Application Security Engineer | Career Path

Learn about the Application Security Engineer career path in cybersecurity. Discover key responsibilities, required skills, average salary expectations, and relevant certifications for this role.

Overview

Focuses on ensuring software applications are designed and built securely by performing code reviews, security testing (SAST/DAST), integrating security into the development lifecycle (DevSecOps), and remediating vulnerabilities.

Responsibilities

  • Secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC)
  • perform code reviews
  • conduct dynamic/static application security testing (DAST/SAST)
  • integrate security into CI/CD pipelines (DevSecOps)
  • threat modeling applications
  • remediate application vulnerabilities

Required Skills

  • Secure coding practices (OWASP Top 10)
  • programming languages (Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, etc
  • )
  • DAST/SAST tools (Burp Suite, Checkmarx, SonarQube)
  • web application firewalls (WAF)
  • threat modeling
  • understanding of common vulnerabilities (SQLi, XSS)

Salary Expectations

$100,000 - $170,000+ USD

Relevant Certifications

No specific certifications listed for this role yet.

Common Career Pathway

Often requires a background in software development or quality assurance, combined with security knowledge. Can also transition from penetration testing focusing on web apps.

Learning Roadmap

Software Development fundamentals -> Web technologies -> Security+ -> OWASP Top 10 -> Learn SAST/DAST tools -> Secure coding practices -> Threat Modeling -> Relevant certs (GWAPT, CSSLP).

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