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Income for CNE - How much do you make? 8
- Thread starter mark01
- Start date
Take a look at the Computerworld Salary Survey at Average salary + bonus for a Network Admin in the entry level/staff range is $57,012.
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7
- #3
I work in Omaha, average salaries start out at $60K for a CNE, midrange is right at $72K and high range is at $80K
For MCSE's the salaries in Omaha are about 10% lower per recent HR studies.
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
CNE 4.11 and CNE 5 certified. BS Degree in MIS. Working in the industry for 8 years.
I work with NT servers, NDS for NT as well.
For MCSE's the salaries in Omaha are about 10% lower per recent HR studies.
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
CNE 4.11 and CNE 5 certified. BS Degree in MIS. Working in the industry for 8 years.
I work with NT servers, NDS for NT as well.
Visitor
MIS
maybe I should move to Omaha or Washington...
AndreaGilbreath
Instructor
I'm an MCNE and set up and have been running a 33 (now 36) site enterprise Novell WAN for 3 1/2 years for a county board of education for 51K and really good benefits, but this is Alabama and the livin' is easy - and cheap. Just left that job, though because they really expect 4 of us to take care of all 36 sites - yeah, right. I hope to bring in more when I find another job.
I've been in the business for 1.5 years since graduating from college. I have these certs: MCSE (NT4/2K), CNE (NW5), CCNA, Linux+, Server+, i-Net+, Network+, A+, and CIW Associate. I'm about to leave my job where I'm only making $45K. How much should I expect to make in either Florida or New York?
Chris
Chris
I knew one who made about $58K with a Master CNE and another who made about $91K... obviously there were differences in social skills, experience level, etc... but they started the same time for the same company... JTB
Senior Infrastructure Consultant
MCSE-NT4, MCP+I, CCNA, CCDA,
CTE, MCIWD, i-Net+, Network+
(MCSE-W2K, MCIWA, SCSA, SCNA in progress)
Senior Infrastructure Consultant
MCSE-NT4, MCP+I, CCNA, CCDA,
CTE, MCIWD, i-Net+, Network+
(MCSE-W2K, MCIWA, SCSA, SCNA in progress)
Guest_imported
New member
- Jan 1, 1970
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I am a Network Administrator/Database Administrator and an all around everything person. Handling Telcom and all of the Office needs in 6 offices. CCNA with a start at my MCDBA. I started at 41k and the company pays for all of my education. The job is demanding, but the education is priceless.
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1
- Thread starter
- #11
OK, I posted the first message in this thread, I've since changed companies, working in a small town in Nevada, I have since gotten my CNE. I work as a Network Technician and make only $8 an hour. What am I doing wrong???
mark01
CNE, A+
mark01
CNE, A+
dawgfan1606
Technical User
MOVE!!!! The money is only in big cities. Backwoods business will not pay for what they don't understand (I know - I went through the same thing in S. Georgia)
I live in the UK and work as an IT Contractor. I am not CNE certified (although I should have done it 2 years ago, lazy...)
I earn £26 per hour at the moment, convert that into dollars if you like. -----------------------------------------------------
"It's true, its damn true!"
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I earn £26 per hour at the moment, convert that into dollars if you like. -----------------------------------------------------
"It's true, its damn true!"
-----------------------------------------------------
Guest_imported
New member
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
- 0
- 0
I make $0. Heh.. yes I am unemployed
People are saying certs with no exp. is useless, and it makes me worried really.
I dropped out of Univ. (CS major) in 1996 (a big mistake), worked as PC Consultant at local Computer shop, got CNA in 1998, MCP in NT4 in 1999, had job as a network admin. I got laid off early this year when the company became a goner, and I got MCSE 2000, MCDBA, A+ in April. I have been applying for jobs since May, but I never heard from anybody for an interview.
I have revised my resume several times, applied to hundreds of places looking for MCSEs through online career sites, but it seemed like my resume was getting sucked into a blackhole. Also, I get some responses from the places where I sent my resume to but they turned out to be other online career sites wanting me to post my resume there. I don't know what I am doing wrong. May be they are considering me as a paper MCSE because I got this cert this year, or may be there simply is no real job on the online career sites. (monster, careerbuilder, computerwork,..etc)
Or may be my past experience without the cert is not being counted.
