Enough Money For The Job Role? 1

[SGTRawlins]

Hi Ladie and Gents,

A reasobaly personal question to ask, i have just been of a job.

My role would be as ICT Manager, The role entails the implementation of a brand new 3 site VPN domain based network and once the implementation complete to manage and administer the sites, provide tech support.

Also develope Asset management data bases, manage the companies communications systems such as mobile phones, and in house phone systems.

They also require me to launch a graphic solutions dept, providing graphc design services for clients and our own in house marketing dept.

As well as this they require me to support and cover the branch managers and print production managers.

They have offered me £30k to do this for them, is this a respectable sallary to accept? it is alot more than i am currently on as i am not a manager in my current position.

They have said that this is really stretching thier budget however i feel that for a job of this respondibility (keeping in mind i would be doing this single handed) i could warrent much more money/

All oppinons accepted.

Thanks, Robo

 

[Craig0201]

They are undervaluing the role considerably but by the sounds of it, they are taking a chance on you as well. Dp you have any experience of the above?

 

[pmonett]

£30,000 = €44,160

Not bad, however I judge that as a developer, not a manager. Given that I've always heard that the UK tends to pay its IT workers more than on the continent, I have a hunch you're being underpaid.

You might want to be careful that this is not a "slave" contract - unde the guise of giving you a "fair" salary, you'll have all the responsabilities, a mountain of work and none of the glory, so to speak.
Even so, if you do take on the job, you can always consider it a stepping-stone into the realm of Management (capital M), giving you egress to loftier positions in the future, where you'll have a better idea of your worth as well as a few years management experience to back up your claims.

On the other hand, you might want to discount this post entirely, since I know next to nothing about the UK management salary level.

Pascal.

 

[johnstrang]

£30k sounds a little low, but it depends on so many other factors:
Age
Experience
Location
Other benefits (eg car, health insurance)
Opportunities for attending training courses (management and technical - you may need both)
Will you be on call 365 days per year, 24 hours per day?

But as Pascal said, it may provide a good stepping stone in your career.

Good luck, whatever you decide,
John

 

[willir]

Robo

£30k is low by North American standards considering the tasks required.

Your post states "3 sites". How many "seats"?

By manager, do you mean administer? My perception is that a manager tend to manage people. The tasks you have depicted would be performed by a network administrator position.

And money is not everything. If you like working by yourself, you may have an opportunity to build your own fifedom. This type of situation can be very rewarding, and offers a chance to grow.

The fact that you are asking your question suggests you are a little "green". (My sincere appologies if my assumption is incorrect.) If so, then this offer may give you a good chance to gain a wealth of experience.

But be warned. Working by yourself means no body to learn from - you have to be a self starter and able to learn new skills on your own. And make sure you can deliver. Look beyond the text books when presenting solutions.

(A lesson learned: I had a gentleman work for me years back. He took a job to set up remote sites for a company in several countries. He was pretty good tecnically, but lacked the "full system" experience. He ended up getting fired because he did not hook up UPS's to the servers on the remote site. A seemingly small thing, but when you have to fly down twice in a month for several months to resolve a remote server problem...)

Good luck in your decision.

 

[jrbarnett]

SGTRawlins

By all means take into your decision the factors mentioned above, but also factor your current circumstances into the equation.
For example, although such a role may be a low salary for the responsibilities:
a) It is far better than unemployment benefit.
b) If it will expand your skillset to areas you are interested in, it may be worth taking just to get the skills and then moving on again later.

John

 

[SGTRawlins]

Thanks guys, all this stuff is golden! much appreciated. i wouldn't describe myself as "green" i just grimice at the prospect of being ripped off.

Although The tasks i describe above do fall largely in the role if a systems administrator you have to factor in the expansion of the graphic design dept and the scope for enploying staff here.

 

[willir]

Robo...

i wouldn't describe myself as "green"

My sincere appologies.

 

[Spirit]

SGT,

Money will never buy you happiness, although it can buy a lot of thing that do!

You spend 8+ hours a day at work, money means nothing when compared to whether you enjoy it. As long as you've got food in your belly and a roof over your head you've got enough money.

Lets say you go in there for £30k do a great job and they say hey your doing a great job have some more £££££ or they don't you stay for a year or two then jump ship......

Just MHO of course,

Iain

 

[VBAjedi]

Do some local digging and get actual salaries of similar positions at similar companies. If what you are being offered is low, consider this approach:

Tell them you are interested in the job, but that the salary is less than "market value" for that position. (Provide your research as backup). Then tell them you will take the job with the condition that they provide a salary review after 12 months to bring the salary into line with the "going rate".

Alternately, set up (before you start) a structured salary increase process that is tied to the addition of responsibilities. So you start (at the offered salary) building the network. When you take on dbase development/mobile technology, your salary increases "x" amount. When you launch the graphic design services department, your salary increases again by "y" amount.

VBAjedi

 

[LesleyW]

Seems low-ish to me. I earn more in the SW of England as a Senior Developer, less responsibility than you describe. but John Strang makes a good point - money isn't everything. However I also get an extremely good benefits package and excellent training opportunities. My employer is a large corporation, I would expect a small outfit to be able to offer me a package about 2/3 the size overall.

Everyone has made excellent points on this thread,

Good luck