Attention Louisiana/Southeast Texas, what do you make?

JamesRF

I would like to start a thread similar to the one with everyone posting there salary+benefits etc but for Louisiana and Southeast Texas. I feel my pay is low and so I'd like some comparison to see if I am. Keep in mind I have 4.5 years experience in IT.

darkerosxx

I've found Louisiana ranges about 10-20% lower than the national average for all IT positions. Given, the cost of living is much lower in Louisiana than the national average, so there's that to think about.

Danielm7

Check out indeed.com, it should give you an idea of what the average salaries are for your role. Just the location won't be too helpful as you might be 4.5 years of helpdesk vs 4.5 years an a network engineer, I'd expect one to be roughly 2-3x as much as the other.

CIO

I'm in Houston TX and making 42k as a technical support specialist with 3yrs of experience

JamesRF

My job title is Computer Technician but I do some system admin too, and I make 30k a year.

I have 4.5 years experience btw.

jpike

I'm in New Orleans and make around 33k as Network Support with 1yr of experience.

jeremywatts2005

Just made another jump on jobs. Now moving from Hammond LA area at 80 K per year to Dallas TX for 115K a year. This time last year I was making 66K. My secret I keep changing jobs every 6 months. This is my 3rd job in 1.5 yrs. I think I am done for awhile till someone calls and offers more in a year. I am 36 and hold a Masters degree with 15 yrs of experience.

MrWiltz

I am from Southwest Louisiana (Lake Charles) and I work at a local hospital. I make $14 dollars an hour without any certs and 1 year experience. I am studying for my A+ right now.

JamesRF

Hey mrwiltz i'm gonna pm you. Want to see what hospital etc.I'm glad to see people from SWLA on here!

SixtyCycle

jeremywatts2005 wrote: »

Just made another jump on jobs. Now moving from Hammond LA area at 80 K per year to Dallas TX for 115K a year. This time last year I was making 66K. My secret I keep changing jobs every 6 months. This is my 3rd job in 1.5 yrs. I think I am done for awhile till someone calls and offers more in a year. I am 36 and hold a Masters degree with 15 yrs of experience.

What do you do and have you been changing jobs every 6 months for the past 15 years? I'm curious, has this ever come up in one of your job interviews? Since this time last year, what were your job titles and were they full-time permanent or contract?

jeremywatts2005

Good question on the interviews. It is all how you paintthe picture to the interviewer. I simply explain that I was performingcontracting work. Contracting work is pretty uncertain so changing jobs is necessaryto keep working. So when someone asks about the different positions I simplystate that it was a contract. If it was not a contract then I explain I tookthe position for additional experience and wanted to take more on. Being honestthough no one really has pushed me on that topic. I hold two Masters Degreesone in Info Sec and one in Digital Forensics. I also am nearly all butdissertation on my IT PhD. This combined with experience really opens doors. Icurrently have been working in incident response and forensics. This field is hot and in high demand for individuals with experience in the field. My experience as a Dean gave me some mad auditing background, combined with metrics reporting and management.

I have always changed jobs a lot, but not as much as I have done in the pastyear and a half. I was holding my career back by trying to stay with a job. Forinstance I was working in education from 2007 to 2013. My first experience intechnical education was from 2007 - 2011 and then they cut my salary. This iswhat started waking me up. So I moved to a different college group then anotherthen another. Finally after I saw my career in education was wage stagnate, Idecided to go back to Infosec.