Got a job in NYC making 57K.. at my current job I'm making 52K

cowill

Those small companies don't want to pay anything, anywhere...57K is not a lot in NY...

on the flip side of that, you only have 1.5 years in I.T.......so...In the small picture, you aren't doing good....in the big picture...if you don't have a degree....you are doing WELL for yourself.....Don't let anybody else tell you that you aren't.

You have to be honest with yourself and do some soul searching....


Are you worth more than 57k at this point in your career? 1.5 years in????

Could you take the skills you get here and make you maybe 70-85k in a year or two? How marketable are the skills you learn here going forward? ...etc

paul78

systemstech wrote: »

I do have some things to consider.

Are you actually thinking about not taking the offer? From the brief description, it sounds like a decent opportunity.

zeetskeet

You can do better. I got almost six figures with just an internship experience and zero certs right out of college. I did go to a very good school though and graduated from a very good program.

hurricane1091

zeetskeet wrote: »

You can do better. I got almost six figures with just an internship experience and zero certs right out of college. I did go to a very good school though and graduated from a very good program.

Lol. This isn't normal.

zeetskeet

hurricane1091 wrote: »

Lol. This isn't normal.

Hmm, and I think I get under compensated. A lot of my class mates ended up with good jobs in big firms so I was under the impression that this is normal. Living expenses in the CITY are crazy. I did complete my masters though.

SteveLord

Best advice is to leave Jersey all together! I did 7 years ago and don't regret it one bit.

kenrin

Blackout wrote: »

5-7 years of experience here in Raleigh, NC gets you 90-100k a year (Depending on the technology) Very good salary for a low cost of living state.

Please don't come to NC, too many northerners already. Plus more jobs for me

apr911

danny069 wrote: »

I think you misread my comment, let me rephase, 57 is better than his last job. (period) it doesn't matter what location he is working at.

Danny, dont think the period does much to support the case. Granted, in the ops case, it doesnt sound like he'd be moving or relocating so in that scenario maybe it's less important but location can make a big difference.

When I was in San Antonio and now in San Diego, I routinely got offers for positions in San Francisco and New York offering me significantly more than I was or now am making but a 20k increase from where I am now or 40-50k increase from where I was in San Antonio definitely wasn't "better" than my last job. Numerically in a bubble, sure but in reality I'd need significantly more to make either location liveable.

Again, it doesnt sound like this fully applies to the op as it would be an increase in his income within his current cost of living bracket but as others have pointed out, working down town comes with its benefits as well as its own headaches (not the least of which is commute) which may or may not be seen as a benefit or cost center for the Ops. While the employer may be covering commute expenses in this case, adding even an extra half an hour to the commute each day means a 5 less hours at home with family each week which may be more valuable than a 5k increase plus covered commute expenses.

Again where I am now, if the option is a 10% increase (52->57 = 10%) and a 10-mile commute mostly on I-5 vs my current pay and a 7-mile commute on local roads, I'd want to know what else the company is offering me (not necessarily in compensation but questions like is the job more in line with what I want, are the benefits better, the work environment more relaxed or schedule better) because that bump may not be worth the aggravation of dealing with traffic & the time expense there in (especially if it means having to get up earlier in order to make it in on time).

systemstech

Guys,

After careful consideration, I did decline the job. I truly felt that the 5K raise wasn't good at all. It's a small MSP, a one man shop. The clients are incredibly small. I would have been traveling ALL over Manhattan to different clients. I literally would have been doing everything. Desktop support, networking, server administration, and consulting. The amount that MSP's bill out consultants vs the amount he was willing to pay was ridiculous.

Also, it would of doubled my usual cost of gas to drive to my job. Also, my taxes would have went up drastically. I told him that I was sorry, but I couldn't do it for less than 60K.

danny069

Good for you, I know there are a lot of jobs with financial companies in Jersey City nowadays.

slee335

zeetskeet wrote: »

Hmm, and I think I get under compensated. A lot of my class mates ended up with good jobs in big firms so I was under the impression that this is normal. Living expenses in the CITY are crazy. I did complete my masters though.

damn what school and degree was this. i guess if you completed a master degree but i usually only here this in the finance business area. Never heard of people in IT field making that much even with master out of school. the one area i possible think of is programming for a huge financial firm like Goldman

paul78

systemstech wrote: »

I told him that I was sorry, but I couldn't do it for less than 60K.

Just my 2 cents but the difference of 3K over the course of a career is inconsequential. Did your prospective employer accept your counter? I may have approached it a little differently as I'm generally willing to take a little risk. Given the additional information that you provided - if it's really a one-person company - I would have considered countering with taking less pay if the company paid my commuting expenses and if I could get a percentage of the revenue and any upselling at an existing customer. Although, that entirely would depend on the customer base and the industry that was being serviced.

Blackout

kenrin wrote: »

Please don't come to NC, too many northerners already. Plus more jobs for me

Regardless the secret is already out. They have been coming in mass the last couple of years.

Cisco Inferno

Lifelong New Yorker here,

57k is great in NYC.. for Helpdesk/Desktop Support. Systems Engineer, not so much.
At 1.5 years of experience, hope that your role is not just glorified help desk; which happens alot.

There are many maaaaany so called "Systems Engineers" that do not do anything on servers than an AD Password reset.
This devalues the market. To add insult to this, many consulting/recruitment firms(spawns of satan) try to push their clients/job titles as Systems Engineers when in fact they do not deserve such a title.

The pay really relies on your past job experience, and the responsibilities of this job.
Could you please provide such info?

dehgrah

Preach!

BradleyHU

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

Lifelong New Yorker here,

57k is great in NYC.. for Helpdesk/Desktop Support. Systems Engineer, not so much.
At 1.5 years of experience, hope that your role is not just glorified help desk; which happens alot.

There are many maaaaany so called "Systems Engineers" that do not do anything on servers than an AD Password reset.
This devalues the market. To add insult to this, many consulting/recruitment firms(spawns of satan) try to push their clients/job titles as Systems Engineers when in fact they do not deserve such a title.

The pay really relies on your past job experience, and the responsibilities of this job.
Could you please provide such info?

basically!!! my exact thoughts...if it's help desk, and doing password resets, account creations, application installs, then for 1.5 years, $57K is great. If you're doing true SysAdmin, SysEng type work, then yes, $57 is kinda low....

apr911

paul78 wrote: »

Just my 2 cents but the difference of 3K over the course of a career is inconsequential. Did your prospective employer accept your counter? I may have approached it a little differently as I'm generally willing to take a little risk. Given the additional information that you provided - if it's really a one-person company - I would have considered countering with taking less pay if the company paid my commuting expenses and if I could get a percentage of the revenue and any upselling at an existing customer. Although, that entirely would depend on the customer base and the industry that was being serviced.

Paul78 is right on. 3k is pennies... Its barely more than $50 more per week and that's pre-tax. You undervalued yourself but more than that you probably shot yourself in the foot. If I were the guy and I started off with an offer of 57k and you came back at me with 60k, even if 60k is doable Im going to say no and maybe I offer 58.5k or maybe I dont counter at all... and if you tell me 60k is the lowest you can do then I'll just drop you and move on.

Number 1, People dont stick around for their "lowest they can do" and number 2 if you're quibbling over 3k now what happens in a year or 2?

As Paul78 said you probably could have gotten more than 57k and more than 60k but you have to do your research first. You cant just say I want 60k and you cant say that its what you need to make it work. Convince them you deserve 60.

For that matter, you probably could have gotten 60k AND a part of any new business.