New Data on High-Paying Jobs Puts Spotlight on MET Programs

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released new data on which career tracks have the most promising professional outlooks through 2030, bringing to light the value of many Metropolitan College programs.

Director of Cybercrime Investigation & Cybersecurity programs and Professor of the Practice Kyung-shick Choi spoke with BU Today about the tremendous need for information security analysts, which are projected to be the nineteenth-fastest growing career with an employment percentage increase of 33.3 percent.

In 2021, the median pay for information security analysts was $102,600, and as Dr. Choi explained to BU Today, the need for individuals in these roles is widespread—especially in public industries critical to infrastructure. “I’m personally very concerned about the healthcare/public health sector,” he said. “Information security analysts are essentially needed for healthcare/public health sector.”

MET has been a leader in the cross-disciplinary field of information security since 2004, and offers a host of degree and certificate programs designed to support a career in cybercrime investigation, cybersecurity, and information security—including the MS in Criminal Justice with concentration in Cybercrime Investigation & Cybersecurity, the MS in Computer Information Systems with concentration in Security, and the MS in Computer Science with concentration in Security, as well as four-course certificate options such as the Cybercrime Investigation & Cybersecurity Graduate Certificate, the Digital Forensics Graduate Certificate, and the Information Security Graduate Certificate.

Data scientists and related occupations are also expected to be in high demand, ranking as the twenty-ninth-fastest growing profession and featuring a projected employment increase of 31.4 percent. The median pay of a data scientist was $100,480 last year.

At MET, learners motivated by the considerable career opportunities in data science have a number of educational pathways they may pursue, including the MS in Applied Business Analytics, the MS in Applied Data Analytics, the MS in Computer Information Systems with concentration in Data Analytics, the MS in Computer Science with concentration in Data Analytics, the MS in Health Informatics with concentration in Applied Data Analytics, the MS in Supply Chain Management with concentration in Analytics, the Data Analytics Graduate Certificate, and the Applied Business Analytics Graduate Certificate. For those just getting acclimated to the study of analytics, MET offers the Pre-Analytics Laboratory AD 100.

On a similar BLS list, which excludes occupations with above average cyclical recovery, information security analysts are projected to be the sixth-fastest growing career, with data science ninth.

Here, the nineteenth-fastest growing occupation is that of the actuary, who are expected to see 24.5 percent growth. The median income of this profession is a $105,900—making the MET MS in Actuarial Science a sound pursuit for those looking to increase their financial security.

The thirtieth-fastest growing profession, according to BLS, is that of the software developer, with a 22.2 percent expected growth rate. MET offers a MS in Software Development as well as a Software Engineering Graduate Certificate.