How to make 200K+ in IT?

From most job descriptions I've seen, it looks like most individual contributor tech jobs cap out salary around the mid 100Ks. I'm wondering what one would have to do to get past that and into the 200Ks or above, without going into management or sales.

Any advice on how to make 200K+ in tech as an engineer? Do you believe this is possible outside of one of the high cost of living tech hubs, like NYC and Silicon Valley? What skillsets or industries do you think this is possible in?

Does anyone here make above that? Are you on a salary? Do consulting? Entrepreneur, contractor? What kind of work do you do? Do you enjoy it? Did you pick to do that tasks the job entails or is it highly-paid because it's work others avoid? What advice would you give others looking to be in a similar position as you?

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lloris_20

There are lot of things more interesting to chase than money for me.

dialectical

With all of Iris' certs, I would be disappointed if she's making under 2 million/year. Especially the CIW

The thing about being a consultant is that you can have as many clients as you can manage. Each of those clients might represent 100k income streams. If you can help them mostly remotely, then I see how one might push the 7 figure mark.

The only standalone job I've seen offer 300k+ on a job board was for a security engineer: ground up security architecture. Then again "architect" has already been brought up here repeatedly.

Next week I start my first 6 figure job (115k) as an NSX engineer, and I am no where near you high rollers but it is a pretty good step for me. I was told that if I dig in that there should be a lucrative bump to consultant right around the corner. After I train in that long enough I should have the experience to try the consultantship stacking trick. However, I would prefer to be able to do that while also holding a steady job. I see consultants make a lot of money but I also see them sweat when they are in between clients.

TheProf

To be honest location means a lot! I worked as a VDI architect in the last 3 or so year, meaning I was a technical architect, doing the sizing, design, architecture, and integration, jack of all trades, etc. Made some good change, not 200k, but well over 100k.

I recently got into pre-sales, but the compensation for me seems to be a bit different as I have a Base + Commission. In sales roles like pre-sales, you could make into the 200k, but you have to be at the top of the your game.

The other option that I see, is contracting.

DoubleNNs

I'm more so wondering how to get 200K+ outside of high Cost of Living areas.

NetworkNewb

Just saw a recruiter on LinkedIn post the following job ad...

[FONT=&amp]URGENT - Global Application Security Manager required to join a leading, fast growing Cloud Managed Service Provider, within their Managed Security Services division - Build, develop and grow the Application Security Team from scratch - $200-240k + Bonus + Benefits - home based (anywhere in the US)/minimal travel [/FONT]

higherho

Technical Sales Engineer - Depending on what company you work for, compensation can be really big on top of your normal salary
Highly Qualified Engineer - This is were your CCIEs and other high level certifications fall under. Granted in certain area's and most of the time for consulting gigs.

IT Management - Managing IT people and being skilled in IT is the cream of the crop imo. Management has a higher pay ceiling and always will. Being a leader, being able to effectively communicate technical needs into the business needs = $$$$. The percentage of IT that can do that isn't as high as the other two gigs I mentioned above.

NoNameNoob

aderon wrote: »

Yep, definitely not long term. But, I've often wondered what it'd be like to do that for 7-8 years and then come back with a few million and retire young.

I think more realistically, 1-3 years probably makes more sense though.

Where would one find postings for these jobs? My google fu is failing me, I see a lot of links discussing it but not many actual job postings.

blargoe

It is unlikely that you reach that mark working for a corporate IT department unless you move into management in a high COL area.

Iristheangel

dialectical wrote: »

With all of Iris' certs, I would be disappointed if she's making under 2 million/year. Especially the CIW

The thing about being a consultant is that you can have as many clients as you can manage. Each of those clients might represent 100k income streams. If you can help them mostly remotely, then I see how one might push the 7 figure mark.

The only standalone job I've seen offer 300k+ on a job board was for a security engineer: ground up security architecture. Then again "architect" has already been brought up here repeatedly.