Schoenenberg
Unemployed and cannot get a job since Feb 2002
A+, CNA, MCP (NT4), MCSE 2000, MCDBA (SQL 2000)
People are saying certs with no exp. is useless, and it makes me worried really.
I dropped out of Univ. (CS major) in 1996 (a big mistake), worked as PC Consultant at local Computer shop, got CNA in 1998, MCP in NT4 in 1999, had job as a network admin. I got laid off early this year when the company became a goner, and I got MCSE 2000, MCDBA, A+ in April. I have been applying for jobs since May, but I never heard from anybody for an interview.
I have revised my resume several times, applied to hundreds of places looking for MCSEs through online career sites, but it seemed like my resume was getting sucked into a blackhole. Also, I get some responses from the places where I sent my resume to but they turned out to be other online career sites wanting me to post my resume there. I don't know what I am doing wrong. May be they are considering me as a paper MCSE because I got this cert this year, or may be there simply is no real job on the online career sites. (monster, careerbuilder, computerwork,..etc)
Or may be my past experience without the cert is not being counted.
Schoenenberg
Unemployed and cannot get a job since Feb 2002
A+, CNA, MCP (NT4), MCSE 2000, MCDBA (SQL 2000)
This is my second post to this forum. To give you an idea of ranges in salaries, I started my career building PC's from home while in college back in Michigan. In the first 6 months of doind this I made about $15K (that was actually mine to keep). I then moved to arizona, took a job as a pc tech for about $15 an hour, then went to workl for Motorola in Scottsdale AZ. for $25.00 (PC Tech / Lan Admin). WIthin 4 months ar Motorola I was promoted to a MGMT position with the same pay, no complaints though since the benefits were pretty good.
I then moved to Omaha where my salary is just a bit higher than $30.00 an hour. What I have learned is the following:
A: Never take a job for less than your worth. CCNA: $20 to $25 an hour that would also qualify MCP's as well.
CNE and MCNE, MCSE - $25.00 to $30.+ an hour. (Or about $60 to $75K+ per year)
Throw in a Bachelors degree on top of any of these and salary should range between $60 and $70K (This is the area I fall into).
B. WHen looking for a new job, a rule I have learned is that if you want more money, you never tell an empoloyer what you really make. Example: If my current salary is $60K a year and I want to make $70K, I would tell employers that my salary is $65K plus benefits. Never negotiate a final salary agreement until you know the level of your responsibility. Wether it be 50 users plus servers or 6000 users plus servers, you need to factor all that in plus the benefits package. And always pay attention to the cost of living: What it costs to live in Arizona, or Omaha, will be greatly different from living in California or New York. <---- I almost got dinged on this when I was interviewing with 3Com... Especially since my current mortgage was 900.00 a month in AZ and to own an equivalent home in Ca would of cost me about $2200. a month.
For those of you who accept positions that are $10.00 an hour or less, shame on you unless you are entering retirement (only then would I ever consider this, but I would have to be hard pressed).
Another example, look at the cost of living, I would like to move to South Dakota, and based on my current salary and lifestyl, I would need to make about $7000.00 more a year to live there. I will more than likely inflate what I actually make enough so that I not only get the cola but an increase in overall pay/benefits. So there is a lot to keep in mind.
An earlier post has mentioned about small towns, you can work in a small town, if and only if you specifiy what you are worth to your employer, if I were to walk into a company to perform any type of network work as a consultant, minimum amount to get me in the door is $100 an hour for small business and $150.00 an hour for large corps. This is small considering a business that do this and charges a flat rate of $200.00 an hour. For work to be performed in a residence, $50.00 an hour. If I were to take a position there as an employee, minimum is $30.00 an hour, no ifs, ands, or butts about it. If they dont like it, they can higher someone out of college or just completing their tech cert. (Most graduates out of college expect about $50K a year to start).
So as you can see, there is a lot to look at in considering future positions etc.
Hope this helps out a bit more..and goodl uck with the job hunting. Oh and almost forgot, educational benefits are a major factor in accepting a new position, training = increase in resume = larger salary later in life. Make sure you dont lose sight of getting a Bachelors or Masters degree as well, this will only add to your credentials, plus in order to move up the corporate food chain you will need them. Technical certs alone will not get you into a CTO or CIO position (This will almost always require a Masters degree), lower level positions like IT manager or Director, you can get away with technical certs, but you best have the business skills to perform your job or it wont look pretty, especially when the CEO gets a wake up call.
