Increasing your market value with limited years in IT?

NoNameNoob

I've always been impressed how others on TechExams were able to climb the ladder either position or pay wise in such a short time. I'm trying to do the same as well and am very motivated to do so. In 4 months i'll have completed 4 years in IT. I'm currently salaried at 60k as a systems admin in the Philadelphia area. I've been in my current role for about 18 months and am looking to move forward. I have a B.S. in IT and a few cisco certs. In the past month i've received 2 offers in the $60k-$65k range. When I asked for more, they said they were unable to due to my current # of years in IT. I suppose the easiest thing to do is wait another year in my current position and start sending out resumes again. I was wondering though, as many of you are very motivated individuals.. If you had tips or advice to share that you used when you were in a similar situation? Thanks in advance.

paul78

That's kind of a weird response to get from a prospective employer. My first question is how did you go about justifying that you deserve more? For example, if an employer can afford it, you should be able to expect that if you can demonstrate value, any employer would be willing to pay for your value.

One approach you can take the next time is to negotiate on some goals and objectives such that the employer would be willing to pay you more after x number of months.

I don't particularly see any reason why you ought to wait another year.

mikey88

Specialize and obtain in demand expert level skills. For example, you state that you have a couple of Cisco certs but work as a System Admin? Your goals should be CCNP>CCIE. Want to stay in Systems..? Ok, MCSE, VMware, cloud, devops and whatever else is in demand in your area.

LeBroke

Beelined Linux then DevOps and now cloud architecture. Hit exactly 4 years in IT (not counting part-time work I was doing before my first "real" job) earlier this month. Currently in a senior SRE position at a midsize SaaS company.

DZA_

Earning more money (higher salary) equates to bringing in more revenue for the organization. If you're not in a client facing position then you can substitute it by contributing or supporting complex projects with higher budgets. Overtime, you will expand your expertise in your field or develop a specialty - I did this for a couple years which resulted in a higher salary.

UnixGuy

NoNameNoob wrote: »

.I have a B.S. in IT and a few cisco certs. ..

The highest return on investment for you will be a CCIE then a change of job. It's not easy but the payoff is insane

Or move to a pre-sales job

or get some cloud certs and move to another job

azi90

UnixGuy wrote: »

The highest return on investment for you will be a CCIE then a change of job. It's not easy but the payoff is insane

Or move to a pre-sales job

or get some cloud certs and move to another job

would like to know what Cloud certs you think are beneficial in the market

UnixGuy

azi90 wrote: »

would like to know what Cloud certs you think are beneficial in the market

Honestly all of them! I see AWS certs a lot, but any expertise in cloud will add value

LeBroke

Honestly I don't see a lot of people asking or caring about cloud certs. They generally want practical paid experience, even on a basic level.

Unfortunately, it's a catch 22 if you don't have experience, so certs are better than nothing.

Jon_Cisco

LeBroke wrote: »

Honestly I don't see a lot of people asking or caring about cloud certs. They generally want practical paid experience, even on a basic level.

Unfortunately, it's a catch 22 if you don't have experience, so certs are better than nothing.

This is a constant complaint but the simple truth is nobody was ever born with experience. You have been in IT for 4 years now you need to sell the skills you have learned during that time to your next employer.

LeBroke

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

This is a constant complaint but the simple truth is nobody was ever born with experience. You have been in IT for 4 years now you need to sell the skills you have learned during that time to your next employer.

I don't have problems with this... already mentioned I'm in an SRE role.

Just saying that I've never seen anyone go "oh, we're gonna hire this guy cause he's got an AWS cert." At best, I've seen a few consulting companies list it under "bonus points." At best, it might differentiate between two otherwise very similar candidates.

Honestly an RHCE probably gives better return on investment if you want to work in the cloud. At the end of the day, 90% of places want Linux skills before they want AWS skills.

You can learn AWS while doing Linux, but you can't really do the reverse. Unless you're a software developer to start with.

UnixGuy

LeBroke wrote: »

Honestly I don't see a lot of people asking or caring about cloud certs. They generally want practical paid experience, even on a basic level.

Unfortunately, it's a catch 22 if you don't have experience, so certs are better than nothing.

yes and no

People prefer the candidate to have experience, that would be the best possible scenario but it's not always possible. So certs are a great way to start, where you can learn things and practice in labs.

Keep in mind that 'experience' is not always a guarantee for quality. Some experienced candidates have a shallow experience with significant gaps in knowledge.


Another advantage of certs is to work for business partners/service providers, where an organisation benefits from employees having certificates.

tl;dr Certs will always add value, and they will enable you to gain experience and broaden your knowledge.

AWS Architect certs are worthwhile

LordQarlyn

I've said it before, the most sure way to add value to your marketability is to have a track record of accomplishments, that is, things you did that made your IT department or work area a better place. Accomplishments can make a difference in being an A-level employee or a B-level employee, which the difference in compensation (pay and perks) can be huge. Reflect back on your time with your current job and if IT, your previous jobs. Look for things you can jot down that you had a positive impact on. Even if it's simple as writing a new procedure that saved time, anything you can think of that positively affected your work area, it doesn't have to be big ticket stuff.

Yes, education counts.
Yes, years of experience counts,
And yes, certification counts, almost all IT job postings ask for specifics on all of the above.

But what can really help you stand out from the crowd and compel employers to want to really bring you aboard (and offer a juicy package to entice you), is a track record of getting things done and making things better (faster, more, or cheaper).