Next week I start my first 6 figure job (115k) as an NSX engineer, and I am no where near you high rollers but it is a pretty good step for me. I was told that if I dig in that there should be a lucrative bump to consultant right around the corner. After I train in that long enough I should have the experience to try the consultantship stacking trick. However, I would prefer to be able to do that while also holding a steady job. I see consultants make a lot of money but I also see them sweat when they are in between clients.

Huge congrats on the new job!

Iristheangel

TheProf wrote: »

I recently got into pre-sales, but the compensation for me seems to be a bit different as I have a Base + Commission. In sales roles like pre-sales, you could make into the 200k, but you have to be at the top of the your game.

Yes and no. Depends on where you went into pre-sales (which VAR, vendor, etc) and whether you're a generalist or specialized. Without getting too specific, I started out as a general SE and got a big bump to go to a more specialized architecture. I've only spoken to one or two other vendors and they seem to have the same kind of structure but depending on the vendor, lower and higher end of the payscale can vary. I see most folks I know in VARs make good money compared to the average enterprise employee but they have to work REALLY hard for that $200K. I worked my way up and now it's more about breaking barriers above that.

dustervoice

Can someone tell me how to make this kind of money in South Florida!

Iristheangel

@duster - My two friends in south Florida both are making that kind of money but doing two different things. First one is a data center architect/consultant working remotely the whole time and the other is in presales. They needed to break into that market and he was a 2x CCIE with strong post-sales and pre-sales work previously so they asked him to name his price and he did with his base being well above the $200K mark. They said yes.

TechGromit

aderon wrote: »

Yep, definitely not long term. But, I've often wondered what it'd be like to do that for 7-8 years and then come back with a few million and retire young.

Might be just enough to pay for your medical care in an insane asylum, living in a shipping container working 12 hours a day 6 days a week will take a toll on anyone. If I could hack it for two years, I'd save enough to buy a house when I returned.

dustervoice

Iristheangel wrote: »

@duster - My two friends in south Florida both are making that kind of money but doing two different things. First one is a data center architect/consultant working remotely the whole time and the other is in presales. They needed to break into that market and he was a 2x CCIE with strong post-sales and pre-sales work previously so they asked him to name his price and he did with his base being well above the $200K mark. They said yes.

Thanks for this response. Seems like I need to give up Infosec

dave330i

DoubleNNs wrote: »

I'm more so wondering how to get 200K+ outside of high Cost of Living areas.

1. Go work at a large vendor (Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HPE, VMware etc) as an architect.
2. Move to low cost of living area.

the_Grinch

Enjoy the public sector too much so 200k a year will never be in my future (and 100k will take a really long time if ever). But I figure I'll be starting my LLC in the next year and hoping that takes me to where I need to be. I'd settle for no student loans at this point.

Iristheangel

On a fun note, got this in my email today:

And another person in one of the study groups I'm in:

(Granted - $175K isn't $200K in Atlanta but it's probably much more than that with the CoL adjustment change)

Oppt1.jpg

Oppt2.jpg

sillymcnasty

I feel way more poor after reading this thread than when I began.

NetworkNewb

sillymcnasty wrote: »

I feel way more poor after reading this thread than when I began.

+1 lol, I would say yea I'll get there someday. But honestly I wouldn't want to do most of those jobs. They sound like they would require too much work/time.

Props to those who have spent the time to get there and to keep at it tho.

Linguistics

dave330i wrote: »

1. Go work at a large vendor (Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HPE, VMware etc) as an architect.
2. Move to low cost of living area.

How does one move to a lowCA but work for one of those companies? Are you saying remotely? And, how long (years, experience) would one need to grab a gig like that?

Iristheangel

Linguistics wrote: »

How does one move to a lowCA but work for one of those companies? Are you saying remotely? And, how long (years, experience) would one need to grab a gig like that?

Because typically after you get the job, they can't lower your rate of pay and depending on the role, you'll be working at home or at the customer site most of the time.

