Making a 100K+ after 4 or 5 years in IT?

Quick question...Has anyone here broke into 100K+ salary (base, without OT or bonuses) after only 4 or 5 years of IT or know someone who did? If so, what was the job/responsibilities? Is that really uncommon to happen?

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

martaw

Interesting comments... The reason why I asked is that I recently was offered a job like that. I am actually STILL floored by it. Almost like --- what in the world are these people thinking?!?!?!?!? I only have a little over 4yr experience! Let me tell you guys. I only have a 2yr degree from a local tech college. A couple certs (CCNA / CCNA security). I don't spend my after hours studying my butt off to get a bunch of certs. I definitely value work life balance Now, at work I do use downtime to read and do lab work, testing concepts going beyond what I am expected to know. I do that as much as I can to gain knowledge at work. Thankfully, I had a job that has a great "playground" for me to "get dirty" in. Then I would use those skills for production stuff.

I do have a tech knowledge that is not so common and is in demand... plus being blessed (or luck as some would call it). So, I'm offered this job... and will be leaving the company I started my IT career with... I started at the bottom there. I mean just taking calls and opening tickets for the most part. I worked my way up to a sr engineer all within 4yrs. Now making a huge jump to six figure territory at a new company. It's just SO surreal! I still think sometimes (omg, I hope they don't look too carefully again at my resume be like... wait we are offering what? to someone with how many years?) But anyway, looks like it defintely does happen. Seems to happen more with people with high certs. I am just happy to get this opportunity

Oh though I live in a good area for IT... It has a decent cost of living... not anything really high.

ChickenNuggetz

higherho wrote: »

It’s very possible and depends on the environment you are in. I jumped from a help desk role to a Jr sys admin role in 4 months and then 6 months after that I jumped into a mid / senior SA role and stayed in that spot for over a year. Once I gained enough knowledge and needed to move I jumped ship. I'm 20k from that 100k mark with just from that experience I gained (2.5 years total).

Is this practical? Probably not. I guess luck really was on my side because either people left or I volunteered to take their positions or got promoted into them because they could not fill them. I had a lot to show and adapting quickly really helped. Because of that, the higher management was impressed and gave more cash.

In the end you have to be with the right company, have great relationships with your management, have the right knowledge, exp, and certs. With this you can be in the driver’s seat of the car and ask for those high figures.

Roles

Help desk (4 months - same company) - video equipment / getting meetings ready / assigned to helping with all your microsoft / day to day issues

Jr Sys admin (6 months - same company) - Imaging, hardening, AD account creation / removal, backup of servers, patching ,etc

Mid / Senior Sys admin (17 months - same company) - Multiple servers / forests, server clusters, multiple sans, VPN, Firewall, back end network, Windows OS, build / design of old to new network ,etc

New role (close to 100k - new company) - basically the same as above but with more sans, Linux (addition to windows), and a little more back end networking

Qualifications

4 year degree, minor in buisness, an addtional two year degree, security + cert and the rest is really knowledge / experience gained on the job or read from certification books.

Your situation sounds like the path that I'm on with a few differences. Left a teaching career in June, did desktop support for 2 months then moved to a different company where I'm a Jr. Sys Admin and now they're starting to add on network deployments to my list of responsibilities. Your example gives me hope that in a few years I could possibly be breaking 70k, especially considering we're in the same region!

networker050184

king26 wrote: »

my question is can you get to 100k+ without a degree?

Yes you sure can.

paul78

king26 wrote: »

my question is can you get to 100k+ without a degree?

In IT- absolutely yes you can. But the circumstances to get there and beyond are multi-faceted. It takes hard-work, passion for the profession, some entrepreneurial spirit, and a little bit of luck. It's the same recipe if you have a degree- a degree can make it easier to get a career started and to open doors but it is possible without a degree.

jamesp1983

You can do it, just takes hard work and timing/location. It took me 7 years to cross that threshold, but I was really close after 6 years.

jamesp1983

king26 wrote: »

my question is can you get to 100k+ without a degree?

Absolutely! There are members on this forum that make more than that without a degree.

dave330i

@martaw,

Congrats on the new job. Nothing wrong with chasing after more money. Just make sure it aligns with your long term goals.

swild

Ive posted this link before, but it is a really nice cost of living adjustment calculator.