And for those of you unemployed, relocation relocation relocation, key word here, there are a lot of open positions out there, just need to be willing to move away from home to get them. My motto, I will always go where the work is. South Dakota is booming right now and so is North Dakota...Hard to believe, but if you dont mind the cold dreadful winters, the salaries there are quite nice and the economy is strong as well.
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
With more than 10 years experience to share.
I then moved to Omaha where my salary is just a bit higher than $30.00 an hour. What I have learned is the following:
A: Never take a job for less than your worth. CCNA: $20 to $25 an hour that would also qualify MCP's as well.
CNE and MCNE, MCSE - $25.00 to $30.+ an hour. (Or about $60 to $75K+ per year)
Throw in a Bachelors degree on top of any of these and salary should range between $60 and $70K (This is the area I fall into).
B. WHen looking for a new job, a rule I have learned is that if you want more money, you never tell an empoloyer what you really make. Example: If my current salary is $60K a year and I want to make $70K, I would tell employers that my salary is $65K plus benefits. Never negotiate a final salary agreement until you know the level of your responsibility. Wether it be 50 users plus servers or 6000 users plus servers, you need to factor all that in plus the benefits package. And always pay attention to the cost of living: What it costs to live in Arizona, or Omaha, will be greatly different from living in California or New York. <---- I almost got dinged on this when I was interviewing with 3Com... Especially since my current mortgage was 900.00 a month in AZ and to own an equivalent home in Ca would of cost me about $2200. a month.
For those of you who accept positions that are $10.00 an hour or less, shame on you unless you are entering retirement (only then would I ever consider this, but I would have to be hard pressed).
Another example, look at the cost of living, I would like to move to South Dakota, and based on my current salary and lifestyl, I would need to make about $7000.00 more a year to live there. I will more than likely inflate what I actually make enough so that I not only get the cola but an increase in overall pay/benefits. So there is a lot to keep in mind.
An earlier post has mentioned about small towns, you can work in a small town, if and only if you specifiy what you are worth to your employer, if I were to walk into a company to perform any type of network work as a consultant, minimum amount to get me in the door is $100 an hour for small business and $150.00 an hour for large corps. This is small considering a business that do this and charges a flat rate of $200.00 an hour. For work to be performed in a residence, $50.00 an hour. If I were to take a position there as an employee, minimum is $30.00 an hour, no ifs, ands, or butts about it. If they dont like it, they can higher someone out of college or just completing their tech cert. (Most graduates out of college expect about $50K a year to start).
So as you can see, there is a lot to look at in considering future positions etc.
Hope this helps out a bit more..and goodl uck with the job hunting. Oh and almost forgot, educational benefits are a major factor in accepting a new position, training = increase in resume = larger salary later in life. Make sure you dont lose sight of getting a Bachelors or Masters degree as well, this will only add to your credentials, plus in order to move up the corporate food chain you will need them. Technical certs alone will not get you into a CTO or CIO position (This will almost always require a Masters degree), lower level positions like IT manager or Director, you can get away with technical certs, but you best have the business skills to perform your job or it wont look pretty, especially when the CEO gets a wake up call.
And for those of you unemployed, relocation relocation relocation, key word here, there are a lot of open positions out there, just need to be willing to move away from home to get them. My motto, I will always go where the work is. South Dakota is booming right now and so is North Dakota...Hard to believe, but if you dont mind the cold dreadful winters, the salaries there are quite nice and the economy is strong as well.
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
With more than 10 years experience to share.
Good post Mark
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- Thread starter
- #17
Nice post DrMarkGreen. Okay, I finally got a raise since my last post. I am now making $10.15 an hour. Thats less than $20,000 a year! There are peopleI graduated from college in May (Associates in Computer Networking), and I'm still making squat. I just wanted to work here until I finished school, since it was the only job in town.
The only reason I have stayed here is for the experience. I didn't want to have just 6 months of working at this job, and then look for another job. I have about 5 months left until I have worked here for a year.
So should I stick it out for another 5 months so that it will look better on a resume (having a year's amount of work), or should I just start looking elsewhere now?
