Salary for basic Linux jobs?

techinthewoodstechinthewoods Member Posts: 96 ■■□□□□□□□□
in Linux+
I've been appalled at the salaries I've seen lately for some basic Linux jobs. I saw a webhost looking for skilled Linux techs. Pay rate: $12/hour. The job description included a substantial skill set.

I saw a couple of junior Linux sys admin jobs with equally disappointing salary ranges.

Anyone here currently working in a Linux job and care to share your title and salary?

Thanks.
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Comments

  • ChooseLifeChooseLife Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
    *personal opinion* If the job has anything to do with servers, as is usually the case with Linux, minimum salary should start at some $50K/year regardless of the area.. Anything below that is below-the-market for any US state. Post more details about required skills and your area and perhaps the numbers can be narrowed down further...

    Yeah, some companies try to low-ball.. Part of life... Just ignore them, or if it makes you very angry, send a little note to the company indicating that what they are offering is far too low.
    “You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896

    GetCertified4Less     - discounted vouchers for certs
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  • wolfinsheepsclothingwolfinsheepsclothing Member Posts: 155
    Linux Systems Admin; currently earning $60k
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  • techinthewoodstechinthewoods Member Posts: 96 ■■□□□□□□□□
    wolfinsheepsclothing wrote: »
    Linux Systems Admin; currently earning $60k

    Thanks for the info. I just got the 4 pack of certs that you list in your profile: Linux+, LPIC-1, CLA, DCTS. I figure I'll need at least RHCSA to get on as a full admin. Did you have a lot of experience in order to get your Linux Systems Admin job?
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  • techinthewoodstechinthewoods Member Posts: 96 ■■□□□□□□□□
    ChooseLife wrote: »
    *personal opinion* If the job has anything to do with servers, as is usually the case with Linux, minimum salary should start at some $50K/year regardless of the area.. Anything below that is below-the-market for any US state. Post more details about required skills and your area and perhaps the numbers can be narrowed down further...

    Yeah, some companies try to low-ball.. Part of life... Just ignore them, or if it makes you very angry, send a little note to the company indicating that what they are offering is far too low.

    I agree 100%. I'm seeing a lot of lowball salary ranges, I just skip them over and keep looking.
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  • YuckTheFankeesYuckTheFankees Member Posts: 1,281 ■■■■■□□□□□
    @techinthewoods Do you have any professional Linux experience?
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  • techinthewoodstechinthewoods Member Posts: 96 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Yes, I've worked in web production for around 10 years. A lot of that work was on Linux servers. However, I was not a sys admin by any means, more of a tinkerer and just getting done what needed done on the command line or what not.
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  • ChooseLifeChooseLife Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
    techinthewoods wrote: »
    Yes, I've worked in web production for around 10 years. A lot of that work was on Linux servers. However, I was not a sys admin by any means, more of a tinkerer and just getting done what needed done on the command line or what not.
    You are well positioned for the next step. Extensive work history, experience with Linux and tech industry... Make sure you pick the next role carefully to make most of your potential, don't sell yourself short. Good luck!
    “You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896

    GetCertified4Less     - discounted vouchers for certs
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  • YuckTheFankeesYuckTheFankees Member Posts: 1,281 ■■■■■□□□□□
    ChooseLife wrote: »
    You are well positioned for the next step. Extensive work history, experience with Linux and tech industry... Make sure you pick the next role carefully to make most of your potential, don't sell yourself short. Good luck!

    Exactly what he said. With that type of experience and then possibly both Red Hat certifications...I would definitely see a sys admin position in your future.

    But I don't know if the RHCSA will be enough. If you do a search on dice, indeed, or simplyhired for RHCE and RHCSA/ RHCT (some companies still use the older name)...RHCE is definitely found a lot more (roughly 6:1).
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  • wolfinsheepsclothingwolfinsheepsclothing Member Posts: 155
    techinthewoods wrote: »
    Thanks for the info. I just got the 4 pack of certs that you list in your profile: Linux+, LPIC-1, CLA, DCTS. I figure I'll need at least RHCSA to get on as a full admin. Did you have a lot of experience in order to get your Linux Systems Admin job?
    You're welcome. I had three years Linux experience (Ubuntu/Fedora) prior to obtaining my current position.
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  • shred805shred805 Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
    I am a linux sys admin and make 40k, But this is my first year in the industry so I am happy!
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  • onesaintonesaint Member Posts: 801
    As noted by other users in other threads, Linux positions aren't certification centric like MS positions are. It really means that what you learn while studying for a cert is more important than attaining the cert itself. Then, when your resume comes across a hiring authorities desk, your experience is underpinned by your knowledge, and the certs are gravy.

    A good example, try searching for "Red Hat" or "CentOS" without the certs your hit will be far greater than searching for RHCE or RHCSA (RHCT).
    Work in progress: picking up Postgres, elastisearch, redis, Cloudera, & AWS.
    Next up: eventually the RHCE and to start blogging again.

    Control Protocol; my blog of exam notes and IT randomness
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