What am I worth (based on my cets and skills)

About 10-15 years experience as a tech assoc but mostly at the local computer mom & pop tech shop fixing PC's

Certification wise I have
210
215
A+
2 Netork+
Security+
MCSA (270, 290, 291 and 260-2008 PRO)
working on getting CCNA.

With all those certs and the CCNA under my belt how much can I ask for on interviews (and not get laughed at)

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Comments

Tackle

What ever someone is willing to pay you.

. I would say 40k max in my neck of the woods (Minnesota). You would need hands on with Servers/Switches/Routers to be worth more.

Everyone

Bad news is it sounds like all of your experience is at an entry level job, so probably not near as much as you may be hoping for. If you had more progression in the last 15 years, you could be "making bank" right now, as they say.

It also depends on the area you want to work in, the size of the company, what kind of company it is, what kind of job, etc.

tr1x

40k if you're lucky. The certs don't matter with no experience.

Do you have any equipment and server OS's at home? That would count as experience if you use that, just got to spin it the right way in an interview.

ptilsen

Tackle wrote: »

What ever someone is willing to pay you. . I would say 40k max in my neck of the woods (Minnesota). You would need hands on with Servers/Switches/Routers to be worth more.

I would say mid-40s in the central metro area would be feasible.

If you don't have any real server or networking experience it's going to be tough, but not impossible, to get a decent salary. I would say "settle" for $30-$35K ($14-$17/hr), hope for $35-$40K ($17-$20/hr). But that's based on my knowledge of the job market in my region. Your results may be very different based on your region.

N2IT

ptilsen wrote: »

I would say mid-40s in the central metro area would be feasible.

If you don't have any real server or networking experience it's going to be tough, but not impossible, to get a decent salary. I would say "settle" for $30-$35K ($14-$17/hr), hope for $35-$40K ($17-$20/hr). But that's based on my knowledge of the job market in my region. Your results may be very different based on your region.

Spot on. Law of dimishing returns on your experience, once you hit year 5 in the same role the other 10 years are not accruing value, not as a deskside repair guy. Higher level roles like sys admin or business analyst it would, but not deskside.

Your certs are okay the MS are old and the net+ has very little financial value.

270-290 are solid certifications and the CCNA would be nice. That could bump you a bit if the right opportunity arose.

I'm thinking top 22 usd best case 15 worse and somewhere inbetween as probable. With the CCNA and the experience I would look for a networking position. Something that can move you up eventually. Maybe a NOC where you can move into a network operator 2 role and then continue to learn from that position.