MCSE Salary expectations 2

[4theU]

How much should an MCSE with three years experience expect to make? I have been with my company since I started in IT and think I do a great job (the boss reassures me of this), problem is I am going to take my final test next Thursday and he is telling me I will get a new PDA!! Who cares about a cell phone I want a raise. Right now I make about 37, I have heard of others making more than me, without the certs but more exp. Should I be expecting more once I get the MCSE? Jacksonville, FL- to help with pay ranges.

 

[4theU]

^Thats a very cynical way of looking at it. Let's see if I have this right, the fact that you passed the exams, and managed to hold down a job for a few years doesn't prove anything then why do they even have resumes'?

 

[Auger282]

Thats why they have interviews...

to this day I know a tech with certs and 6+ years.. troubleshooting a printer tossing out junk from a corrupt job.. with their solution being.. add more paper and let it run its course...

I personally dont think you should make any more money if you have certs or not... it should be based on how good you can do your job..

 

[4theU]

I agree, to some level. The guy I referred to in Dallas has his MCSE, actually before I finished mine, and he flat out told me he just cheated and used one of those programs that you memorize the answers. I asked him to create a folder named XXXX on the root and share it as YYYY, and he had no idea what I was talking about. Even after I showed him how to share a folder under a different name he still was confused.

 

[4theU]

In a perfect world employers would just give raises because you are doing a good job, but the fact is, alot of employers have no idea what there IT staff is doing, so they have no way of verifying they know how to do their job other then to require them to just get certs.

 

[Auger282]

they have no idea?

.. we have business goals just like every other department at my place that we have to meet..

our helpdesk has statistics and goals...
our processes have Value Stream Maps and we are always looking for ways to make them more lean and efficient...

I can understand a cert possibly brining in new information and making things more streamline.. or if you are brining in a new 2003 server and you get trained on the new server software... but I dont expect to get paid more now that I know how to use that server...

Bottom line.. raises are based on performance...

I can see if you are starting a job how it could have some impact.. but if there are 3 people...

1 with 2 years experience running 2003
2 with mcse 2003 no experience
3 with 5 years experience with 2003

...I would hope most people would hire the 3rd person

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another note there was a kid in my college class (cisco) and he had taken the ccna 6 times and failed every time... granted at some point hes either going to run out of money or pass that sucker..

I would never hire the guy certified or not

 

[4theU]

person number 4 comes in, 4 years experience w/MCSE 2003, I would think most employers would hire number 4. There is an exception for every rule, but as a whole, experience does generally prove that you know what you are doing, and the certs are meant to back that up. Your company seems to be the exception, we do consultant work and majority of the companies we work with have at least one person who is there 'IT guy', and if they knew what they were doing we would be out of work. All of them have a couple of years experience, but most of them don't have any certs, and none of them are MCSE's. Fact is if one of them got fired I'm positive they would put five years experince with working with Server 2003 on their resume, when truth be told they haven't got a clue. If they took the time to study and maybe take a few classes to get their MCSE they would be much better off. There are so many examples I could give to prove your point, or disprove it. I would tell anyone who asked that if there IT guy quit or was fired, to hire a trusted consultant to help with the interview process because yes experience can be misleading, but as a MAJORITY, it is the most important thing.

 

[Auger282]

I always ask people when they got their certs when its on a resume.. because if its 2+ months.. and they havent touched it.. they have no clue...

case in point.. I had a friend in college who did a boot camp to get his mcse.. (before college)... mid college I asked him some things and he had no clue....

If you dont use it.. you lose it..

experience > cert

..I still thing on a resume if you put previous performance stats + improovements and projects that you have completed/implemented/planned it would look better than having certs listed..