Turn down a offer

I got a offer from a hosting company, they said $10.50 per hour, I felt so sad, because I wanted to work with them, they work with linux and Cisco equipment (I need hands on exp with Cisco equipment), it is 30 min from my home.

But at the same time I got a offer fro another company (staff firm) to work in Contract-to-hire for $17.00 in a manufacture company working with XP, Server 2003 and Pix (Cisco Firewall), they already sent me to drug screen. I will get the result tumorrow.

This was my thouts.

Raul

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TBLTZ

With CCNA I wouldn't settle for 10.50 an hour. You are worth more than that!

impelse

I thout the same. I do not have the exp with Cisco but I know what to configured it. Also I have exp with telecommunication and cabling voice and data. Also I have exp with Servers.

I think that because this is my first job in US. They can offer me a very low price.

Raul

Raul

networker050184

If you don't have experience with Cisco you are going to have a hard time finding a job working primarily with networks no matter what certifications you have. You might have to settle for the low pay for a while to gain experience and then move on to something higher paying once you have Cisco experience to put on your resume. A CCNA doesn't really help you too much with out experience to go with it.

jbaello

TBLTZ wrote:

With CCNA I wouldn't settle for 10.50 an hour. You are worth more than that!

$ 10.50 damn lol, usually when employers sends me this kind of offer, I reply back with "are you on drugs?" that's all up to you man.

jbaello

My 1st job as a real IT contractor I was making 21 bucks, and I had 0 experience just my BS in CS, you gotta what you gotta do, if you know what I mean.

rkholmes

I think that they make the CCNA hard enough these days that even CCNA paper tigers are worth $50K a year with the smallest amount of real world networking experience.

Perhaps a college student with no practical experience might get the short end of the stick, but still at $35 to $40K. That is way more than $10.50 an hour. Those poor saps working at Stream International are the only ones making those slave wages that I know of.

At $10.50 an hour, I would expect to hire a NOC 'monkey' to go power cycle servers and R/R the FRU's.

For what its worth, I don't even have my CCNA and earn $60K

Smallguy

when your first starting out you will not make a lot of cash in the first 5 years in IT the biggest ting is getting that experience and getting some certs to go along with it. My fisr real IT job was worknig in a micrsoft call center making 10.50 and hour

once you have 5 years experience you can begin to pick and choose and in some fields even write your own ticket

impelse

Everything that you said is right.

I have to begin from the low payment to get exp with Cisco, but I already have exp with server 2000/2003 and basic linux.

For that reason I try to get something more than that, probably today they give me the answer for the job of $17.00 hour.

Raul

networker050184

I think that they make the CCNA hard enough these days that even CCNA paper tigers are worth $50K a year with the smallest amount of real world networking experience.

I don't know where you are getting this information from, but with little real world experience your chances of starting of at $50k is VERY slim. It depends on the location also but low experience = low salary. After a few years experience than you might get into the $50k range.

impelse

I do not think that I will get that kind of money, I try to target something between $24,000 to $32,000 a year, but the offer they did to me for $17.00 in a staff firm thats good for me.

Also I got a call from a friend that in his company they offer me $18.00 for hour leading a voice and datas jobs (cabling), I have a lot exp. with that but I turned it down because I want to concentrate in IT. I know I have to begin low to increase my exp for a few years and ask more later.

Raul

Darthn3ss

meh, when i get my ccna i'll be more than happy to work for $10.50 an hour.

thats more than i make now

snadam

10.50/hr is roughly a little over 21k a year. My first helpdesk job I was making 30k. My friend (still in helpdesk) makes ~40k a year. Im not knocking on low-income jobs, but you can find a less "skillful" job at a fast food joint for more than 10.50/hr.

the range you are seeking is reaonable, and I wouldnt go any lower than that. I think the happy medium would be 30k. You should easily find an entry level job for that salary. Mind you, it all depends where you live as well.

either way, good luck!

rkholmes

impelse wrote:

I do not think that I will get that kind of money, I try to target something between $24,000 to $32,000 a year, but the offer they did to me for $17.00 in a staff firm thats good for me.

Also I got a call from a friend that in his company they offer me $18.00 for hour leading a voice and datas jobs (cabling), I have a lot exp. with that but I turned it down because I want to concentrate in IT. I know I have to begin low to increase my exp for a few years and ask more later.

Raul

Smart man turning down thee cable monkey job.

I know guys that have pulled cable and they all were SO HAPPY when they moved on to bigger and better things. It's sweaty, dirty, sometimes cramped, and itchy work.

Mishra

Definitely depends on where you live.

