Junior/Associate Systems administrator salary

Hey guys, this is my first post here. I've been doing a lot of reading online to find a solid answer as to what a fair salary is for my current position. The problem is, i find such a wide variety of answers, so i would love to hear from personal experience from fellow IT guys. Without going into too much detail, here is a small overview of what's going on with my career, background, and knowledge level..
I am currently at a college in night classes for a bachelors in Information Systems and Management, and graduate within the next 3-4 months..I got my first IT job last year as a support technician for 30k.. after my review i got a 3% increase which was a whopping $900. It was a non profit so the pay was crap, but it was my first IT job and I had no certifications (other than attending vo-tech in highschool for IT Networking years prior) so I took it and ran. Having a mortgage and previously working in a union at a production warehouse, needless to say the pay cut still hurt a lot. As crappy as the pay was, I still got a TON of good experience. Hands on with hyper-v, AD, Exchange, symantec products, SQL, electronic health records, and a ton more. I really did more than your average "Support Tech"
As I was working at this job, I got my Network+ certification, and I acquired my MCP by passing 2 Microsoft exams for Windows Server 2012; the 70-410, and the 70-411.

The pay was killing me so i started applying for junior administrator positions. I finally got a job as an Associate Systems Administrator, and by time I left my support tech job I had 11 months in the field. As excited as i was when i received the offer letter, I was immediately dissapointed when i saw the starting salary of 35k. Being a pretty recognized company in my area, i was expecting at least low to mid 40's. I didn't bother trying to negotiate the salary because I didn't want to ruin the opportunity, nor step over my boundaries considering i only had 11 months experience, and a few certs.. I actually felt pretty lucky to move to the sys admin side this quickly. I figured after my 6 month review if i was doing well i would get a decent raise to a competitive salary.
Since I have been here, i have learned so much it's crazy. Managing several hundred VMs in VMware, building servers such as WDS for imaging, managing PBX, learning very little linux based systems, troubleshooting major issues with systems such as exchange, and so much more.. I honestly feel like in 6 months i have grown more than a typical admin could in 2-3 years. I'm not being cocky, but i've really been exposed to so many different things at this point.

I recently passed my 3rd Microsoft exam which means i now have my MCSA in Windows Server 2012. My review is coming up and i want to really fight for a better salary so i don't need to struggle anymore.. Plus I'm finishing college soon so loans will make it impossible to pay my bills at such a low salary..My review is any day now, so i'd like to know what i should fight for.. Now, what do you think I am currently worth?
Major factors:
Location is Reading/ Allentown PA area
Current experience: 1.5 years
Certifications: Network+, MCP, MCSA

Any help/ advice would be appreciated! Thanks guys

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Comments

Deathmage

It's funny this reminds me of myself about 2 years ago asking these exact same questions.

I personally think you got your foot in the door and hit the ground running and got certifications along the way (your experience plus the fact you maintained your certifications counts for a ton), which is a excellent mentality to have as a IT professional, and you seem to be able to handle yourself well..

This is what I would do, ask for 50k and if they say no, start looking for another job. If you give notice and they want to keep you they WILL do what they can to keep you, if not, just chalk it as experience and move on to another job within the 50k to 60k range. Basically as you know, probably from your last job, if a company has no intention of paying you more over the course of time then it's not a solid future for you with inflation as a bare minimal example.

markulous

Which area are you in? That has a big impact on your salary. I'd also check out salary.com or glassdoor and compare salaries for that position in your area.

RHDS2K

I definitely have hit the ground running. I like too many expensive things to not be successful in life haha. I definitely think that 50k would be a fair salary, but my father who is a PMP project manager in IT as well as my good friend who is an IT manager both said they don't think there's any chance they'll give me that much of a raise. As mentioned It's in the Allentown area. When i search glassdoor indeed, payscale, etc they all say average is 46-56k.. I feel as if 10k is a large grey area when you are talking about a salary at this low of a range. That's why i was hoping for some input. Another thing to keep in mind is i have the most MS certs at the company and we are an MS partner, so my certifications help the company with licensing. Thanks for the replys so far!

anhtran35

Is relocation an option?

RHDS2K

Well I do like my job and i'd prefer to stay here for a while longer because the amount of knowledge i get here is amazing.. With that being said, my end goal is to end up in Project Management for IT. I'm actually almost considering moving down to Atlanta with my good friend that moved down there for a really good paying job. I'd just need to rent my house out which shouldn't really be a problem since i'm in a pretty desired area.