I was just asking because they say the more experience you have the higher your worth, and I'm scared I'll get stuck with a job that pay's lower than if I had worked here longer, then looked for a job with the extra experience.
The only reason I have stayed here is for the experience. I didn't want to have just 6 months of working at this job, and then look for another job. I have about 5 months left until I have worked here for a year.
So should I stick it out for another 5 months so that it will look better on a resume (having a year's amount of work), or should I just start looking elsewhere now?
I was just asking because they say the more experience you have the higher your worth, and I'm scared I'll get stuck with a job that pay's lower than if I had worked here longer, then looked for a job with the extra experience.
What I would do is this: Stay where you are at to complete schooling. I am assuming you will be graduating with a BAchelors degree or some sort of technical cert.
Just before you are about to graduate, (2 or 3 months), I would start putting the feelers out. Since you will have close to a years worth of experience, you should be able to locate a good position starting at $20 to $25 an hour or $50 to $55K a year. When you begin your interviews, I would tell the the company you are interviewing with that you are about to complete college and are preparing to work for a company that is career oriented and you already have experience under your belt since you were employed while attending school. <--- This always looks good since you were able to achieve both working and education. Tells employers that you are dedicated and able to handle any challenge, and for salary, I would ask for $55K roughly with 2 weeks paid vacation, training, upward mobility, 401K, Medical, Dental and Eyecare, again, if you read my earlier post, it will help you to be more strategic in the interviewing process. And as always, review the company's website before you go in. This way you will have done yopur homework becuase every interview I have ever had, I have always been asked if I had been to the corp. website and if I knew what the company did etc.
My 3 cents.
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
With more than 10 years experience to share.
Just before you are about to graduate, (2 or 3 months), I would start putting the feelers out. Since you will have close to a years worth of experience, you should be able to locate a good position starting at $20 to $25 an hour or $50 to $55K a year. When you begin your interviews, I would tell the the company you are interviewing with that you are about to complete college and are preparing to work for a company that is career oriented and you already have experience under your belt since you were employed while attending school. <--- This always looks good since you were able to achieve both working and education. Tells employers that you are dedicated and able to handle any challenge, and for salary, I would ask for $55K roughly with 2 weeks paid vacation, training, upward mobility, 401K, Medical, Dental and Eyecare, again, if you read my earlier post, it will help you to be more strategic in the interviewing process. And as always, review the company's website before you go in. This way you will have done yopur homework becuase every interview I have ever had, I have always been asked if I had been to the corp. website and if I knew what the company did etc.
My 3 cents.
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
With more than 10 years experience to share.
My only advice would be to add a cert in either Novell or Unix or Microsoft plus a Bachelors Degree in CIS or MIS or EE. Just having the Cisco cert is fine, but from my experience in the real world, you will have to start at the bottom of the food chain in IT and work your way up. Most companies won't higher you right out of highschool to work on their routers etc. When I entered into the field, I worked for Motorola out of Scottsdale AZ. (Now owned by some new company) supporting more than 6000 users and 300 Novell and NT servers. I performed mainly desktop support and 1st level network troubleshooting. From there, I moved to Nebraska and worked on servers and network infrastructure. I did this for about 2 years, actually ended up leaving the company because my boss kept tasking me with fixing everyone else's problems. Which is not a bad thing, but it just makes it difficult to work with people once you make them look like an A$$ a couple times. From there I now work for a national systems integrator. I get to work with everything from Routers, Switches, Servers, SONET Multiplexers, ATM Switches/Multiplexers, GIGabit Ethernet Boxes, DWDM etc. Primary role, Engiener a telecommunications network from the ground up. If my company wins the project then I get to buy, integrate, turn up and test the new design.
My process of education:
Completed my CNE 4 about 4 years ago. Completed my Bachelors degree in MIS about 3 years ago, Completed my CNE 5 about 2 years ago. Now I am planning to do my CNE 6, and then start my CISCO certs. Now to make something clear, I want to work on my cisco certifications not to work on cisco products, but to gain a broader knowlede to work with devices that are far advanced. My advice, get your CCNA, CCNP or CCDP, but think outside the box. There are companies out there that make far better and more superior products than CISCO. Given Point: RIverstone Networks, Foundry NEtworks, Extreme, Juniper Networks. The cisco education will apply to any of these and any future devices. Sorry cisco, you may have been around the corner for ages, but your products are starting to show signs of being outdated or a day late and a dollar short for being cutting edge. Not to mention that cisco is now soo big that unless you are buying a lot of product from them, it is very difficult to talk to them or do business with them. MOre of an arrogance attitiude. However, these other vendors are very easy to work with, their small, and hungry and want the business. Plus their products are all new with the latest technologies.
