Any IT Career Advice? 3

[123FakeSt]

Had to change my handle for this post! I've been enjoying reading the threads in this forum as most of them involve situations i am being forced to deal with right now.

IT Support in the true sense!

Basically i am the IT guy for a company of ~100 ... i cover pretty much everything from hardware, desktop support, light programming (VB, C etc..) , Oracle database work, etc etc etc.

About a year ago they hired an IT director and now there is no room for my personal growth (outside of reading the posts in many of the forums on this website!). He makes well over $100K and i'm at $38K and not going anywhere upwards fast despite all of the time i've invested (outside of work.) He takes all of the interesting work and i am left with the scraps. His solutions are all UNIX based, whereas mine are all Windows based (ODBC etc...). Of course my solutions are more popular because the CEO would much prefer an excel spreadsheet with the analysis than a UNIX text file! Anyway the situation has grown unbearable so i decided to do something about it.

So i met with the C.O.O. and told him i wanted movement, and presented a list of average IT salaries that came out to around $59K for my area and they are discussing my situation ( i believe i am held in very high regards with the executives.) Basically i feel like i'm making peanuts yet doing most of the intellectual work for 4 or 5 employees at the $100K level. They are thinking about moving me into a marketing analysis position.

I've heard a lot of talk on this site about the decreasing salaries for IT work because of foreign competition etc. so...

1. Was i wrong to go around my 'new' boss and discuss my situation with his boss who i have a much better relationship with and seems much more likely to care?

2. Am i stupid requesting such a large increase in salary? (Been doing this for 3 years now.)

3. If i decide to leave i am definitely relocating to somewhere in the West. How can i compare the job market situations in potential new homes? I have nightmares of working the Burger King drive thru.

4. How can i present my IT knowledge (i am jack of all trades, master of none.) effeciently to a prospective new employer? I think it would be overbearing on a resume.

5. Should i spend a couple months and become a specialist rather than be spread out so thin (my goal is $$$ oriented.) I have this luxury with my severance.

6. Do i spend 168 hours a week until i leave training the 'new guy' and documenting or so i make them realize how valuable i was by giving my 2 weeks and only train the essential things? (I was just reading a good thread on this but it did not touch on this 'How will they think of my work after i'm gone' aspect.)

On another note...

When i write programs, reports etc. do i put my name on my work or does it become the property of my boss? Does he have the write to present it to his superiors as if it was his doing? If i was to program them to print my name as a credit, he would not have to technical ability to remove it.

I look forward to reading any and all comments.

Clancy Wiggum

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

 

[chiph]

Umm, Clancy, you changed your handle, but you still signed your name to it. If this isn't what you intended, go ahead and hit the Red Flag link.

Chip H.


If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[CajunCenturion]

I'm curious as why you feel the need to change your handle?

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Stella740pl]

Of course, Clancy Wiggum is your new made-up name, but if you want to be completely anonymous, you should have created a new handle for this post, not just change it. Everyone can go into your profile and see all you previous post where you sometimes signed your real name.

 

[screwloose]

IN answer to your questions, in order:

1) No matter the size of the company that is not accepted practice to go over you immediate superior without talking with them first. If no action was taken upon your requests then you may have had an opportunity to pursue this at the next level.

2) Asking for an (almost) 65% salary increase is likely not to happen. It could give incentive to replace you with some else. They may assume that you will not be happy if you do not receive the 65% increase and will probably leave if you don’t get that amount. They may believe even if they give you get some increase then you will be looking for another job anyway.

A general IT support person is just that – jack-of-all-trades – and generally the pay is not that high because you are not an expert in any one area. I, too, worked for a medium-sized company ($120 million/year revenue; ~500 employees) and made at most, with overtime (hourly) $28,000/year and did everything you did. I worked there for 4.5 years and was finally in my last 6 months given a raise that amounted to about $2000/year, which was too little, too late. I asked for more money for 2 years before I finally left for more money as strictly a Unix admin for a Fortune 500 company. Specialists make more than generalists.

Of course, location matters, Chicago costs more than Kansas City to live, yet, you won’t see the difference in cost of living made up in salary. When I was looking for a new job, there was an IBM SP2 Sys Admin position in Chicago that I applied for (because I like the SP & Regatta’s and that is what I want to do). When they asked for salary figures, I did a calculation to keep my current earnings in respect using a salary calculator. My figures ranged from $90k-$115k/year which would have given me the same buying power I had. They balked at that figure. So yes, location does matter, however, it is not going to be met in salary at 100%.

