Throughline

Technology

Information Security Analyst in Austin

16 postings read · sampled 2026-10-01 · source ats · 11 employers · largest 25% of it

What employers actually ask for

Credentials named in the 16 postings we read, ranked by how many mentioned each one.

What it costs

Exam and application fees plus typical self-study hours. Almost nobody needs every credential on this list — start with the top line.

Most-asked-for, on its own
$749CISSP · ~300 hrs
asked for in 3 of 16 postings — 19%
If you earned all 4 of them
$3,112
fees checked 2026-08
770 hrs
770 hours — over a year at 10 hrs/wk

Not in the total: Bachelor's Degree — cost varies by institution; Master's Degree — cost varies by institution.

What the official taxonomy says

O*NET surveys people already doing this job. That describes who got hired over a long window, not what employers are asking for now — where it disagrees with the counts above, the counts are the more current answer.

Education reported by people doing this job
53%reported bachelor’s degree
  • Bachelor’s degree53%
  • Post-baccalaureate certificate23%
  • Associate’s degree or other 2-year degree13%

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

O*NET 15-1212.00 · pulled 2026-10-01 · percentages are of surveyed workers, each rounded separately, so they need not total 100

This sample is small enough that one posting moves any percentage by more than a couple of points, so we are not calling anything low-signal here. Read the numbers above as a direction, not a measurement.

What it pays

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. A different survey from the postings above, so the two do not share a sample.

$79,500
10th percentile
$134,100
median
$186,680
90th percentile

Every credential above costs $3,112 — about 6 days' pay at the median.

Who was hiring

Employers with at least one matching posting in this sample.

SpaceX · Braze · MongoDB · Apptronik · Artech Information System · Collabera · Collective Health · Deegit Inc · SoFi · USM · Walmart

Next

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