[griffinmb]

I made the switch from web development to security a few years ago and initially took a 10-15% pay cut. I didn't get any certs and wouldn't necessarily recommend them. Instead, I joined various bug bounty programs to get practical (and resume-lite) experience.

Having implementation experience (via webdev) in addition to the bug bounty experience was a plus when I was interviewing.

If you're in a tech hub like SF or NYC there is plenty of security work. But, yeah, I would expect some kind of a paycut since you are moving from a (potentially) senior position to an entrylevel position.

[eganist]

> Having implementation experience (via webdev) in addition to the bug bounty experience was a plus when I was interviewing.

Hiring manager here. Assuming you successfully demonstrated these skills during the interview process, the pay cut probably shouldn't have happened.

[temperfidelis2x]

A minor pay cut can happen for various reasons. There is not enough information to say it should or shouldn't have happened.

[eganist]

Absolutely true, hence the assumptions. It also assumes the OP's prior pay wasn't atypically high e.g. to fill a very specific need such as self driving computer vision refinement.

I wouldn't consider a 10-15% dip a "minor" one, though. That's consistently tens of thousands of dollars in the top ten US metro markets for these roles.