3) Talk to recruiters in the area you are considering moving to. Though you may or may not want to work for a contractor, they can give you the “scoop” on hiring in the area. That is how they make their money, and they will know the job market. When I was looking, and the job market was in a slump all-over, not just IT, I talked to a local recruiter who informed me that even though the economy was depressed nation-wide in IT, St. Louis and Chicago had no slowdown in their IT sectors. A lot of the contracting firms are also right-to-hire and are a good foot in the door.

4) An employer wants to know what you can do for them. That is true in any position, not just IT. If you improved the Oracle database performance by tuning and sizing, which in turn saved on the processor and memory, which in turn kept them from having to purchase a new computer then you saved them XXX dollars. That is what an employer wants. Plus, they want to know that you can learn, and especially in IT, they want to know that you can pick up the new technologies fairly quickly. Plus, even more today than the hard techie skills, employers greatly emphasize customer service skills. If you can create great relationships with other teams that is what employers like.

5) It takes more than a couple of months to become a specialist. A specialist has deep knowledge of specific technologies and that is not learned in 2 or 3 months, but rather when a Fortune company is looking to hire a Unix admin, they are looking for someone who has worked with Unix-only for at least 2 years. And if that is all you have is the 2 or 3 years, then you will be a junior admin. And the pay is not very high. Not until you move from an associate systems programmer to a systems programmer will you notice a jump in pay, and get the benefits of a nice salary. Then from a systems programmer you become a senior systems programmer, which is where the best pay is. But it will take you 7 or 8 years as a Unix-only admin to get there.

Also, specialists generally are expert in one or two areas and have one or two secondary skills that they have very high skill in. And then of course, they know about other technologies, too, but not in-depth as their primary and to a lesser extent, their secondary skills.

Find an area that you like, and then delve into it. When I was the general IT support person, I worked on AIX and liked it. So I read and learned all I could about Unix and AIX. Then after 4.5 years I leveraged my knowledge of AIX in an AIX admin position for a Fortune 500 company. Plus I have a Master’s in Education which I believe helps me.

Never do anything for just the money because you probably are not going to be happy in the long run.

6) Documentation is part of the job you do. It is something that should be done regularly. So you should not consider it being “nice” doing it for them. If you haven’t been doing it, then you have been neglectful and have not been fulfilling your duties.

Other note) Why do you care? This is not a me vs. him job. You work as a team. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl as a team, not as an individual. Look at the Lakers when you have individuals playing as individuals and not as a team; then look at great individual players who work as a team as in the US Olympic Basketball team who are beyond belief.

I am sure people up the chain know who did the work. You don’t get into very high positions be clueless of what is going on in the organization. You are also working for them so you do what is asked of you, not just if you get credit.

 

[123FakeSt]

123 Fake St and Clancy Wiggum are references to one of my favorite simpsons episodes. I feel the need to change my name because my last one was obvious, and the last thing i want is for someone who knows me to read my post.

Thanks for your input Screwloose, especially responding in order. I love my work, i just dis-like my job. I get to have the big meeting tommorow to determine my fate.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

 

[willir]

Good luck Clancy with your meeting.

I agree with ScewLoose on many of his posts.

I also suspect this stuff has got you pretty upset and consequently, you may be less objective than you want to be.

Having been there, I have seen management take my ideas and peddle them as their own -- perhaps a sign of bad management. Makes ones blood boil *)(*&)*_*)&!@#!@

A fairly obvious question you did not address is why did they hire this new guy? For ~100 employee business, it seems funny that they would hire an IT Director, especially at $100,000+ salary.

I do understand as a "one-man" (or woman or person) show and jack-of-all trades, you probably take a lot of pride in your accomplishments and achievements. Do you partake in a review process? This is real important, because it shed some light on the aforementioned question.

A review process allows you to document / present to management a list of all your accomplishments (and management prefers to see money saved type of thing - a tough statistic to present when you can state I kept the servers up 98% of the time). Some thoughts... How much programming have you done? By doing this work in-house, you have saved them $xxxx in programming costs. If you have time tonight, create a list of your achievements!