Deathmage

RHDS2K wrote: »

Another thing to keep in mind is i have the most MS certs at the company and we are an MS partner, so my certifications help the company with licensing. Thanks for the replys so far!

More the reason to keep you, if they loose you they can't be certain they will keep there pricing for Volume licensing....could bite them in the butt.

Morale of the story is this, ask for 55k and be able to negotiate, but you can always negotiate from higher to lower than from lower to higher...

RHDS2K

Deathmage wrote: »

More the reason to keep you, if they loose you they can't be certain they will keep there pricing for Volume licensing....could bite them in the butt.

Morale of the story is this, ask for 55k and be able to negotiate, but you can always negotiate from higher to lower than from lower to higher...

I completely agree with you. Sad part is that a 10k raise to 45 would be a 28% increase..15k to give me 50,000 would mean a 42% increase. I'm certainly going to try my best but I feel like they won't even consider those percentage increases to be an option... which is kinda bs, because those percentages still leave me at the lower end of the bell curve. I'm going to state my case and let him know why i specifically need more money, which i know isn't really his business or his concern, but i'm thinking it may be a good idea to make him rationalize my needs. But then i'm also 100% going to backup my reasoning mentioning the fact that i'm well aware i'm underpaid, i'm educated, I have several important certifications, and the work i've done for him speaks for itself. Only a year and a half in the field or not, when i'm implementing VPN systems, troubleshooting major issues related around exchange/ vmware, handling all of the support needs for our employees both local and remote, as well as client issues, i believe i should be compensated much better. Worse case scenario as you said, i can chalk it off as a great learning experience.

I still wish some junior admins could chime in about they experience level/certs/etc and see what they think.
Thanks again!

networker050184

Yeah a 28-42% raise is usually pretty unrealistic. These things are usually covered in HR standards and would take someone pretty high up to get around it which means you have better done a lot of good stuff they can use as ammo to get it for you. This is why you see people having to jump from job to job to get significant pay raises.

RHDS2K

networker050184 wrote: »

Yeah a 28-42% raise is usually pretty unrealistic. These things are usually covered in HR standards and would take someone pretty high up to get around it which means you have better done a lot of good stuff they can use as ammo to get it for you. This is why you see people having to jump from job to job to get significant pay raises.

Yeah, I completely agree with you. It's not even a smart decision from a company point of view, but that's how it works. Retraining someone new is one of the most expensive things to do.

anhtran35

Keep in mind that location is EVERYTHING. Allentown PA is not exactly a hub for IT I assume. You may want to check the bigger cities( Philly/DC ) etc...cost of living is higher but so is the salary. I would suggest you bare it till you get the 2 year mark. Stick everything you do on your resume. List yourself as an Windows System Administrator and start hunting for job opportunities.

-hype

Our junior sys admin job (Philly metro area) was offered 45-55k, pretty sure they got the high end of that. Also, the person was an internal candidate who did desktop support.

If I was you, I would apply to different jobs right now. That way if they don't give you a big bump (which you damn sure deserve) you can bounce.

MeanDrunkR2D2

If you are thinking of relocating to Atlanta, that would probably give you the biggest bump in pay and amount of opportunities out there for you. If you are young, and have nothing other than the house keeping you there you are only young once and now is the time to make that move. I'd of course job search and find something prior to leaving though because you don't want to be stuck unemployed in a new area with no support system in place. It's definitely possible to find something when you don't live there, just let them know that you are relocating there in the near future and would only need a 2 week notice so you can wrap up things at your current job, and hopefully can move over a weekend. (If you can get a 3 week notice for starting that would be better so you can actually get settled in somewhat)

As far as your house goes, I'd probably look at selling it as renting out a house can be a nightmare to deal with when you aren't local. If it's in a desirable neighborhood you shouldn't have any issues selling it and the market is hot right now. Good luck!

RHDS2K

Yeah Allentown certainly isn't the highest paying area. I'd love to work in an area such as Philly or Exton because the pay is so much better, but I really don't want a 1.5 hr commute to work every day

I have started applying to other jobs already as a safety net, but i'm hoping it works out because I do really like being here. I'm supposed to have my review anytime between now and 1 week from now, and i get my raise numbers in the beginning/mid Feb. I'm just going to continue to do as much as i can to impress the boss between now and then. Fingers crossed.

coreyb80

Funny you mention ATL MeanDrunkR2D2 as I'm considering the move there this summer w/ the family. Good info as I currently do Desktop Support in my current position and would like to go there to step up and do some System Admin work.