Darthn3ss

snadam wrote:

10.50/hr is roughly a little over 21k a year. My first helpdesk job I was making 30k. My friend (still in helpdesk) makes ~40k a year. Im not knocking on low-income jobs, but you can find a less "skillful" job at a fast food joint for more than 10.50/hr.

the range you are seeking is reaonable, and I wouldnt go any lower than that. I think the happy medium would be 30k. You should easily find an entry level job for that salary. Mind you, it all depends where you live as well.

either way, good luck!

lol... fast food paying $10.50 an hour? or more? yeah, i call BS on that one. i got started at mcdonalds a few years ago at 5.75.. a manager that had been working there since the mid 80s wasn't even making $11...

royal

Darthn3ss wrote:

snadam wrote:

10.50/hr is roughly a little over 21k a year. My first helpdesk job I was making 30k. My friend (still in helpdesk) makes ~40k a year. Im not knocking on low-income jobs, but you can find a less "skillful" job at a fast food joint for more than 10.50/hr.

the range you are seeking is reaonable, and I wouldnt go any lower than that. I think the happy medium would be 30k. You should easily find an entry level job for that salary. Mind you, it all depends where you live as well.

either way, good luck!

lol... fast food paying $10.50 an hour? or more? yeah, i call BS on that one. i got started at mcdonalds a few years ago at 5.75.. a manager that had been working there since the mid 80s wasn't even making $11...

Now I want a Big Mac.

I MUST RESIST!

jbaello

Nowadays you can work as a customer service and make more than this, at our company customer service starts at $ 14.00, companies always wants to pay less, eventhough they are making millions if not billions, corporate cares about shareholders and themselves, eventhough what we're making is enough to make ends meet, you need to hustle and negotiate in my opnion.

Just my 2 pennies.

jbaello

rkholmes wrote:

I think that they make the CCNA hard enough these days that even CCNA paper tigers are worth $50K a year with the smallest amount of real world networking experience.

Perhaps a college student with no practical experience might get the short end of the stick, but still at $35 to $40K. That is way more than $10.50 an hour. Those poor saps working at Stream International are the only ones making those slave wages that I know of.

At $10.50 an hour, I would expect to hire a NOC 'monkey' to go power cycle servers and R/R the FRU's.

For what its worth, I don't even have my CCNA and earn $60K

I lol'd haha

jbaello

rkholmes wrote:

impelse wrote:

I do not think that I will get that kind of money, I try to target something between $24,000 to $32,000 a year, but the offer they did to me for $17.00 in a staff firm thats good for me.

Also I got a call from a friend that in his company they offer me $18.00 for hour leading a voice and datas jobs (cabling), I have a lot exp. with that but I turned it down because I want to concentrate in IT. I know I have to begin low to increase my exp for a few years and ask more later.

Raul

Smart man turning down thee cable monkey job.

I know guys that have pulled cable and they all were SO HAPPY when they moved on to bigger and better things. It's sweaty, dirty, sometimes cramped, and itchy work.

I agree this is a smart move, a 5th grade can do cabling. Let the monkey do the cabling haha

sprkymrk

jbaello wrote:

rkholmes wrote:

impelse wrote:

I do not think that I will get that kind of money, I try to target something between $24,000 to $32,000 a year, but the offer they did to me for $17.00 in a staff firm thats good for me.

Also I got a call from a friend that in his company they offer me $18.00 for hour leading a voice and datas jobs (cabling), I have a lot exp. with that but I turned it down because I want to concentrate in IT. I know I have to begin low to increase my exp for a few years and ask more later.

Raul

Smart man turning down thee cable monkey job.

I know guys that have pulled cable and they all were SO HAPPY when they moved on to bigger and better things. It's sweaty, dirty, sometimes cramped, and itchy work.

I agree this is a smart move, a 5th grade can do cabling. Let the monkey do the cabling haha

Let's not start down that path. No point in critisizing another person's line of work. You might be surprised who you might offend.

networker050184

Cabling is a respectable job in my opinion. There are lots of things that go into it besides the actual physical laying of the cable. The outside plant (or cable guys) here are pretty damn smart and know a lot about fiber and other technologies that no 5th grader and especialy not a monkey could grasp. They seem to really enjoy their job as well.

impelse

Thats true, I run cablin for many years and you have to do good job to avoid problems in the future with the network.

Raul

Technowiz

$10.50 per hour for a CCNA isn't even in the right ballpark I don't care what experience you have or where you are located. A pc tech with A+ should be somewhere in the range of $15 per hour. The offer of $17 is reasonable but I wouldn't call it a good offer. If I were a CCNA with little to no experience I would be looking for something in the range of $20+ per hour with full benefits even in Houston. With a year or two of experience under my belt I would expect $50k+.

I know from personal experience that of all the entry level certs CCNA is probably the most respected and the most in demand. You worked hard to gain the knowledge and pass the CCNA. Don't short change yourself!

Darthn3ss

Technowiz wrote:

$10.50 per hour for a CCNA isn't even in the right ballpark I don't care what experience you have or where you are located. A pc tech with A+ should be somewhere in the range of $15 per hour. The offer of $17 is reasonable but I wouldn't call it a good offer. If I were a CCNA with little to no experience I would be looking for something in the range of $20+ per hour with full benefits even in Houston. With a year or two of experience under my belt I would expect $50k+.

