Cybersecurity Analyst
SOC 15-1212
Cybersecurity analysts defend an organisation's systems and data — hardening configurations, monitoring for intrusion, responding to incidents, testing defences by attacking them, and investigating breaches after the fact. ⚠ A median of $129,180 and 21% projected growth, the fastest of any computing path on this site. ⚠⚠⚠ And the thing nobody says in the advertising: this is NOT an entry-level field. The federal handbook is explicit that analysts typically arrive from systems administration, and a security credential with no operational experience behind it is the commonest disappointment in this job market. This page covers four related roles.
Database Administrator and Database Architect
SOC 15-1242
⚠⚠⚠ One job title and two occupations, moving in opposite directions. Database ADMINISTRATORS earn a $104,620 median and are projected at 0% growth over 2025-35; database ARCHITECTS earn $139,500 and are projected at +9% — with FEWER people and MORE annual openings. ⚠⚠ And Florida has no undergraduate database degree at all: the dedicated code produces 62 credentials a year and 61 are one UWF master's. So the specialism is assembled from courses, under seven competing statewide numbers in three different colleges.
⚠ Computer/Information Systems Security and Networking — named for the overlap that actually pays: CIS4368 Database Security and Audits runs at FAMU, FGCU, USF and UWF, and BLS names security among the things it expects database architects to be critical for.
Network and Systems Administrator
SOC 15-1244
Network and systems administrators build and run the infrastructure everything else sits on — switches, routers and wireless, servers and virtualisation, directory services, cloud platforms, backup and monitoring. ⚠ A median of $99,130, reachable from an associate degree, at 56 Florida institutions — the widest computing footprint in the state. ⚠⚠⚠ But read the outlook honestly: this occupation is projected to DECLINE, and so is the support work below it. The growth is in the two rungs above. This page covers the whole ladder and says where to aim.
Computer and information technology administration and management — the systems-administration side, 28 Florida public institutions and 1,292 credentials, taught mostly for college credit at the state colleges (Valencia 414, Miami Dade 205, Broward 106).