According to this, $100k in DC is the same as $66k in Charleston, just to put it in perspective.

networker050184

Agree with swild that is definitely something to keep in consideration. In places like NOVA, DC, SF Bay area, NYC, etc. $100k is not quite what it seems.

ptilsen

Yep, and $75K in Minneapolis/St.Paul is $100,000 in DC metro on that calculator. Still, I prefer to look at other factors to get a bigger picture. For example, I did some specific research on housing prices in desired Seattle suburbs vs. Minneapolis suburbs, saying I wanted to work for Microsoft or Valve, as opposed to, say, General Mills, or my current employer. To get similar commutes, similar house, neighborhood, school district quality would actually cost another $500-$1200 in monthly PITI (although only $200-350 for rent, but no thanks). The calculator takes either an average or median of home prices, which can be affected by outliers such as number of foreclosures or number of number of waterfront properties -- outliers that don't reduce or increase your cost of living, respectively, as much as they do the average.

So, to go a bit off-topic, for anyone considering a move, really research the area and your real costs. To work for in Redmond or Seattle I would really need 50%-70% higher pay. To work in DC or LA, I would need to double my salary. Triple or more for NYC. Cost of living calculators can really misrepresent your real costs because they consist of averages, medians, and can't take into account factors like commute, crime rates, school district, etc., which are just as important as take-home pay in quality of life, but can deviate drastically from the average based on target metro.

Getting back to the topic, I return to my original point: $100K really means different things. It has a long-held sort of mythical connotation to it because of that sixth digit. The truth is, it's just not that much money in a lot of metros, while it's a heck of a lot of money in others.

dave330i

ptilsen wrote: »

Getting back to the topic, I return to my original point: $100K really means different things. It has a long-held sort of mythical connotation to it because of that sixth digit. The truth is, it's just not that much money in a lot of metros, while it's a heck of a lot of money in others.

That's why I'm aiming for $200k+ in 4-5 years.

xocity

im jealous of everyone of you lol, making 100k+ in 5 years seems so far for some of us (me included) but just reading everyone's story is really inspiring, Ill be catching up soon

truckfit

inspirational topic

for future up and coming I.T pros

CodeBlox

I would say it's possible. I've got approximately 1.6 years IT experience and am over the 50k mark.

Psoasman

Slowhand wrote: »

It really depends on how hard you're willing to work, how well you present yourself, and how good you are at taking advantage of the opportunities presented to you.

In a span of 4 - 5 years, you could go from networking newbie to full-blown CCIE, you could go from basic PC tinkering all the way up to holding multiple MCSEs or the RHCE cert. You could obtain no certs at all but still nail down a LOT of knowledge that would help you on your way and build your path forward. In that same timespan you could work your way through community college and go on to either WGU or a brick-and-mortar institution, all while working and keeping up with your experience-building.

That's what I've done.

I'll admit that I've been working Help Desk / Desktop Support for nearly 5 years now. I switched from healthcare to IT. While I hadn't planned on staying at my current position this long, it has worked to my benefit. So, in 5 years, I've been able to earn my MCSE, a AAS in Networking and am close to finishing up my B.S. in IT from WGU. Once that's completed, I am planning on applying for higher level positions.

bryguy

rwmidl wrote: »

As itguy7 said, notice "most" of those who make 6 digits or more live in highly populated areas/IT centric areas (CA, DC area). Also remember the cost of living is much higher in those areas too, so $100k in the Bay Area may be only $35000 in FL (I'm pulling some random numbers).

You also have to balance that with your quality of life. My father, after working his tail off for 50+ years, upon retirement gave me some advice- he said, "Work so you can live; don't live to work like I did." He commuted 3.5 hours a day, to and from D.C., for a larger salary, and what he was left with was a bad back, resentful wife (up until the day of the divorce) and alientated children.

ptilsen

Psoaman, in my very strong opinion you should be looking now. A degree won't hurt, but the lack thereof is not holding you back. An MCSE can get you places -- places that aren't helpdesk.

higherho

swild wrote: »

Ive posted this link before, but it is a really nice cost of living adjustment calculator.

According to this, $100k in DC is the same as $66k in Charleston, just to put it in perspective.

