How much am I worth?

wargamer6

I'm currently working for a school district. Last week I was told that I was being moved to full time status.

Tuesday or Wednesday is when I found out what my salary package will be. As this is my first full time IT job, I don't know what to expect to be making. I looked at some of the salary calculators but they seem high.

Here's what I have for my background:

BA History
AAS in Computer Science
CompTIA A+, Network +, Security +
MCITP Windows 7

Thanks.

daviddws

Most of the time the calculations seem to be a bit higher that what you could expect, especially in this economy. You have some pretty good skills so I imagine they would have to pay decently for whatever the cost of living is in your area.

wargamer6

I live in the Chicago suburbs.

snokerpoker

I would say 40k. After a couple years of experience, maybe MCSA or MCITP you should break or at least be very close to 50k.

ptilsen

I would also say 40K, maybe 45, if cost of living in the Chicago suburbs is what I think it is. You'd probably be worth more like 34-38K in the Twin Cities, based on what we know. Of course, your actual skill level and experience can impact this, and you could well be worth more or less dependent on that.

Anything less than $35K would be too little.

Edit: That said, I had a co-worker who lived in the Chicago area and made ~$55K. He moved here and took a ~$8K pay cut, but claimed that with cost of living differences between Minneapolis and Chicago, it was like a 30% raise to him.

NightShade1

now i wonder how much im worth in the US

AAS in Computer Science
CCNA
ACFE = Alcatel Certified Field Specialist
FCNSA = Fortinet Certified Network Security Administrator
FCNSP = Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional
ACMA = Aruba Certified Mobility Associate
ACMP = Aruba Certified Mobility Professional
MCTS:Configuring Windows Vista
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Network Infraestructure
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Hyper V

Got 4 years of Networking Experience.

Anyone?

wargamer6

ptilsen wrote: »

I would also say 40K, maybe 45, if cost of living in the Chicago suburbs is what I think it is. You'd probably be worth more like 34-38K in the Twin Cities, based on what we know. Of course, your actual skill level and experience can impact this, and you could well be worth more or less dependent on that.

I've got 3 months of paid experience and 2.5 years of volunteer "experience".

SteveLord

NightShade1 wrote: »

now i wonder how much im worth in the US

AAS in Computer Science
CCNA
ACFE = Alcatel Certified Field Specialist
FCNSA = Fortinet Certified Network Security Administrator
FCNSP = Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional
ACMA = Aruba Certified Mobility Associate
ACMP = Aruba Certified Mobility Professional
MCTS:Configuring Windows Vista
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Network Infraestructure
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Hyper V

Got 4 years of Networking Experience.

Anyone?

It is largely dependant on location.

NightShade1

on your location ?

wargamer6

NightShade1 wrote: »

on your location ?

Where you plan on working. Pay is going to be different in NYC vs South Dakota.

jody7734

Depending on the job title I owuld guess you should be getting $40 to 45k. Here in Texas the school districts pay a little less then pirvate companies but have much better benefits which is the trade off. I have found that the salary calculators tend to give a total compensation number which inculded cost of benefits. The important thing is that you feel you are being fairly compensated for the job you are doing.

NightShade1

That looks like a lil low i was expecting more ah well :P
It is becasue my professional certs are not cisco certs? ;P

ptilsen

NightShade1 wrote: »

That looks like a lil low i was expecting more ah well :P
It is becasue my professional certs are not cisco certs? ;P

Yes. $40-50K seems about right, depending on the region, your English skills, and the actual extent of your technical skills. No higher than $60K in an average metro such as my own, but potentially much higher in an expensive metro ($40K in NYC barely pays rent). Get your CCNP and a couple more years and you're taking $55-$85K, once again depending on many factors.

Not to detract from OP. I stand by my assessment of mid-30s for OP in Twin Cities metro, high 30s to low 40s for Chicago metro, with anything less than $30 selling yourself short.

NightShade1

Well i was just asking out of curiosity where i am i get paid pretty good(for my country standards)...
For now i was thinking getting cwna cwnp, acmx and cwne (i starting to like aruba a lot)

But well like i said it was just out of curiosity to see how was it if i decide to move to the US as my gf is north american, well we both live here but well who knows if there is a lot of money in there why not ?

Anyways to tell you the truth i was actually expecting something around 55k 60k at least.... for what i know but well thats what i think which could be wrong.

ChooseLife

I would say the pay depends to a large extent on the role one wants and his past experience. Certificates do not tell the whole story...

mguy

Wouldn't industry also play a factor into this?

Like if you work for the financials..

Roguetadhg

ChooseLife wrote: »

I would say the pay depends to a large extent on the role one wants and his past experience. Certificates do not tell the whole story...

^

Certificates and experience. If you have the talk (Certs) and can do the walk (Experience), you're worth more than just talking up a big fish story.