---- typing this in my PJs.

dave330i

Iris explained how. As for years of experience, it took me 5 years.

paul78

DoubleNNs wrote: »

From most job descriptions I've seen, it looks like most individual contributor tech jobs cap out salary around the mid 100Ks. I'm wondering what one would have to do to get past that and into the 200Ks or above, without going into management or sales.

There are definitely individual contributor jobs in tech which pay more than 200K. Presumably you are talking about in the US. It's really just about supply and demand. There are some skillsets which command 200+ salaries - especially in small high-growth companies (especially in some VC-backed companies where time-to-market is an imperative). These jobs are usually fairly short-lived if the company doesn't survive but for certain skills, there are there. In particular, certain software engineering skills are in high demand - especially senior and principal level software engineers.

DoubleNNs wrote: »

Does anyone here make above that? Are you on a salary? Do consulting? Entrepreneur, contractor? What kind of work do you do? Do you enjoy it? Did you pick to do that tasks the job entails or is it highly-paid because it's work others avoid? What advice would you give others looking to be in a similar position as you?

Yes - I've made about double that. I'm primarily in management and I've always favored compensation where a chunk is variable and performance based. To be honest, I didn't always enjoy it. So I've decided to leave management and do something a bit more entrepreneurial.

As for advice - I really think that everyone needs to find their own path. But to be highly compensated - you either have to have an in-demand skillset (like the software engineering skills I mentioned) or you have to truly understand the industry that you are in and align yourself with in. I have always worked in the investment services segment of financial services and I know that industry well - so I've always aligned my skills to that industry.

Good luck.

MitM

I'd be happy with 130-150K

aderon

NoNameNoob wrote: »

Where would one find postings for these jobs? My google fu is failing me, I see a lot of links discussing it but not many actual job postings.

The jobs are fairly hard to find. But, definitely not impossible. Search for these keywords on any job board and you could probably find 10-15 relevant IT related postings within 20-30 minutes.

"war zone"
warzone
oconus
hostile
"hostile environments"
"hostile fire zone"
"fire zone"
afghanistan
iraq

Slowhand

There are lots of ways to go about it, as everyone in the thread have said, but I think the common element between all of them is how hard you're willing to work. Whether you're shooting for a management position, becoming an architect, a consultant, or chasing whatever new hotness that's hitting the industry, you're going to have to spend a lot of time learning, labbing, working, and growing. An advanced degree doesn't hurt, neither do certs, but you have to go beyond all that and be willing to do more than others in your company, and in your field in general, if you want to stand out and be a high-paid rock star.

Like a wise man once said, though, the race is only with yourself. Striving for high-paying jobs is great, but you're still working on yourself and your own goals, so don't feel like you have to make it there tomorrow. Some of us take a couple of years to get to high-level positions, others may have taken decades.

For example, I have been far lazier than I should and spent the last 10 years screwing around, with some bursts of effort here and there, and am only now pushing myself to really advance beyond my sysadmin roots. Naturally, whenever I look at Iris' LinkedIn page I develop the overwhelming urge to drink heavily and sob while sitting in my bathtub.

UnixGuy

@Slowhand true about the challenging certs/labs however a LOT of those jobs are sales-y in nature so spending time labbing might NOT be the most optimal path but it's certainly one path

TechGromit

DoubleNNs wrote: »

[h=2]How to make 200K+ in IT? [/h]

Well if you want to switch sides, you could utilize you knowledge to hack into your companies servers and steal money or information. It's perfectly fine so long as you don't get caught.

jamesleecoleman

TechGromit wrote: »

Well if you want to switch sides, you could utilize you knowledge to hack into your companies servers and steal money or information. It's perfectly fine so long as you don't get caught.

Hack the planet!

dialectical

TechGromit wrote: »

Well if you want to switch sides, you could utilize you knowledge to hack into your companies servers and steal money or information. It's perfectly fine so long as you don't get caught.

Was that Lunatic+ certificate honorary? I am having trouble finding it on Pearson Vue.