What pay range for a help desk position?

I have my Associate of Applied technology Degree and my A+ Certification but no real work experience in the IT field. The job I applied for started at 13 an hour but minimum wage is around $10 in Washington State. I feel that I should be paid 14-15 an hou and yes I understand that pay is whatever the company wants to pay you but I wanted thoughts on this.

What is a fair number that you guys think I should be asking for given my degree and A+ cert? 14, 15, 16 an hour?

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Comments

Xyro

It depends on the area. It's $9/hr. where I am.

The # I hear most throw around is $12/hr., so it seems you're doing better than most.

webgeek

Is this your 1st tech job? Don't know about Washington state but I started with $12 years ago working for a major ISP having no certs.

SlayerX

Yeah webgeek this is my first. 12 with no certs wow and they are offering my 13 and I have a cert and a degree I just don't want to take less then what I should be making that's all

webgeek

Really depends on the cost of living plus the size of the company. I say get your foot in the door then move up.

Psoasman

SlayerX wrote: »

I have my Associate of Applied technology Degree and my A+ Certification but no real work experience in the IT field. The job I applied for started at 13 an hour but minimum wage is around $10 in Washington State. I feel that I should be paid 14-15 an hou and yes I understand that pay is whatever the company wants to pay you but I wanted thoughts on this.

Most of the Help Desk positions I've seen for entry-level are in the $12-$16 range. It does depend on the company, though. Help Desk guys at my place start out at $19/hour.

Once you get some experience, then that will help a lot.

SlayerX

Psoasman what area are you in where they pay that well? Seattle, West side? I'm in Spokane.

Dakinggamer87

Psoasman wrote: »

Most of the Help Desk positions I've seen for entry-level are in the $12-$16 range. It does depend on the company, though. Help Desk guys at my place start out at $19/hour.

Once you get some experience, then that will help a lot.

That's about the pay range here in California for entry-level helpdesk positions

coreyb80

Here in Chicago I've seen as low as $12 all the way up to $20 an hour for Help Desk. Depends on the company and/or agency that's doing the hiring.

miroa12004

I was going to ask this, I graduated last July from the German University in Cairo, IET, Networks Major. I am CCNA certified and I'm working on a couple of other certifications, particularly EMC2 Information Storage & Management and either MCITP or JNCIA. I will have to move to Boston by August max, so I was asking if someone there in Boston knows which agencies should I contact and the average salary for a help desk engineer (which I will take as an entry to gain experience cause I think I won't get any jobs with my limited experience)

xocity

in miami it goes from $10 - $17 ish depending on company. When I started I was at $15 and had A+/N+

Mutata

I think it also really varies based on responsibilities - You really need to find out the scope of your responsibilities in an interview to really determine whether or not the pay is similar to other positions in the area. I am noticing the "Helpdesk" term is really being thrown around loosely lately. Personally I try to stay away from evaluating a position based on title and focus more on what I am responsible for. I've seen Helpdesk professionals with more responsibility than some System Admins.

Meditator

Yes, it depends on the area. Take a look at this job description down in Miami, FL- where there are more IT workers than job itself, so companies are able to pick and choose at lower pay:

Network Support (Miami)
Network Support Assistant:
- 1 year minimum experience for a professional with an MIS degree or related field. Please read requirements carefully, and only apply if you meet all of the requirements.

Responsibilities:

- Remotely monitor and perform Pro-Active maintenance tasks on customer's servers and workstations.
- Help network users remotely and over the phone with e-mail, internet, printing, office applications, and day to day network issues.
- Keep track and clearly document customer issues and provided solutions.
- Schedule on-site and remote network support and installations.
- Document IT setup procedures and customer network layout.

Requirements

- MIS Degree or related field.
- CCNA certification is required.
- MS Active Directory certification is required.
- Bilingual: English and Spanish.
- Able to properly estimate time required for resolving various issues and manage time and calendars accordingly.
- Able to work on multiple issues, prioritize, and take proper action to complete the task at hand.
- Ability to consistently find and provide a solution to customer's request within agreed response time.
- Integrity & Responsible
- Previous troubleshooting experience, SQL Administration, MS Exchange experience, IIS, Visio.

