Over worked & Under Paid 2

[SGTRawlins]

Hi Guys,

Whilst browsing through the vacancies section in the recent computer weekly it dawned on me that i feel Over worked & Under Paid, Do you ever get this feeling?

I seem to opperate everything remotly IT related in my company from graphic design and marketing stratagies, through to desktop support, network administration and system design as well as being in charge of purchasing and product research, testing and configuration!

Yet because i am so multi-tasked and i do not directly generate revenue for the company it is difficult to calculate my worth.

Whats the going industry rate for this sort of work? i am not educated to degree level but do sport a-Levels in Business, Math, Physics and IT.

I feel i may be slightly descriminated against because of my age.

Any suggestions on how to proove my value?

 

[RiverGuy]

It depends on where you live if you are overpaid. If you work sixty hours every week, you may be overworked.

 

[MasterRacker]

Do a Google on "Salary Survey". Look at the surveys for your area and approximate job description. Come up with a figure. Add a grain of salt and this is your approximate worth.


Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...

 

[Stevehewitt]

Hey,

I symaphise (I KNOW I CAN'T SPELL!) with you. I'm young, and also have a-levels (Business AVCE) and MCP behind me. Had my job for 4 years now doing the company website, mail admin, creating and administring the domain network, database administration and even some low-level development work.

After getting paid a pittance I've moved. Finishing my notice period and I'm off to work for a large consultancy firm.

Don't be afraid of asking for a raise. I did, got knocked back saying 'Head Office need some justification of why your here, so we'd like to put you onto sales and adminstration as well'.

So I looked for a job online. Got an interview after two weeks and offered a job after my first interview.
Means I'll have to commute 1 1/2 hours each way a day, but I think it will be a much better career move for me.

Put it to your boss. If he says no, then have a look on the market and see what the response is.

Good Luck,


Steve.

 

[LadySlinger]

SG -

Don't worry you aren't the only one. We've had to downsize so much at my office that I'm to the point where not only do I do every single computer-related support and web maintenance, but they also have me doing spreadsheet reporting for the Sales squad and ordering all supplies. In fact my manager wants someone with an analytical mind working on saving costs for the office for all areas of supply, so even if they do hire an office manager supplies may not get taken away. He created a bonus structure for me, but its really not enough to get me enthused on it, but at least in some ways I am getting compansated.

Long story short though I have started looking...this office is only paying about $8000 less than the average in the area according to salarywizard.com.

 

[Zelandakh]

Are you interested in the job you currently do? Does it pay the bills? Stay.

If not, move.

Don't resign until you have something on the dotted line though.

Job market as it is, I'm staying put.

 

[robbieguy2003]

I Definatly get the feeling of underpaid & overworked.

In total, we have two main people. Me being one of them.

Between us we're responsible for a fully meshed Cisco BGP lan/wan network which needs to meet a 100% sla.

Around 150 Unix & Windows 2000/2003 Servers, main point of contacts for technical support.

The other guy leans towards the networking and i lean towards more programming and web development. So on top of server, network admin + customer support i am also expected to maintain and update the website (built in php and throws data around with xml).

Plus we're on call 24/7.

I would say im putting in over 60 hours per week easily.

IMO i think some businesses are taking the piss out of decent IT staff now and simply dont appreciate their true value.

User: My computers smoking.
Support: Turn it off.
User: Will i lose my work??
Support: Turn it off.

 

[Zelandakh]

so you change companies to one you don't know and still end up doing the same thing...

 

[MasterRacker]

The fact that I'm not a multi-millionaire and have to work at all means I'm overworked and underpaid. I want to win the lottery. [LOL]


Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...

 

[robbieguy2003]

MasterRacker - Thats exactly how i think. Work is something that gets in the way of sleep and the lottery is the thing im gonna win next week!!!!



User: My computers smoking.
Support: Turn it off.
User: Will i lose my work??
Support: Turn it off.

 

[googlymoogly]

I was checking out a website that would be awsome for you.

http://www.callatek.com

go look at it, I just started the sign-up process. You have to have your A+ though.

 

[jtb]

overworked? underpaid?

Definition of average IT worker...

If you can't stand the heat, don't get out of the kitchen. Instead, prove you're worth more to your employer's bottom line. Your boss and/or their boss know all about it. It's how to justify a six-figure salary...

http://www.foxandcompany.com/pdfs/Dollarization.pdf

JTB
Have Certs, Will Travel
"A knight without armour in a [cyber] land."

 

[willir]

Same story, another post.

On the down side...
with all the outsourcing, especially to the Pacific rim, the industry is definitely taking advantage of the surplus of IT folks.

I heard on CNN a couple of weeks ago that more than 280,000 jobs were lost in the US when the IT bubble burst. That is a lot of talent and years of experience flying out the window (pun intended).

With the outsourcing trend, I think the stats were about 100,000+ jobs (so now we are at almost 400,000 jobs).

...but the report, which was trying to paint outsourcing in a positive light, more than 90,000 new jobs were created because of all the money saved by corporate America.

What they did not report on is if the jobs pay the same. I suspect not. If one is competing with a highly qualified person (meaning they had the training) who receives 1/100th of the salary (am I right on the 1:100? -- I think it is close), then there is definitely going to be downward pressure on salary and working conditions. I suspect the offshore outsourcing people, who have to feed their families too, are more willing than to work 60+ hours a week for what is probably a fairly good position within their culture and environment.

On the plus side...
You (and "robbieguy") are the supermen (and superwomen) who work smart, are extremely productive, and probably outperform others working simalar hours and pay. (Meaning what does it cost the business if a server goes down vs truck is late in leaving the gate)

I keep track of all my work. When it comes time for my performance review, I use the list (Access database) to review my accomplishments. Where possible, I tie performance to dollar value. Admittedly, tieing 100% SLA to a dollar value is tough. But down time for a server is say $10,000 per day or $10,000 per hour. By "our" superior proactive management and technical skills we saved X number of hours of down time.

Case in point. Recently, where I work, we went through a lot of transition. The old solution with SLA's and resource based, we had about 15 incidences per month with perhaps 25 hrs or less in outages. With the new, "cost effective" solution, we now have 75+ incidences per month with probably 200 hrs or more in down time. I would love to present management a cost analysis on this "cost effective" solution ;-)

Using your accomplishments, you should be able to make a very good argument on the value you add to the company. And if they disagree, you have lots of material to update your resume.

Why a list? Because you will forget lots of the little things you did that really did add value to your work.

Good luck SGTRawlins. And good luck to all the others who really do deserve a more than a pat-on-the-back for a job well done.

Richard

 

[SGTRawlins]

Thanks for the well thought out reply richard, all was much appreciated.

One additional comment to my posts is the way that the company has recently changed thier appraisal system.

Untill last year the company would give each member of staff an indevidual appraisal and interview where both the company and the employee may discuss a year passed and a years future.

This has recently been changed; once yearly all staff have one appraisal date. no interview is held and no discussions of an indeviduals contribution.

All pay rises are calulated on an overall company perormance. this usualy mena 3-4% rise in sallary.

This really suppresses and indeviduals ability to shine and earn that promotion.

 

[jtb]

Actually, a lot of foreign companies are starting to outsource stuff to America because we're more productive... over the last 3 years, it's a net plus to us...

The job market only stinks if you smell where everyone else is milling about...

Differentiate yourself! Get your career plan built! Get started on the certs your plan calls for! Get started on your potential employer research!

Do it now!!

JTB
Have Certs, Will Travel
"A knight without armour in a [cyber] land."