I know from personal experience that of all the entry level certs CCNA is probably the most respected and the most in demand. You worked hard to gain the knowledge and pass the CCNA. Don't short change yourself!

well, when i get my CCNA and my A+/Net plus i'll drive to ATL and you can help me find a job paying $25-50k entry level with no IT experience.

impelse

Technowiz:

You are right. I took that job ($17.00 hour) because I will have the chance to work with servers and one PIX for a while (I think for 6 to 12 month), after that I will begin to look for a new job. In my resume I did not do anything for the last 4 years (yes I did some migration from windows 2000 to 2003 but I did not do to much about IT).

So for that reason to come back to IT I took it.

Raul

snadam

Darthn3ss wrote:

snadam wrote:

10.50/hr is roughly a little over 21k a year. My first helpdesk job I was making 30k. My friend (still in helpdesk) makes ~40k a year. Im not knocking on low-income jobs, but you can find a less "skillful" job at a fast food joint for more than 10.50/hr.

the range you are seeking is reaonable, and I wouldnt go any lower than that. I think the happy medium would be 30k. You should easily find an entry level job for that salary. Mind you, it all depends where you live as well.

either way, good luck!

lol... fast food paying $10.50 an hour? or more? yeah, i call BS on that one. i got started at mcdonalds a few years ago at 5.75.. a manager that had been working there since the mid 80s wasn't even making $11...

Well in Arizona, those kind of wages are here. You can see the "starting at $9-$10/hr" Signs on their windows (ie taco bell, burger king, In n' Out Burger, etc). I might have misspoken, because I don't think they make "MORE", more like the "SAME" as $10.50. And also that wage needs to be factored in with cost of living in your area as well.

My example anyway was more or less making a point that his offer was the same as some entry level job (ie fast food), rather than your entry level CCNA job.

Technowiz

Darthn3ss wrote:

well, when i get my CCNA and my A+/Net plus i'll drive to ATL and you can help me find a job paying $25-50k entry level with no IT experience.

I just made a career change a year ago into IT after 10 years as an electronics tech. I took a bunch of classes and got my first job with a small consultant serving small and medium businesses for $36k per year. That was with a lot of training but no certifications and no formal IT experience. Shortly after that I got my A+ and Net+. Worked there for 4 months and then got hired on as a level 2 network administrator for a bank at $45k. That was in April of this year. Since then I've finished Sec+, 70-270, and 70-290. If I can pass the CCNA before the 801 exam expires there is no reason I shouldn't have both CCNA and MCSA at the end of this year.

Now I did get a lucky break and I know my case isn't typical because I took a lot of courses with my GI Bill benefits and I've been working exceptionally hard to advance fast. But that being said, paying a competent tech that has put forth the time, effort, and expense to get their CCNA $20 or more per hour isn't out of line with the market that I see. It's a valuable skill to have and much harder to get than say A+ which if you have there is no reason you shouldn't be making $15 per hour. You can make 10-15 per hour or better waiting tables at a decent restaurant and how much brainpower does that take? Not to mention it's pretty tough to make a living on those kind of wages these days. Just my two cents...

People that say you need to give it 5 years before making good money I can't agree with. With hard work and knowing what your skills are worth you can get there a lot faster than that.

jbaello

I was kidding, every job is good, I started working at Best Buy, but if you got the certification and talent, you wouldn't wanted to be under employed is all I'm trying to tell him.

blargoe

Entry level is entry level. An entry into the industry of your choice. Why do they pay you so little? Because they can. There are too many people hungry enough to just get in and work their way up that aren't too proud to take a job that might pay less than a job that might be beneath them like fast food or customer service or whatever. So if the market price is $10.50, why should they pay $18-20 out of the goodness of their heart?

emmajoyce

This is just my opinion. It has to do with the people who say to start a new career making 8 to 10 dollars an hour. I agree that people shouldnt expect to come out of school making a fortune. I agree with getting experience and then maybe you can pick and chose. But come on people who can live on 10.50 an hour. Yes maybe a kid living at home while still " in school". Or maybe someone living at the local shelter. I was figuring up how much at the bare minimum I would have to make to live. It was around 15 an hour. This only included a one bedroom apt for 450. That is if I can find one that cheap. My 250/month car payment. The insurance for it. Electric, cable, gas, food. I didnt even include the minimum payment on credit cards or the student loan I had. God forbid If i wanted to maybe catch a movie or go out to eat. Everyone isnt fortunate enough to have a spouse to pay half or a best friend to split the bills. Yes dont expect to make alot, but you have to have enough to pay the minimum necessities. Which means no beer, no movies, no dating. For the people who dont have bills, yes that would be fine for a year or so, But answer this, What does the person do who doesnt have this luxury and has just graduated and has no experience.