Hello fellow IT redditors,

A little of background I'm 25 years old, work as a Network Engineer, have a good amount of experience (IMHO), have about 5 years of experience in Networking, have experience in Cisco, Aruba, Paloalto, Fortigate.

I make about 60K a year in my current role, started at 55K and got a raise after my first year.

I currently live with my parents but I'm ready to start my own life and was looking to move out but with the current housing market it seems impossible to afford a decent home at $60K a year. I've been having lots of doubts about staying in my current profession and thought about maybe switching to Cloud Network Engineering since the salary on those positions are on the triple digits.

I love what I do but sadly I don't think a position of a Network Engineer can reach the triple digits, and don't know if the glassdoor salary reports are accurate. My dream was to become a Network Architect but it just seems like the networking field is declining.

I probably shouldn't be doing what I do but I have other friends who work on the IT environment as developers and I'm the only one who works in networking, they make above 120K and have the benefit of working remote, they're a couple of years older than me and I use that as an excuse as to why I haven't reached the triple digits salary and tell myself I'll reach that salary when I reach that age. I've actually felt depressed by it since my friends are so far ahead of me and I start to feel like a failure.

I came here looking for guidance or opinions on what I should do to reach that triple digits.