RHEL

You need to worry less about the salary number and more about gaining skills and having a recognizable company with systems administrator on your resume for a couple of years. Most companies will not even consider you for the higher paying roles without the title with previous experience on the resume.

About 5.5 years ago, I graduated from a major state university for undergrad... I had multiple interviews, but took the first offer I received 1000 miles away for the title "UNIX System Administrator" for a global company. Pay was a measly 36K, but a low cost of living area. My parents thought I was nuts, especially when my student loans equaled out to be multiple times that.

Get the title, absorb as much info as you can, take advantage of all the nice company benefits (mine paid for grad school), and then jump ship a couple years later for a MAJOR raise.

Here's how my progression went... mid 30s --> (2.5 years) --> low 60s --> (1.5 years) --> low 70s --> (10 months) --> Offers for 90-100K

RHDS2K

RHEL wrote: »

You need to worry less about the salary number and more about gaining skills and having a recognizable company with systems administrator on your resume for a couple of years. Most companies will not even consider you for the higher paying roles without the title with previous experience on the resume.

About 5.5 years ago, I graduated from a major state university for undergrad... I had multiple interviews, but took the first offer I received 1000 miles away for the title "UNIX System Administrator" for a global company. Pay was a measly 36K, but a low cost of living area. My parents thought I was nuts, especially when my student loans equaled out to be multiple times that.

Get the title, absorb as much info as you can, take advantage of all the nice company benefits (mine paid for grad school), and then jump ship a couple years later for a MAJOR raise.

Here's how my progression went... mid 30s --> (2.5 years) --> low 60s --> (1.5 years) --> low 70s --> (10 months) --> Offers for 90-100K

Thanks a lot for the timeline with the figures, that's very helpful. I really wish i could just sit back and relax where I am, but as mentioned with my school loans coming within 6 months or so, I financially can't afford to. It's not even a matter of wanting newer and nicer things (which obviously everyone wants), but at this point, it's honestly about making sure i'm making enough to get by and being compensated fairly for my skills. I know having the "Associate Systems Admin" title will help open doors especially because I work for a technology company that is widely known for having billion dollar clients. Once again i do feel lucky to have my position and to have gotten it with so little professional experience, but 35k is very unpractical for what i do. That's less than a typical help desk worker around my area lol

philz1982

Here's the deal, what leverage do you have. You can Google how many certs and of what type are required for MS partner volume discounts. Once you know this assess your workforce, if they lose you are they negative on certs or positive? How close is it to re-validation of their partner level. If they just got gold 1 month ago then they have 11 months to find someone if you leave. However, if they are up for eval in 1 month then it will be harder to replace you. So...

1) Find out your current partner level and cert reqs
2) Count how many people in your company have the certs
3) Know when they go up for re-eval (usually end of CY).
4) If the number will be neg 3 or 5 with you leaving time your exit and then play the number game. If they will still have enough to be certified then your S.O.L because you then do not have the leverage you think they have.

Going from 48 points to 40 points on a 10M number is easily worth a 20k salary bump for an employee. Be aware though there are tens of thousands of MCSA and if played wrong they could temp your position in a few days.

RHDS2K

For anyone that may be curious/read this later on, I had my review yesterday. I brought up the fact that i was done with college in 2 months and i know i was brought in at a very low salary. he said he understood that and he was in the midst of talking to the VP about that. He had a lot of good things to say about me and said he was really impressed with what i've done so far because they expect a lot of us. He kind of hinted that next years review will consist of my being promoted to system admin instead of associate system admin. Supposedly they are talking about giving me a "Significantly larger than normal" raise due to the fact that i'm finishing up college. They are supposed to let me know the dollar amount either friday next week, or in 2 weeks. Problem is that I dont know what significant means to him. Technically at my salary 5k would be significant -_- but anything less than 45 i'm requesting more and if i don't get it, unfortunately i don't have a choice but to leave with school loans etc coming up. I've put my resume out there and i've had about 7 employers contact me this week alone.(I guess my MCSA helps a lot, becuase last time i barely got any bites) I've had several phone interviews and have an interview scheduled for today after work as well as Monday night. I'd prefer to stay here atleast another 6 months because it's good experience, and i'd like to transition into project management.. I guess i'll know my fate in a week or 2!