Is this decent pay?

[speedracercjr]

Ok I'm 22, I have a high school degree and 1 year of college under my belt. I'm A+ certified. I worked at my company for 2 years..went to college..ran out of money..and then they hired me back cause they needed me. I'm the network admin and i make 17.25 an hour. I know its good pay BUT is it good pay for a network admin? I have to manage 15 windows servers and two AS/400s. On a side note my boss wants me to get MSCE certified and the company will pay ALL costs....who would be the best for training material? Thanks

 

[aristos]

It is good money, it's about what I'm making. Our company has 17 people. I manage about 18 desktop/laptop machines, 2 Win2k servers, and a Linux server. I do desktop support, and everything else IT related and some things that are not IT related.

Whenever anyone asks me what I do, I say, "I'm the IT department".

My boss sez the company'll pick up training costs for me to become certified. If you're going to be doing mostly admin stuff, I'd look at an MCSA instead. If you can swing it, I'd do both. There's a bit of overlap.

Mike Mike
<this space for rent>

 

[algernonsidney]

I would love to know you pulled that off. You must know somebody.

Chris

 

[algernonsidney]

Let me add this. I would not complain about this job, because it sounds like you have something that is very rare. You have an employer who wants you to be successful. That is worth more than just a paycheck.

For the first time in five years, I have an employer in IT who wants me to be successful. Unfortunately, it's a non-profit and doesn't have much money to spend. But I may get some Spanish classes out of the job.

Chris

 

[speedracercjr]

Oh yeah I'm very lucky and someone knew me, not me knowing someone, that's how I got the job. So watch out....you never know who is watching you!!! My boss doesn't want me to stay here for life. He wants me to get my B.S. degree and get MSCE cert and then get the hell out of here.

 

[jonscott8]

Whether that's &quot;decent pay&quot; is dependant on several factors, most notably - location. If your in the SE USA, it sounds fair considering the described responsibility (you didn't state how many client workstations and whether this is simply a LAN or WAN w/ routers, remote sites, etc..)

If your in New York or San Francisco, you'll probably be living off bread -n- water.

I would also concur with algernonsidney, be grateful you have a boss/company that is encouraging you to better yourself - As most are simply content with you just getting the job done. Jon Hawkins

 

[Rob999]

...and to add to what jonscott8 said, many (manymanymany) companies DON'T want you to be certified because they don't want to the expense, to be held up for a raise when you finish, and/or don't want to lose you to a higher paying job once your finished. It's a double edged sword for them, as many companies see it.

Jump on that chance while it's still there.

 

[speedracercjr]

I gotta take care of about 150 PC's and about 15 servers, we have two remote sites connected over a fiber link so its like they are on the local LAN for us. Its nothing terribly hard but its alot to maintain that's for sure!

 

[DTSMAN]

your pay sounds ok. The computer school commercials are what are making us question our salaries. I have a 2 year degree in computer science, been in my field for 8 years and have gone from an $8 an hour bench tech to 16 an hour field tech servicing restaurants and retail touch screen systems. I stumbled on to these salary strings while searchin tek tips for cabling feedback. Like most, it seems that the computer people dont make what most people think we do.

 

[butchrecon]

The MCSE &quot;schools&quot; have adds stating you can make up to $70,000 a year to START! That is very misleading and gives the non-tech people a vision of us making that or more when it is not the case. Now withthe .com era over and the slowdown in IT hiring finding a position for half that is being considered good to get. So dont let the hoopla fool you. If someone is making $70K+ starting out then they are the exetion not the rule. James Collins
Hardware Engineer
A+ Certified Professional
Network+ Certified Professional
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft Certified System Administrator
(What does all that jargon below my name mean? I dont know I am still trying to figure it out!)

 

[jtb]

I'd like to have made $70,000 to start... I might be making enough to own a bass boat by now... ;-)

JTB
Solutions Architect
MCSE-NT4, MCP+I, MCP-W2K, CCNA, CCDA,
CTE, MCIWD, i-Net+, Network+
(MCSA, MCSE-W2K, MCIWA, SCSA, SCNA in progress)

 

[dogbert2]

First of all, the market for IT professionals is down, and the two main reasons are:

1. Dot-Com/Bomb (compare this to Calif Gold Rush of 1848)

2. 9/11 (though the enconomy was already in trouble)

Now, had dot-com/bomb never gotten started in the first place, I suspect that the I.T. market would have about
the right number of people working in it. The end result of dot-com/bomb was that anyone who came in and said &quot;I can design webpages, etc&quot; could get a job, w/out much hassle.

The I.T. Ads in my area now make NO mention of salary, but the schools have to put ads out to attract students (never mind that for every job in the newspaper classifieds, there are at least 50-100 people applying).

As a long time worker in this field (21 years in June), I would LOVE to make 2x or 3x what I am currently making (I could if I did consulting on the side, but I don't like to consult as much anymore). I also have to look at the time I invest in schooling (which seems to be all I ever do anymore, btw), and working an average of 50 hours a week.

All this aside, I don't know of ANY entry level persons getting 70K a year to start, and the maximum salary level i've seen for most jobs won't top more than 70K at the moment (due to market conditions). Also, people who are just finishing up their college degrees in IS/IT/CS (started say in 1998 or so) are getting a rude awakening as to what can happen in this market in just 2-3 years.

I went through the last recession in 1990-1993 and the I.T. market wasn't very good back then either (it seems to go in cycles). However, as more baby boomers start to retire, people will need to be hired to replace those bodies, etc (don't get me started on OutSourcing or H-1B hires)

 

[gr8scotto]

speedracrjr

I would echo alot of what was said above: Be happy someone wants you to succeed. I want to add however, that I think that pay is &quot;adequate&quot; considering the responsibility you have. Don't sell yourself short!!! Currently I am salaried, but it converts to around $20.50/hour with 7 years experience (not including benefits).

More important than pay though is what kind of boss you have. If you get along with him, he is flexible/reasonable (not an autocratic dictator), and your benefits are good as well, I would say you're making decent money considering you've been there just 2 years. Once you get your B.S. I would sincerely hope you'd be making more...even if it was the same job!

You can't put a price on (1) having a good boss and (2) happiness. If you're happy with what you're doing and you get along with the boss, you have quite a good situation. There's a number of times I'd be happy to take less pay rather than put up with some of the &quot;politics&quot; I have to.

gr8
A+, Network +, MCP

 

[speedracercjr]

Yeah my boss is pretty cool. Obviously he gets mad when i screw up but other than that he's cool. There's days when we take an hour and a half lunch just cause we don't feel like going back to work. I'm salary but my pay equals to 17.25 an hour, no overtime comp at all though, which sucks cause on average i put in about 50 hours a week. Unfortunently all the bosses above my boss are total pricks and love to push their &quot;power&quot; on everyone. It gets old but what can you do. They have said as soon as I start school i get a raise, i'll believe it when i see it!

 

[zoeythecat]

Speedracerj,

At 22 I guess that salary is not too bad but like someone said it depends on where you are located and how many years experience you have. If you are in the NorthEast this would not be a good salary. Also at age 22 a Company will take advantage of you and keep your salary down. It is bad also if you are working 50 hours and not getting comptime. On the plus side they are sending you to school. Take advantage of it. Get your MCSA,MCSE and whatever certifications you can weasel out of them because in the end they won't care about you. That's just the way Corporate America is. The only way you can increase your Salary is by getting those certifications and then leaving and going elseware just like you noted. Another plus is that you are so young so you have some time on your hands and you could be making a lot--lot of money in the near future.

Good luck,
Zoey