Salary for Help Desk Support at a Hospital?

keeranbri

Hello Everyone, Its been awhile since I posted on here. I've been doing help desk support for about 2 years now and I have interview next week with a well known hospital in my area doing a Help Desk support as well. I wanted to know if anyone knows or has worked in hospital as a IT, that how much the salary range would be for a help desk support. Would this good be good opportunity for me as well?

networker050184

What area do you live/work in? That will probably be the biggest factor in your pay. Other factors will be experience, qualifications etc.

keeranbri

I'm in the Chicago Area, and its in the suburbs

--chris--

A hospital that operates in and around the Metro Detroit area here contracts for helpdesk work through a 3rd party. That third party advertises that helpdesk's pay is hourly and in a range of 14.81 to 16.64. Overtime is possible. Also that includes full benefits. Thats pretty specific, which is hard to find.

keeranbri

geez..that is low then, right now I get paid at 19.00 doing help desk here in the suburbs of Chicago, My friend that referred me who used to work with me at my current job that now works at this hospital said he makes more now then when he worked with me at my current job, so I guess it depends on the area and the hospital which this is the top ten hospitals in the US

--chris--

I think it has much more to do with COL (cost of living) than the institution. COL in this area is almost the lowest in the nation.

Everyone

For the Chicago area... $45k-$55k/yr range. Salary will be lower the further away from the city you get. Healthcare IT is interesting. Good luck.

Akaricloud

My real question is if you have two-years of helpdesk experience then why are you looking for another helpdesk job? -Making a lateral move is rarely a good move, especially this early in your career.

Move to a more advanced position and a large pay increase should definitely come with it.

--chris--

Everyone wrote: »

For the Chicago area... $45k-$55k/yr range. Salary will be lower the further away from the city you get. Healthcare IT is interesting. Good luck.

Wow pretty good! Is the COL really that different in that area? Around here, 25-35k is pretty average for helpdesk.

keeranbri

but what a lateral move from a help desk? anyone suggestions what I can look for. At my current job right now, that's the highest we can go. What kind of lateral move can I go to if I only have help desk experience.

Akaricloud

My point was don't move to another helpdesk job, advance instead. With your experience and a couple weeks/months of studying you should be able to quite easily land a Systems Administration position that should easily pay $50-60k minimum and provide you room to grow.

Why would you want to stick yourself in another low paying helpdesk position?

keeranbri

okay, What certifications / tests would you recommend to take to land a job such as system administrator role.

networker050184

--chris-- wrote: »

Wow pretty good! Is the COL really that different in that area? Around here, 25-35k is pretty average for helpdesk.

This can give you a guideline. Cost of Living Calculator: Compare the Cost of Living in Two Cities - CNNMoney Chicago and Detroit seem to be fairly close. Housing being the biggest price increase between the two.

--chris--

networker050184 wrote: »

This can give you a guideline. Cost of Living Calculator: Compare the Cost of Living in Two Cities - CNNMoney Chicago and Detroit seem to be fairly close. Housing being the biggest price increase between the two.

Nice link, thanks for that!

I moved it from Detroit to Kalamazoo (more like where I live) and that number jumps almost 10K (using 30K as a base). In this case, it really is a COL difference.

Everyone

This is the COL Calculator I usually use: Cost of Living Comparison Detroit is a little closer to Rockford IL as far as COL goes. My friends say I've hacked the area... I live near Rockford with it's really low COL, but I make Chicago salary.

xenodamus

I work for a hospital in central Mississippi (low cost of living). Our helpdesk salary ranges from $30-50k and our desktop support is a slight bump at $40-60k. System/Network administrators start around $60k and go up from there.

I agree that you should look upward at desktop support at least, if you feel competent and can sell yourself as having the skill/aptitude. If you don't have any certifications, start by looking at the Comptia A+/Network+ or the Microsoft MCSA. Those are the buzzwords that will get you out of helpdesk and into higher levels of system/user support.

kohr-ah

I worked help desk at a hospital in the north chicago area there and my pay was $46,000 for help desk. I agree with everyone else though if you can get your MSCA and get something better go for it.

beads

Oddly the Chicago sub and exaburbs generally pay better than downtown. Considering non-early bird parking can be $45.00 a day makes me scratch my head in bewilderment.

Downtown may be much closer for me but many burbs are just too far to bother.

- B Eads

gunbunnysoulja

Everyone wrote: »

This is the COL Calculator I usually use: Cost of Living Comparison Detroit is a little closer to Rockford IL as far as COL goes. My friends say I've hacked the area... I live near Rockford with it's really low COL, but I make Chicago salary.

I did the same thing. I left MA and moved to FL, keeping my MA employer and working from home. My mortgage with taxes/insurance is $165/month. I also just bought my parents a fully remodeled waterview home for $30k.

COL makes a huge difference when factoring salary. I also agree you should avoid a lateral move and move up position wise if possible for pay increase and further growth.

keeranbri

what would be a good certificate to get into a system admin kind of role? Should I take something like MSCA

coreyb80

beads wrote: »

Oddly the Chicago sub and exaburbs generally pay better than downtown. Considering non-early bird parking can be $45.00 a day makes me scratch my head in bewilderment.

Downtown may be much closer for me but many burbs are just too far to bother.

- B Eads

I recently moved from working downtown to the burbs and I must agree that that pay is better than the city.

NiteOwl

If by chance you are applying at the New Lenox Hopital(only one in the burbs with openings), I believe their old job postings said $35k

alucheni

Here's my experience at Ohiohealth in Columbus Ohio. It's a non-profit that runs 4 hospitals and fifty or so ambulatory sites. We had a "helpdesk" team of level 1, level 2, and level 3 technicians. Level 1 was strictly first contact, level 2 was call-back / time-intensive desktop problems over VNC, and level 3 was for problems that required a personal visit.

I started at level 1 making $35k --- however, I did have some experience already. I think some people made as low as $12 an hour (some of the level 1 people were obviously not 'geeks' and functioned almost like an answering service). A year later I went to level 2 and got a raise to $45k. Later on I moved to swing shift and got an evening differential that put me at ~$50k.

Note: I was definitely a top performer in a place that valued break-fix. Some places treat helpdesk like dirt. YMMV. The healthcare environment can be rewarding --- and frustrating. Doctors can be horribly childish and unprofessional. Though, at least at Ohiohealth, there was a pretty solid internal hiring system. You could advance (I eventually made it into the networking department). Though, you might have to wait for someone to retire or die, lol.

When I'm back on the job search (I'm in school right now), I'll definitely be considering healthcare again.