Where am I going wrong with my career? What should I do more to be better. Add me your perspectives and help me enhance!

I have OSCP, CRTP, and 3-4 other certifications.

I received multiple 6 LPA offers for my first job but rejected all of them and chose 4.6 LPA at EY because of the goodwill it possesses.

Right now, I’m earning 30k–34k per month as a Security Analyst (Penetration Tester) at EY.

I’m qualified in API, Web, Infrastructure, and Active Directory Penetration Testing domains. I have nearly a year of experience through internships and additionally will be completing my first year at EY very soon.

I’m expanding my expertise into more domains, and since I genuinely enjoy contributing not just to client projects but to the company itself, I’ve been trying my best to get involved in every opportunity I get (and I’ve gotten into a few). But the salary part is very unmotivating. I see people outside of EY earning a very better package, when compared to while putting in minimal effort and maintaining a balanced workload. I predict even though the efforts are same few get higher salaries but as a part of policy in EY no one asks and no one questions about the salary.

People are freelancing and making $1000 per week or even at least 40k a project on average which lasts around a week. Meanwhile, I’m spending a minimum of 9 to 14 hours a day working, and despite that, I won’t say I have done many significant contributions in EY. But I can definitely say that I’m trying my best to give my all to the place Im working in, trying always to go an extra mile in things im contributing and taking the work into my hands.

I’m still incredibly thankful for this opportunity. This job brings me joy, and the people here are great. Every time I think about getting this opportunity, I consider myself lucky. But at the same time, I do feel underpaid, and I have family responsibilities getting increase and are becoming a little troublesome which i cant ignore.

Everyone including my friends in Cybersecurity keeps telling me that I’m giving too much time to company and that I’m not getting what I truly deserve (according to the market) and my family always complains me of the unbalanced allocation of time for Cybersecurity (combining both my work and self-studies) a. But I enjoy doing this. I like the people here. I love how broad EY is, with so many opportunities, projects, and domains to explore.

The higher-ups are very supportive they encourage me to ask questions and express all concerns. But deep down, I also know that, even though everything I like here is very meaningful for me, im a little EY is capable of offering me a much better salary. And I don’t know how to address that.

If you ask me whether I want to work here longterm, my answer would be yes, I want to spend the most energetic years of my life here. But the moment money comes into the equation, my answer starts shifting. Because at this point, I know my skills aren’t at due. I self-taught all the technical aspects, I wasn’t part of any official or initial training they provided and until now, they didn't significantly contribute for my skill at all.

From what I’ve heard, their standard hike is around 8% annually which is very disappointing if thats how it will go with me.

Uf you remove my abilities and pros i have, I got only one negative thing up my sleeve, which is non technical but is important and I actively worked on it and fixed it, and Im trying my best to be consistent with it!

For my LEAD Feedback , I should say I'm getting everything 4+ from collegues, Managers and SMs (In all the lead feedbacks I have had, I dont remember seeing a 3, might be one)

So, what would be the ideal way to deal with this situation?

This isn’t a complaint if it ever seems like one, I’d rather take this whole post down. I’m genuinely satisfied with the higher-ups and the way they communicate. Also, Im sure that I still have so much to learn. But this is an honest question of awareness what’s the best thing I can do right now?

I want to genuinely thank everyone for reading this whole part.