Location: Miami
Compensation: 30K Starting Salary

xocity

saw that post on CL yesterday, I was going to post it here. That is kind of rediculous. Its about $14/$15 per hr and requires a degree, 1yr exp , CCNA, experience with SQL, IIS and Exchange. -_- makes me upset knowing that my market sucks for I.T.

Mike-Mike

Depends on your location as others have said, but I made 38k as a contractor for Service Desk

ptilsen

$13-16 was the going range when I was started a helpdesk job in 2006 in MN. I've seen higher and lower, but that was the standard. I still see starting pay around that range for those jobs.

Cost of living is a big factor, but I wouldn't go under $10 in any city. People in rural areas might have to take whatever they can get, but I think $10 is the absolute minimum otherwise. For Washington state, $13 seems to be the on the low-end, depending on skills. I am inclined to support your self-assessment of $14-15 being a more appropriate range. I obviously cannot speak for the Washington market, but I can tell you I would expect a pay raise to move to the Seattle metro from the Minneapolis metro, and I made more than $13/hr seven years ago with only an A+.

ITdude84

Here in Missouri it varies in between $13.00 to $20.00 per hour that depends on experience and company worked for all well. Never hurts to shoot for the middle of the payscale (DOE) if you are fresh out of college, with no Experience, that will be a little harder to pitch. Really like the others have said, depends on the company and who wants to give you a chance in the end.

LarryDaMan

This was just released

IT Salary Survey 2013 - Computerworld

coreyb80

This is one of the best postings I've seen in a while for a Chicago area IT gig entry level in Help Desk.

IT Help Desk - 8 Positions

NotHackingYou

Which side of the state are you on? If you are near Seattle it will be much different then if you are near Spokane or Yakima.

Akaricloud

Honestly knowing Washington well I would say that's pretty decent for the east side of the state. If we were talking about downtown Seattle I would expect you to make more, but Spokane has a much cheaper cost of living (35-40% last time I checked).

hoelschera

10 to 15 in Austin.

Psoasman

SlayerX wrote: »

Psoasman what area are you in where they pay that well? Seattle, West side? I'm in Spokane.

I work in Tacoma, WA

Akaricloud

Remember, while there are a lot of helpdesk positions that pay better, there are also many that require years of experience. When looking for something entry level that is willing to train you expect to be on the lower end of the payscale.

I had one that paid $20/hr but they were also looking for someone with 3+ years of experience and willing to do a lot more than just the traditional entry-level helpdesk role.

CodeBlox

My first IT helpdesk job paid me $12.50/hr. I moved on to helpdesk with another company and the pay was roughly twice that but they didn't want a noob, they wanted someone with a few years of experience. I was promoted from the helpdesk to Systems Admin and make a fair amount more now given that I had no prior SysAdmin experience other than my self taught knowledge of Cisco and AD. It's working out nicely too. I love this place.

Complete_IT_Professional

Try to think of it an annual salary rather than an hourly rate. Depending on the area, you should be between 30k and 40k for a starting position, moving up to 50k-55k for a senior position.
The salary survey link above could provide more information.

SlayerX

All good points made here guys thanks for the help!

Nyblizzard

Man... the Helpdesk where I work (all with 5+ years of experience) get paid in the $80,000 range

Sponx

I know based on some of the companies I have worked for that Help Desk usually starts around $12/hr with full benefits, and the ability to work from home as well as work a lot of overtime. Usually "Help Desk" positions vs. "Desktop Support" positions are very trivial troubleshooting, and not a lot of real in depth technical knowledge/experience is needed as you follow processes more than you actually dive into in-depth diagnostics.

I think $13/hr (assume it's full time, and full benefits?) is fine.

networker050184

Nyblizzard wrote: »

Man... the Helpdesk where I work (all with 5+ years of experience) get paid in the $80,000 range

Location is key. $80k in NYC is only about $30k here where I am.

Cisco Inferno

Nyblizzard wrote: »

Man... the Helpdesk where I work (all with 5+ years of experience) get paid in the $80,000 range

not entirely true for the entire city. I've seen people that capable ranging in the 50's