Not to mention where you lived, benefits, yadda yadda... There's a lot more to "Worth" than a resume.

wargamer6

I'm going again through the salary calculators. My issue is that there are different job titles for what I do. Am I a PC Technician? Or maybe a Help Desk Analyst? What about a Tech Support Analyst? It's confusing.

Priston

Salary calculators can't effectively calculate experience

Turgon

wargamer6 wrote: »

I'm currently working for a school district. Last week I was told that I was being moved to full time status.

Tuesday or Wednesday is when I found out what my salary package will be. As this is my first full time IT job, I don't know what to expect to be making. I looked at some of the salary calculators but they seem high.

Here's what I have for my background:

BA History
AAS in Computer Science
CompTIA A+, Network +, Security +
MCITP Windows 7

Thanks.

What you can make largely depends on what you can do for a company. Your career is still young and for a while you will be a wrench turner. So you want to find out what they earn. But then you want to move away from that kind of work. IT support is increasingly industrialised now, at least in perception if not in reality. When that happens, the wages fall. Whatever you do in IT over the next five years, you want to be adding commercial value to the company you work for, as opposed to just being really good at closing tickets. That stuff is important too, but in the eyes of the people running IT these days, they can always find someone cheaper to do that.

afcyung

I think something that IT lacks is that we as a profession don't do a great job of developing people. We don't try and get the help desk technician server experience time permitting. Its not unheard of but it is something that we need to improve on. The reason I bring it up is if we develop our people better that will in turn bring more value to the company and help take the wrench turners of today into the IT leaders of tomorrow.

networker050184

As much as you can talk someone into paying you. Thats all it comes down to really.

Turgon

afcyung wrote: »

I think something that IT lacks is that we as a profession don't do a great job of developing people. We don't try and get the help desk technician server experience time permitting. Its not unheard of but it is something that we need to improve on. The reason I bring it up is if we develop our people better that will in turn bring more value to the company and help take the wrench turners of today into the IT leaders of tomorrow.

Development of people in operations into something more than that has been atrophying for a while now. It will not get better and the trend will get worse. People in operations need to show initiative to get on, either within the organisation they work for, or without if the avenues are blocked. In many cases the IT leaders of tomorrow already know who they are. Be one of those people. A 5 year plan different from the rest can work. The command line is fine, but being able to run meetings, present arguments and be respected face to face is important too. My advice to anyone on TE is to work on your technical skills, but also the people skills and the charisma. Get it all right and you will be golden. Get it wrong and you will be wrench turning, until someone else does it.

chmod

Something that always helps me is to be proactive and not reactive and to always organize plans and ideas including ROI, financial suggestion and even providing business suggestions.
Forecast the IT business needs and try to develop plans to save money or avoid risks or even prepare solution for the future that will save company time/money or both.

If you can be more than a techie mean your worth more than an average techie.

Valsacar

Now I'm curious... I'm originally from Upstate NY, you can see my list of certs, 10+ years experience (broad IT, but obviously more than 5 in security) and BS is completed (starting MS in April).

higherho

To me this question depends on how good you are at Marketing. Get all the credentials you need and know what you're talking about . Then make your worth through marketing / networking skills.

On a side note it seems that Business knowledge + techie skills are a premium in certain areas.

joshmadakor

To the OP I would say $40k-$50k. Good luck!

ptilsen

Valsacar wrote: »

Now I'm curious... I'm originally from Upstate NY, you can see my list of certs, 10+ years experience (broad IT, but obviously more than 5 in security) and BS is completed (starting MS in April).

$60-$100K, depending on region, actual skillset, what you make now, the job, and your experience. CISSP is a big deal, but I can't tell if you are particularly skilled in any given subset of security, so it's hard to make a judgement.

Of course, networker050184's answer is the real one:

As much as you can talk someone into paying you. Thats all it comes down to really.

Valsacar

Heh, networker has it right. As for what ptilsen said, that's actually the range (I'm just above the base) that I'm making now. Network defense/pentesting is what I'm focusing on mainly.

networkjutsu

NightShade1 wrote: »

now i wonder how much im worth in the US

AAS in Computer Science
CCNA
ACFE = Alcatel Certified Field Specialist
FCNSA = Fortinet Certified Network Security Administrator
FCNSP = Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional
ACMA = Aruba Certified Mobility Associate
ACMP = Aruba Certified Mobility Professional
MCTS:Configuring Windows Vista
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Network Infraestructure
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
MCST: Windows Server 2008 Hyper V

Got 4 years of Networking Experience.

Anyone?

Hey NightShade1, I am scheduled to take V-IAW class which has ACMA exam at the end of it. Was it hard to pass? How do you keep it current aside from taking ACMP? I noticed that there's a 3 year expiration but Aruba's website does not have any information on how to keep it current without passing ACMP. I don't think I'll ever get the training for ACMP since our WLAN implementation here at work is so small to even justify taking the ACMP class, I think? Any information would be appreciated!

I apologize for hijacking the thread.

MAC_Addy

Since you're at a school district, I wouldn't say very much. You can look up the salary schedule for every district... They should list it on their website.