Next, with the review process, a question or "opportunity" you have, if management does not being it to your attention is "What can I do better to add more value to your business?" During a review, seem to go along the lines of demoralizing the employee, perhaps in an effort to justify why there is no pay raise. Nonetheless, it gives you the ability to see where management are looking for support, and their frame of mind.

I wish you luck tomorrow. Try and stay cool. Try asking questions rather than accusing management of something.

 

[123FakeSt]

Thanks Willir ... you brought up some interesting points. About 2 years ago i spent my own $$ and time getting A+ certified, not because i desired to spend all day swapping out hard drives, but because we were spending $60K to $100K a year on a support service. We are down to under $20K now because i do these trivial yet exensive to outsource things. And who takes the credit? A director that didn't even work here yet! (I'm sure it's in his yearly accomplishments!).

You are right about the lack of need for his position, but it was brought on by the fact that he programmed for the company that supplies our AIX order entry system. The company was going out of business, so he cut a deal with our President so they would both have security. Of course now the only thing that is not secure is my future....All he can do is program AIX, so that leaves me with 90% coverage of the department and him with a pretty cush position. I will never get a descent raise because our IT payroll is so extremely bloated! Goes back to what ScrewLoose was saying about being a 'Specialist'.

Thanks for your support in my time of mixed emoticons! I've been here 7 years and it was my first job ... is this how divorce feels? If so i'm staying single


The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

 

[willir]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The reason behind him being hired suggests he has a conflict of interest in his decsions.

Aside from his skills in programming, I think your company may learn that they did not get a great bang for their buck since he is managing one person, can only program, and may suggest high priced solutions for a smallish company.

If you have been with the company for 7 years as your first job, have only had minimal pay raise and had to pay for your own training may suggest it is time to move on. Although we like to cling to what is familiar, sometimes change can be a good thing, especially when in the "spring time" of your career -- new oportunities, and most likely an increase in pay.

Having said all this, the IT sector is pretty tough. Not as meager as a couple of years ago, but still pretty tough.

OR, maybe you can use this as an opertunity to be recognized for your accomplishments. For one, you should get credit for the significant decrease in service costs.

Regardless of the outcome, make darn sure you do not burn your bridges. You will need references in your next "life".

 

[LesleyW]

No it's not like divorce Clancy! If you move on to the right place for you, the old place will be forgotten within a month. Divorce I believe takes a little longer to put behind you emotionally.

 

[willir]

Dont forget the kids -- theeffects of a divorce can last for years.

But there can be "good" divorces where the parting is amicable. "Agree that you disagree" and stay away from the "blame game". If you leave your job, you want to leave on friendly terms.

And for getting married, I suspect most people don't start planning for a divorce when they get married. Sure there are bumps, and it takes hard work, communication and understanding, but it is a rewarding union.

You and your management seem to need to work on the communication thing.

I hope your meeting went well.

 

[MattGreer]

GAH! How'd it go???? TELLLLL MEEEEEE!!!

Thanks!!


Matt

 

[123FakeSt]

Which the marriage or the meeting? JK

Well it's been a couple weeks now, and i've had three (count-em THREE) meetings. Our company starts fiscal years in July so they asked me to give them until the end of May to give me a number.

Of course one of my projects i've worked on was helping the CEO with his little Budget excel spreadsheet (i don't think the boss and the COO are aware of this.) He wants to reduce salary to 16% of sales from 18%, so i think it will take a small miracle, though my boss maintains he can get it through the budget.

The good news is that they have recently given me some challenging long-term projects, so i think they may actually be some coorporate love for me anyhow.

Though i still can't beleive he's trying to push LanDesk through for $18K for a company with 80 end users!

Thanks for the concern!
Clancy

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

 

[willir]

The fact you have had three meetings, and being given long term projects are definite bonuses.

Although I don't like recommending / condemming products in this forum, perhaps one way to shine is to find an alternative solution to LanDesk. Depending on your needs, check out DameWare for remote conotrl and administration. Website is as expected. They have downloads avaiable, uses native RPC (meaning no desktop client), and even works on 95. You may be pleasantly surprized. (And, no I dont work for them or own stock - just a grizzled sys admin)

 

[123FakeSt]

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm going to check it out if i still work here in a few days It's just SLIGHTLY less expensive.



The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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