---
title: "Penetration Tester"
description: "Evaluate network system security by conducting simulated internal and external cyberattacks using adversary tools and techniques. Attempt to breach and…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/penetration-tester"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Penetration Tester

**Category:** Computer and Mathematical · **SOC code:** 15-1299 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 15-1299.04

Evaluate network system security by conducting simulated internal and external cyberattacks using adversary tools and techniques. Attempt to breach and exploit critical systems and gain access to sensitive information to assess system security.

Also advertised as: Cyber Systems Engineer; Security Consultant; Security Engineer; System Vulnerability Analyst; Threat Hunter; Vulnerability Assessor.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $116,580 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $56.05/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $55,940 to $188,470, with the middle half between $79,370 and $157,500
- **Total US employment:** 435,370
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 27,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 12/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 435,370 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $55,940 |
| 25th | $79,370 |
| 50th (median) | $116,580 |
| 75th | $157,500 |
| 90th | $188,470 |
| Mean (average) | $122,230 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $156,590 | $142,483 | 17,200 |
| MD | $144,680 | $137,844 | 19,060 |
| CO | $139,580 | $135,446 | 11,800 |
| VA | $139,030 | $137,512 | 17,000 |
| DE | $137,470 | $137,734 | 860 |
| CA | $134,440 | $121,423 | 80,150 |
| WA | $128,940 | $120,490 | 14,360 |
| CT | $127,720 | $123,270 | 3,100 |
| NM | $127,090 | $137,824 | 1,650 |
| HI | $120,100 | $109,230 | 2,080 |
| NY | $116,990 | $108,403 | 11,460 |
| SC | $112,260 | $119,745 | 4,300 |
| TX | $111,530 | $114,912 | 57,020 |
| VT | $111,530 | $113,855 | 1,320 |
| OH | $109,780 | $118,331 | 6,150 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/penetration-tester/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/penetration-tester.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 471,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 495,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 24,200 jobs, or +5.1%. Faster than average: 5.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 27,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

## What the work involves

- Document penetration test findings.
- Identify security system weaknesses, using penetration tests.
- Write audit reports to communicate technical and procedural findings and recommend solutions.
- Gather cyber intelligence to identify vulnerabilities.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of hacking trends.
- Keep up with new penetration testing tools and methods.
- Identify new threat tactics, techniques, or procedures used by cyber threat actors.
- Develop security penetration testing processes, such as wireless, data networks, and telecommunication security tests.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Programming — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Computers and Electronics — importance 5.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Telecommunications — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Investigative (I), Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 5.19 |
| C — Conventional | 5.18 |
| R — Realistic | 3.91 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.10 |
| S — Social | 1.99 |
| A — Artistic | 1.31 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 90.4 |
| INTJ | 79.0 |
| ISTP | 76.0 |
| ESTJ | 70.6 |
| ISFJ | 69.0 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Information Security Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/information-security-engineer) — median $116,580
- [Information Security Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/information-security-analyst) — median $129,180
- [QA Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/qa-analyst) — median $104,300
- [Computer Systems Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-systems-analyst) — median $105,850
- [Computer Systems Engineers/Architect](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-systems-engineers-architect) — median $116,580
- [Software Developer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/software-developer) — median $135,980
- [Validation Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/validation-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Database Administrator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/database-administrator) — median $104,620
- [Blockchain Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/blockchain-engineer) — median $116,580
- [Computer Network Support Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-network-support-specialist) — median $76,220

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/penetration-tester