Am I underpaid?

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

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rpsteele

I'd say so, I have a BS with one cert (picked it up 2 months ago) and I make just over 40k doing desktop support for a non-profit.

LarryDaMan

_maurice wrote:

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

YES.

You live in Seattle not Bangladesh. You are highly qualified and 35k in that area is barely above the poverty line.

I lived there for 3 years in the mid-90's, beautiful place. Find a new gig!

Good luck

Daniel333

_maurice wrote:

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

Define your job? Tier 2 could mean anything. On other hand if tier 2 help desk means, what it meant in my career...

What else have you done? If nothing, you might have over certified, which in turn makes you look paper certified. Very bad.

CCNA is a good move, but again, the CCNP should represent a couple years experience configuring routers. Might be a bad move to move forward with that.

cdad2000

I totally agree. Seattle is well in the IT loop, and with those cred you should be ranking 60K + along with full benefits, here in the big city. Go and get your 20K + raise.

sthomas

_maurice wrote:

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

How much experience in IT do you have?

mamono

cdad2000 wrote:

I totally agree. Seattle is well in the IT loop, and with those cred you should be ranking 60K + along with full benefits, here in the big city. Go and get your 20K + raise.

You have more credentials than server system design solution architects that my last company and they were paid $60k minimum salary with full benefits. I concur with cdad2000 and everyone else, you are underpaid.

_maurice

I have 3 to 4 years experience in IT. All of my jobs have been in support centers, never administrator positions. I have been in-and-out of thousands of networks, and have fixed/seen every mistake under the sun.

My current job has me fixing dozens of VPN configs daily. Definitely not paper cert.

msnelgrove

I was making 45k as a Senior Technician with A+ Net+ and Sec+. You deserve a raise!!

jbaello

Are you a chik?

you probably kick my azz with your leet skills...

I really think you should be making a little more than what you are making now...

jmanrta

LarryDaMan wrote:

_maurice wrote:

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

YES.

You live in Seattle not Bangladesh. You are highly qualified and 35k in that area is barely above the poverty line.

I lived there for 3 years in the mid-90's, beautiful place. Find a new gig!

Good luck

I am lucky to live in an area with a low cost of living (Pittsburgh,PA) It's not uncommon to see houses listed for under $50k and AREN'T in crummy crime infested slums.

$35k a year is not too shabby for around here.

But then again the down side to all that is this gives employers an excuse to pay lower salaries and wages.

BradleyHU

well first off what do you do exactly?

and damn, with a Bach and MCSE & CCNA, you're underpaid...

Slowhand

It sounds like you could be making more money, based on where you live and your credentials. Having a low income can hold you back when you go seeking new work, so try to get something better now, before you have your CCNP. Employers always ask that loaded question, "how much did you make at your previous employer", and will try to get away with offering you something slightly higher than that, rather than what the position you're applying for is woth. You might end up working as a CCNP for $50K per year, when you could be making $65K - $70K, for example.

ULWiz

I have to agree that you are underpaid at this point. I currently have my A+,Network+, MCTS Vista Cert. I am currently enrolled in school as well. my Curent pay is 42K a year with just that.

Go see what else you can find out there.

snadam

_maurice wrote:

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

how many years experience do you have?

while I think for that area (assuming its much like the Bay Area COL wise) you are grossly underpaid, experience plays a factor too.

EDIT: Apparently I cant read, 3-4 years experience should be enough to get you to a much higher number.

Project2501

_maurice wrote:

I have an Bachelors degree, MCSE, CCNA, and I am currently studying for the CCNP. I make $35,000 / year. I work level 2 support for a very well known firewall/VPN company.

Am I underpaid?

In a word yes.

I'm working towards getting my CCNA. I'll be getting 45k in a month. I've got 2+ years industry experience in lvl 1 help desk and my interests provide me with the rest.

AmpdChaos

dude.. I don't have my bachelors degree yet.. and got two certs.. 1 year of experience and got a job making 42k doing IT stuff... In San Diego btw.. I would at least let your employer know that you are looking elsewhere.. maybe they'll get scared and give you a raise..

jbaello

Talk to your employer, and explain to them how you are underpaid, and should be making x amount of money, also if they are unaware outline your credentials to them, there is no harm in doing so. If it doesn't work and you get bad vibes, don't worry you are worth more than what you are making right now.

undomiel

Slowhand wrote:

Employers always ask that loaded question, "how much did you make at your previous employer",

I just wanted to point out that you don't have to answer that question when the employer asks. They don't have a right to your salary history and you can refuse to give it. It may get a few HR department's panties in a bind but for the most part in my experience the issue isn't really pressed if you firmly let them know that your salary history is confidential. This makes it hard for them to try and low ball you.

sthomas

_maurice wrote:

I have 3 to 4 years experience in IT. All of my jobs have been in support centers, never administrator positions. I have been in-and-out of thousands of networks, and have fixed/seen every mistake under the sun.

My current job has me fixing dozens of VPN configs daily. Definitely not paper cert.