This is true, I went from 41k in Northern PA to 67k here which was the same standard of living. However, that site states 1900 in rent? I found a place 8 mins outside of DC for 1240 a month (+ cats) with all utilities included right by a metro station. So my standard of living is actually higher than what it was in PA.

Now I'm making closer to 85k and my standard of living is much better than it was in PA (not to mention there is nothing to do in PA). Will I move into an apartment for 1900 a month? No, I can easily move 25 minutes outside of the city (Chantilly) and get a house for 250k with a payment of 1500 a month. Where the cheapest house in Alexandria I've seen was 400k (1.3 million in Old town VA). Apartment rates go down drastically 15 to 20 mins outside of the DC area and still near a metro.

When you come to these metro areas, just don't shop around online for a place to live (I did and could not find anything). Come down the area for a day or two and you will find some great deals in some nice locations.

king26

Higherho, i was just wondering if anyone did it from the northeast. i live outside of Philadelphia and i am salary range as you were. What part of pa were you in?

higherho

king26 wrote: »

Higherho, i was just wondering if anyone did it from the northeast. i live outside of Philadelphia and i am salary range as you were. What part of pa were you in?

Around the williamsport area

YesOffense

Yeah i'm about to start this journey, good stuff in here.

tpatt100

I got right under the 100K mark. Problem is/was it was above the norm for my area for quite a few jobs. It ended up causing problems for some job openings that I was interested in. Another thing I think might be a problem is depending on the area you could earn your way out of a job if lay offs are a concern for a company. Hopefully you are in a position where they have to keep you but if you are on the edge, I have heard of companies that look to cut off certain income brackets to downsize but also rehire younger cheaper talent.

Daniel333

martaw wrote: »

Quick question...Has anyone here broke into 100K+ salary (base, without OT or bonuses) after only 4 or 5 years of IT or know someone who did? If so, what was the job/responsibilities? Is that really uncommon to happen?

Location is key. That's pretty common in the San Francisco area assuming you are actually developing yourself, taking logical steps. Think 2-3 certs a year. Taking on new projects and challenges.

jsnchrry33

higherho wrote: »

This is true, I went from 41k in Northern PA to 67k here which was the same standard of living. However, that site states 1900 in rent? I found a place 8 mins outside of DC for 1240 a month (+ cats) with all utilities included right by a metro station. So my standard of living is actually higher than what it was in PA.

Now I'm making closer to 85k and my standard of living is much better than it was in PA (not to mention there is nothing to do in PA). Will I move into an apartment for 1900 a month? No, I can easily move 25 minutes outside of the city (Chantilly) and get a house for 250k with a payment of 1500 a month. Where the cheapest house in Alexandria I've seen was 400k (1.3 million in Old town VA). Apartment rates go down drastically 15 to 20 mins outside of the DC area and still near a metro.

When you come to these metro areas, just don't shop around online for a place to live (I did and could not find anything). Come down the area for a day or two and you will find some great deals in some nice locations.

exactly, I work in the DC metro area...actually I'm at Ft Meade (BWI area) and I make 100K and only commute 8 miles. My rent is certainly not 1900 a month. That figure is for apartments in DC. Also you have to consider that all the big government organizations are there such as the FBI, NSA and State Department. Theres a lot more chances for advancement in a short time.

Ismaeljrp

*bump*

It'd be really cool to know about more people's stories on how they have been able to get to the milestone, that any updates from previous users.

blinkme323

It's definitely possible, but a little luck and a lot of hard work will need to be involved. Frequent job-hopping can be one way to get there, but that can also hinder job searches down the line as it is frowned upon by most companies / recruiters (they know you are likely to jump shift after x amount of time).

datgirl

swild wrote: »

Ive posted this link before, but it is a really nice cost of living adjustment calculator.

According to this, $100k in DC is the same as $66k in Charleston, just to put it in perspective.

Thanks for the COL calculator, it will be useful when / if I think about jumping ship for seemingly greener pastures.

VAHokie56

I hit that mark,been in IT since 2009...really only been doing networking since 2011 I am in Virginia

olaHalo

Very motivational thread. Thanks to everyone who posted.

I jumped from 9$ per hour to 21.00 per hour in 3 months of working in IT.
Im hoping my next move up is just as significant!