Is this normal?

drew726

I've been working at my job for about 7-8 months. I started as a NOC Tech in the bay area and I make 55k + benefits and bonuses, which is about normal for a NOC guy in the bay. They're going to be hiring new CSR's so the NOC guys won't have to have face to face contact with customers anymore and they'll get paid less obviously. I'm going to move over to the system engineering side and the time I gain from not having to do phone/email customer support is a lot because it was like 75% of my job. I'll still be doing some tickets if it gets escalated to me, but i'll be mostly doing backend projects and I'll even have a new job title, Sys admin. I thought this would be a promotion, but it turns out I'm not getting a raise to go along with the new title. Did I get screwed? Now I feel a bit underpaid for my position but I do get to gain a lot more experience. What thoughts do you guys have about this?

paul78

I depends on the company and how it's organized. There are companies usually much larger ones where operations and engineering have equal level of skill and competencies required at each pay grade. So a move from the operations side to engineering could be a lateral move. Usually these are slightly more mature organizations.

I work at a Fortune 500 firm and the enterprise ops and engineering teams have the same career growth hierarchy in both groups. The level of technical skills required is equal - just the function is different. It's really about the mindset of build versus run. Some people's dna are better are building - some are better at running. But the skill required to do both are arguably equal. The ops folks are usually better are troubleshooting, the engineers better at design. When you are in a 24x7 shop but functions are equally important. It could even be argued that the ops side is more valuable to the success of the organization.

healthyboy

yeah you got law balled,

ask them for a increase

ChooseLife

Random thoughts:

1) If one expects an increase in compensation as a result of changes at work (promotion, lateral move, change of department, title or hours), they should discuss the subject upfront. Not doing so may result in a disappointment

2) Depending on how you've discovered that there is no salary increase, it may be possible to ask for it. If you are just waiting for someone to initiate the conversation, or this came out of a conversation with peers, talk to your manager. If you have asked your manager and have been told 'no' explicitly, well... you can (a) improve your case, and (b) focus on the bright side:

a) If the manager provided some reasoning for the decision, evaluate this feedback and see how you can address it - e.g. you can get required certs, get more experience, wait for department's budget approval, etc

b) Either way, look at it positively. I don't see you as a victim in this situation, because you basically stated that you are keeping the same salary and benefits, but don't have to deal with customers directly anymore, and get to work on more advanced projects. I just don't see how this is "getting screwed"

techdudehere

I assumed the bay area had a high cost of living. How do you make it out there on that pay? Can you afford to buy anything on that salary, take vacations, etc? I'd be concerned about the compensation, as well. Do you feel like you can move up in your new department or take the skills and go elsewhere? You need to figure out how to make money money, that's for sure. I know in the NYC area you couldn't make it on that and I assume it's as tough where you are.