Enjoy and Have Fun
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
With more than 10 years experience to share.
My process of education:
Completed my CNE 4 about 4 years ago. Completed my Bachelors degree in MIS about 3 years ago, Completed my CNE 5 about 2 years ago. Now I am planning to do my CNE 6, and then start my CISCO certs. Now to make something clear, I want to work on my cisco certifications not to work on cisco products, but to gain a broader knowlede to work with devices that are far advanced. My advice, get your CCNA, CCNP or CCDP, but think outside the box. There are companies out there that make far better and more superior products than CISCO. Given Point: RIverstone Networks, Foundry NEtworks, Extreme, Juniper Networks. The cisco education will apply to any of these and any future devices. Sorry cisco, you may have been around the corner for ages, but your products are starting to show signs of being outdated or a day late and a dollar short for being cutting edge. Not to mention that cisco is now soo big that unless you are buying a lot of product from them, it is very difficult to talk to them or do business with them. MOre of an arrogance attitiude. However, these other vendors are very easy to work with, their small, and hungry and want the business. Plus their products are all new with the latest technologies.
Enjoy and Have Fun
Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com
With more than 10 years experience to share.
Here's a view from the UK. After having worked in engineering for 15 years I decided in 1991 that I wanted to move into IT. I started the transition by taking a part-time BSc in Computer Science. When I had that in 1996 I took CNE training (3 and 4). As soon as I had those I resigned my job and started looking for one in IT. After 3 weeks of unemployment I found a PC support team leader's job. It was located at Heathrow airport, a 2 hour drive away from where I live, and it was only paying $35,000 (less than my old job) but I reckoned that it would suffice in order to get my foot in the door.
It was meant to be a permanent position, but the travel was so bad that I only did it for 6 months, but I learned more in that time than I had in the previous 6 years of training. Then I went contracting, which is really where the money is (in the UK anyway). My first couple of contracts were just shortish PC support roles paying about $30 per hour, but then I moved on to network support ($40 per hour) then fell into application packaging and configuration management (up to $70+ per hour).
The lessons I learned (1) the qualifications will get you the interview and are a useful addition to the experience, but are no substitute for it (bear in mind though that some organisations demand certain paper qualifications and you won't get an interview without them no matter how good you are) (2) When you are starting off, ANY job is better than none because you need experience in the workplace. You can get choosy about rates once you have a year or two's experience under your belt (3) You have to keep learning. You may be an expert in X but X will be out of date in 18 months and you will need to know whatever is fashionable then. The education NEVER stops. (4) Be helpful to people. It's amazing how unhelpful many people are. When a manager is thinking about who he/she is going to give another contract to, if you've been friendly and helpful you will get it and not the guy who was always too busy with some other job to assist promptly.
It was meant to be a permanent position, but the travel was so bad that I only did it for 6 months, but I learned more in that time than I had in the previous 6 years of training. Then I went contracting, which is really where the money is (in the UK anyway). My first couple of contracts were just shortish PC support roles paying about $30 per hour, but then I moved on to network support ($40 per hour) then fell into application packaging and configuration management (up to $70+ per hour).
The lessons I learned (1) the qualifications will get you the interview and are a useful addition to the experience, but are no substitute for it (bear in mind though that some organisations demand certain paper qualifications and you won't get an interview without them no matter how good you are) (2) When you are starting off, ANY job is better than none because you need experience in the workplace. You can get choosy about rates once you have a year or two's experience under your belt (3) You have to keep learning. You may be an expert in X but X will be out of date in 18 months and you will need to know whatever is fashionable then. The education NEVER stops. (4) Be helpful to people. It's amazing how unhelpful many people are. When a manager is thinking about who he/she is going to give another contract to, if you've been friendly and helpful you will get it and not the guy who was always too busy with some other job to assist promptly.
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