Well, with that amount of experience and with your current qualifications you are way underpaid. Unless you are extremely happy with your current employer and the experience is excellent then I would say it is time to look for something more challenging.

jamesp1983

definitely

shednik

jmanrta wrote:

I am lucky to live in an area with a low cost of living (Pittsburgh,PA) It's not uncommon to see houses listed for under $50k and AREN'T in crummy crime infested slums.

$35k a year is not too shabby for around here.

But then again the down side to all that is this gives employers an excuse to pay lower salaries and wages.

Where do those places exist...my house needs a good bit of work, and I live in Mckees Rocks the house is still worth 85k...not sure where in Pittsburgh you're referring to

paintb4707

Cert's don't make your salary, your experience does. With that being said, I definitely think you're underpaid for someone who has been in the field for 3-4 years.

Not sure of the cost living out there, but I've been in the field for about 1 yr 1/2 and making $32k. I was making this with no degree, just recently graduated last month. About to ask for a substantial raise (considering I've been with my company a year now) so we'll see how that goes.

mrhaun03

undomiel wrote:

Slowhand wrote:

Employers always ask that loaded question, "how much did you make at your previous employer",

I just wanted to point out that you don't have to answer that question when the employer asks. They don't have a right to your salary history and you can refuse to give it. It may get a few HR department's panties in a bind but for the most part in my experience the issue isn't really pressed if you firmly let them know that your salary history is confidential. This makes it hard for them to try and low ball you.

What if you lie to them to try to get more out of them? You know, so you don't get low balled and maybe get a little more than your worth.

paintb4707

mrhaun03 wrote:

undomiel wrote:

Slowhand wrote:

Employers always ask that loaded question, "how much did you make at your previous employer",

I just wanted to point out that you don't have to answer that question when the employer asks. They don't have a right to your salary history and you can refuse to give it. It may get a few HR department's panties in a bind but for the most part in my experience the issue isn't really pressed if you firmly let them know that your salary history is confidential. This makes it hard for them to try and low ball you.

What if you lie to them to try to get more out of them? You know, so you don't get low balled and maybe get a little more than your worth.

Yeah I hate that question. Personally I think previous salary history is irrelevant. You're worth what you're worth at the time of the interview, not what you were getting paid from the last company you worked with for 3 years.

I mean let's say you work with XYZ company for 3 years and they give you maybe a $4k/yr raise for the time you've been there. In reality, that 3 years of experience (from the time you started till the time you left) on your resume is worth a lot more than $4k/yr. The reason for this is because we all know it's pretty rare to get a substantial raise from within the same company, you usually have to go elsewhere for a big leap.

Any company that would try to use that to low ball you is pretty stingy imo.

mrhaun03

shednik wrote:

jmanrta wrote:

I am lucky to live in an area with a low cost of living (Pittsburgh,PA) It's not uncommon to see houses listed for under $50k and AREN'T in crummy crime infested slums.

$35k a year is not too shabby for around here.

But then again the down side to all that is this gives employers an excuse to pay lower salaries and wages.

Where do those places exist...my house needs a good bit of work, and I live in Mckees Rocks the house is still worth 85k...not sure where in Pittsburgh you're referring to

I'm right on the northside, so all the houses around me are in crummy crime infested areas.

But home is where the heart is.

jmanrta

shednik wrote:

jmanrta wrote:

I am lucky to live in an area with a low cost of living (Pittsburgh,PA) It's not uncommon to see houses listed for under $50k and AREN'T in crummy crime infested slums.

$35k a year is not too shabby for around here.

But then again the down side to all that is this gives employers an excuse to pay lower salaries and wages.

Where do those places exist...my house needs a good bit of work, and I live in Mckees Rocks the house is still worth 85k...not sure where in Pittsburgh you're referring to

This is just from what I've heard. Though 85k is still pretty low. From what I understand that same house in LA or San Francisco would run atleast 150k if not more.

LBC90805

jmanrta wrote:

shednik wrote:

jmanrta wrote:

I am lucky to live in an area with a low cost of living (Pittsburgh,PA) It's not uncommon to see houses listed for under $50k and AREN'T in crummy crime infested slums.

$35k a year is not too shabby for around here.

But then again the down side to all that is this gives employers an excuse to pay lower salaries and wages.

Where do those places exist...my house needs a good bit of work, and I live in Mckees Rocks the house is still worth 85k...not sure where in Pittsburgh you're referring to

This is just from what I've heard. Though 85k is still pretty low. From what I understand that same house in LA or San Francisco would run atleast 150k if not more.

Same house in LA or San Fran for 150K is rediculous. Try closer to 350k or even more.

networker050184

LBC90805 wrote:

Same house in LA or San Fran for 150K is rediculous. Try closer to 350k or even more.

I was thinking the same thing. I didn't know they still had houses in LA for 150k.

Kevin10686

come to maryland...you can't even get a 2 bedroom 1 bath condo for under 200k. its crazy. houses that use to cost 100,000 now cost 200,000 and up

blargoe

Do you have any glaring defects in your employability? Were you making even lower pay in the jobs you held prior to this job? If not you shouldn't have agreed to take this job for that salary.

I agree with whoever it was that said that not making more now might hurt you when you try for a more advanced job later.