More Pay/Less Technical vs Less Pay/More Technical

Whiteout

Not really sure what to do here. I have several promising prospects: one as System Analyst, being less technical but paying about 55k. Another being a support engineer paying about 45k.

A little background about me: This will be my first "real" full time IT job. Prior to now I have been in school and the military.

That being said would it be detrimental to my career to take a less technical position and continue to work on getting certs? The jobs are both in Seattle, so more money is definitely a big factor.

My goal is to be in a system engineer position in a couple years from now.

Thanks!

instant000

If you know exactly what you want to be doing, then you should make a plan that works backwards from that point and choose the position that does the best to prepare you for that.

Make sure that your experience and learning is pointing you where you want to be heading. Job titles are mostly worthless. The question is what exactly are you doing?

Otherwise, you'll just wander from position to position and end up lost.

Hope this helps.

Zartanasaurus

I don't know how old you are or what kind of financial obligations you have, but it's better to value experience over pay when you are just getting started (within reason).

ptilsen

What does the system analyst job entail? What about the support job? Why do you think the former is less technical?

sratakhin

I'd take the more technical job but that' just my opinion. You can always become a manager later if that's what you like.

SteveFT

I'm a sucker for taking less pay for learning opportunities. I would say that you should take a look at other positions that are open, or might open up, at each location. If the Systems Analyst position might lead to a more technical and higher paying position, you might consider it.

W Stewart

Edit: wrong thread.

Akaricloud

If you want to stay technical and can afford to take the lower paying job then definitely do so! Also don't forget you can always try to negotiate, especially if you have another offer in hand.

The System Analyst position doesn't sound like it would give you much experience that would work towards your goal of being a System Engineer.

Whiteout

Hey everybody thanks for the replies. Sorry I haven't replied sooner was out of backpacking this weekend, trying to catch the last of the summer! Okay, to respond to a few of your questions and responses:

@Instant - I like the way you think. Gain the experience you need for the job you want. I will keep that in mind.

@Zartanasaurus - I'm 24. 10k more is very enticing, but I do want/need the technical experience.

@ptilsen - System Analyst is basically the POC between the IT team on board the ships and the engineers/vendors. The position is specifically with applications. I would fix the issue if I can, if not escalate it to the next tier. From what the interviewer was telling me she usually spends alot of time on the phone, email, and ticketing system. Not really my cup of tea.

The support engineer position is the first line of support for a cloud based disaster recovery system. The disaster recovery system spins up an exact copy of the down system on a virtual machine so the client has minimum downtime. From my understanding it is mostly servers.

@SteveFT - The system analyst job does have some good opportunities for advancement since the position is at corporate headquarters of a very large company.

@Akaricloud - Thanks for the advice. Never negotiated before, so that might be fun You can't really negotiate your salary in the military... haha

ptilsen

I vote for the money. I think you would get plenty of technical exposure in the Systems Analyst job, maybe just as much or more as the other. Being POC with a vendor or higher level is pretty common in any support role, and can actually lead to the best exposure. Some of the most I've learned about Exchange and AD has been on support calls with Microsoft. Unless I am misunderstanding your description and it would truly be far less technical, it doesn't sound like such a bad gig.

N2IT

After reading this I vote for the $$$$$

netsysllc

What job will you:
a. be happier with
b. provide you the best opportunity for the future?

I could easily go get a job for 10-20K more than I make now. I am very happy where I am and this job will reward me down the road. I am creating my future where I am at.

Codyy

I say go for more technical. I'm also in the military and after 3 years of being an "IT Specialist" I'm finally able to do a bit of networking and learn some actual IT stuff besides basic help desk. I can't wait to get out and actually do real IT work, not too concerned about the pay as long as it's enough to live comfortably.

What branch were you and did the ACAP process help you land these job offers?