DevOps Engineer vs Security Engineer Salary

What it takes to get in

DevOps Engineer roles typically require a bachelor's degree, while Security Engineer roles require a bachelor's degree. From standing start to hireable, including training hours and licensing, the totals are roughly 5 years for DevOps Engineer and 7 for Security Engineer.

Pay range, not just the median

The medians hide most of what matters. DevOps Engineer pay runs from roughly $85,000 at the low end to $225,000 at the high end; Security Engineer runs $84,000 to $224,000. Position within the range is driven by what you specialize in and who you work for, not by the title on the offer.

Where each field is heading

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects DevOps Engineer employment to grow 15% over the decade to 2034 — growing much faster than average — against growth of 29% for Security Engineer.

Growth rate is not the same thing as opportunity. DevOps Engineer roles see roughly 129,200 openings a year and Security Engineer roles about 16,000, counting replacements for people who retire or leave. DevOps Engineer has the larger raw number, which is usually what you feel when actually job hunting — a small field growing fast can still be harder to break into than a large flat one.

What the work is actually like

DevOps Engineer: Office or remote work; production on-call rotations set it apart from typical developers. Security Engineer: Office or remote; builds security into products rather than monitoring alerts full-time.

The calendars are not alike either: DevOps Engineer runs on on-call rotations, Security Engineer on standard weekday hours. Worth weighing as heavily as the pay gap, because it is the part you live with daily.

Moving between the two

Both sit in Tech, so the surrounding context transfers even where the day-to-day does not: similar employers, similar hiring cycles, overlapping professional networks. Backend engineers and IT/systems administrators switch in most often, usually after picking up Docker/Kubernetes and joining an on-call rotation on an existing team. Software engineers who add a security certification (OSCP, Security+) and SOC analysts who shift from monitoring toward building/architecting both commonly switch into this role.

If you are entering rather than switching: DevOps Engineer — Typically a software engineer or sysadmin who spends 1-2 years building CI/CD pipelines and container infrastructure, often backed by a Kubernetes (CKA) or cloud certification, before moving into a dedicated DevOps/SRE role. Security Engineer — Usually 3+ years as a security analyst or software engineer who picks up secure coding and cloud security architecture skills, often with a CISSP or OSCP, before moving into a build-focused security engineering role.