers are realizing that it IS possible to catch white collar criminals and stop theft and fraud - so long as you have the right people working on the problems. The right people are those who are trained as computer forensics professionals.

There are many levels of computer forensics workers, and many different computer forensics salary levels. There are non degree specialists, those with one year certificates (usually earned from a technical college, proprietary schools or community college), Associate (two year) degree holders (usually earned from community or technical colleges), Bachelors degree professionals (college or university graduates) and, at the top of the heap, those with a Master's degree from one of the many universities that are now offering computer forensics as a major.

Other participants in the profession may include forensic accountants (accounting degree holders with special training in the computer forensics area) and law enforcement professionals who have received training in the digital forensics field. There are FBI agents and employees who are trained for this field, as well as other expert workers who have migrated in to the area of computer forensics from other related professions.

With the range of education and training so varied, it only stands to reason that the salary figures will be varied as well. At the top level (those with a masters degree), it is not uncommon to find salaries in the low six figure range (one hundred thousand to one hundred forty thousand annually). This salary level would also be realistic of a forensic accountant with an advanced degree and / or Certified Public Accountant status. At the Bachelor's degree level, a computer forensics professional entering the field could expect to earn a salary in the mid fifty thousand dollar up to high sixty thousand dollar range.

An Associate degree recipient will command a salary in the low thirty to mid forty thousand dollar area, while a certificate holder would earn just below that; high twenties to mid thirties would be common. Non degree computer forensics technicians are usually paid hourly and could expect to earn an annual salary in the low to mid twenty thousand dollar range.

All of these earning can be and are affected by many additional influences. For instance, a computer forensics professional who earns a certification (say, CISCO or some other networking certification) may earn a good bit more than what is typical for a person with their degree status. In the world of computers, certifications can be as valuable as degrees (from a salary standpoint), so it is not always a cut and dried matter to equate compensation with degrees in this area.

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