Switching to new technology - experience, advice?

[Wadeswoo]

This is going to be a long and possibly drunken post, but I'd really appreciate y'all's feedback, thoughts on the matter. I started my career at a helpdesk at 18, and have since progressed through sysadmin, engineer and developer - specializing in an old, but still very relevant Colaboration technology. To tell the truth and not to be cocky, within less than 5 years I'm one of the top experts in terms of security in this specific technology, and could / have made $200+/ hour for consulting.
Knowing that this technology is like cobolt - becoming obsolete but professionals still make a killing, I know I could probably spend the rest of my life doing this and making 100k+. But I'm still very young and hungry for learning new stuff. For reference, people I work woth and educate on this technology have been working in this field for an avg. of 15 years.
I've been obsessed with cyber security for about two years now and have a few grey hat successes and presentations behind me, thinking about investing in a ceh and cissp exam now. But then again, one can only excel at so many things, and for one thing I hate web development. Learning anout ethical hacking, the more I know the more I feel like I know nothing at all.
I've been involved heavily on the business / sales / marketing side of things lately at my company, and am starting an MBA soon - however I have a love for IT, cryptography, mathematics and I guess what makes us all hackers at heart: passion for beating systems, and I consider cyber security / pentesting/ ceh as sort of a top gun of our (IT) industry.
I'd love it if you could share any experience, advice,potential mistakes y'all could see with my situation,
Thank you so much,
Wade

[Trogdor]

It sounds like you have a few opportunities to choose from, and InfoSec is a great field with many well paying jobs. I don't think you should take a job that you're less than satisfied with, even if it pays very well. If most people you know have 15 years of experience and you have 5 years, it could be harder for you to find an employer(I don't mean that negatively). As long as you are making a comfortable living, you should probably go with the job you love more. Also, you said that your area of expertise is obsolete, but still relevant. This might work against you in the future if you choose this route, as you might be out of a job, and out of knowledge if you focus too heavily on this subject. Though, you did say you could probably do this for the rest of your life. I guess just don't rely too heavily on one option.

[Choukri Chaouch]

Hello,


And the most important, when it is possible, do something you like !


Regards,


Choukri Chaouch