What to do when you've salary capped out for the area?

RHEL

Hi all,

I know, I'm just starting a new position... But that doesn't mean I've stopped surveying the area for who is hiring and for what price. I know first-hand how easy it is for that perfect job to be ripped from you with frequent layoffs and reorganizations... Especially if you're getting paid on the higher end of the spectrum.

For that reason, I have to ask... What do you do when you're far from retirement and around the top of the pay scale for the area? As a homeowner with my wife working in the area, I'm not exactly at liberty to up and move right away and I know that if I ever lost my position, it would be close to impossible to A) find a position closely matching my specific background in this area and get anywhere close to what I'm earning now...

Talk about mixed emotions... You're at the top of your game BUT you're at the end of the tracks! Being only 28 years old, this is quite scary to me. Is my only option to jump into management? That's a completely feasible option for me; however, I have no management experience.

networker050184

Management is an idea, though if you are doing high tech work you may as well already be making as much as your manager. Besides that your options are find a job you can work remote or move.

TomkoTech

Well for one thing you need to build your nest egg. Just because you are being paid a 20% increase doesn't mean you should change your spending habits. I would put the majority of that raise into a savings account for a rainy day such as losing your job, and investments for the aforementioned far away retirement. If you do this right the retirement may not be quite as far away as you predict. Just make sure you have at least 3 months salary stashed away specifically for use in the case you lose your job.

If you are indeed at the top of the salary range for your area, and moving isn't an option, then yes you would obviously need to change your job role. Whether you went into consulting, management, or a completely different field it's sort of irrelevant. Just research into the positions available and what they are looking for experience wise and what they pay. If you can bump your ceiling another 30-40% and you feel its something you could enjoy doing then pursue it.

As for having no management experience I find that hard to believe. You may not be a manager in title but reading your other posts it appears that you should definitely be gaining some management experience on top of what you already have. If you have ever taken up as a project, or lead a team of people you have management experience.

ehnde

Same problem here. I live an hour away from a major city that I could seek a new job in....but 10 hours of driving/week...ugh!

Homeowner, wife has a local job, kids are in school. I feel ya.

jthunderbird

Only other suggestion to you would be what I am trying to do... Add more to your current skillset, not change it entirely.

I am a network engineer right around 6 figures in Texas... I am about capped out and am only 29, so very similar situation I believe. I absolutely hate management, as I have been lead a few times before and I simply do not like putting perception of me in other folk's hands (basically relying on anyone other than myself).

I do plan on going management again, but want to wait until BS and MS are done. In the mean time, I am combining my knowledge. I have always been a proponent of "get really good at one thing and you get paid really good" instead of people who try to learn a little bit of everything and get paid a little bit. BUT, find a role that works with your Redhat (I am assuming that is your skill). For intance, I am pursuing my VCP then will move on to VCAP to pair with my CCNP. Now I can be a network and virtual engineer for a company (a position I have seen posted several times).

So pair your linux with something too... maybe KVM or VMWare, as Linux has a big hand in both.

GarudaMin

I understand how you are feeling. I am stuck too because I can't find anything that pays even the same as what I am getting now. So, I just keep on studying, taking certs, etc to further my knowledge.

I agree with TomkoTech on building nest egg and invest wisely. If you are native English speaker, then it shouldn't be hard to transition to management role. Use your existing experiences and translate them into management experiences.

TomkoTech

An hour drive is not terrible lol. I honestly don't think I have ever had a job outside of the Military where it took less than 35 minutes to get there. More often than not with traffic it was over an hour. Hell as it sits now I live for work 2 hours early just so I get there in 35 minutes instead of an hour+ if I left an hour before work.

kohr-ah

Really find one farther away. (I live like you in a town of 150k in Illinois, I have to go out to farther cities to bigger companies if I want a higher up pay like Naperville, Schaumburg, Itasca, Chicago, etc)

Management - Like networker said a lot of times the techs make more than the manager. Sometimes managers just get better perks.

Start your own company.

After that I am not the person to ask. I can't believe I make the money I do now :P

blargoe

I have had trouble finding matching pay even for positions that are a little more advanced (non-management) than the one I am in now. I work in a city of < 150,000 or so people and live in a smaller town, I like the area, kids are still small. I am already not spending enough time with them. I could commute 60-90 min and get bigger bucks in Charlotte or RTP, but losing 2-3 hours every day in driving time sort of makes that idea lose its luster.

So I'm in the same boat... stay put, make good money, make a little bit better money (after factoring in increased time wasted commuting), or go for a management position and make.. maybe (maybe not) a little bit more money and a lot more headache. I will be staying put for the foreseeable future, unless something in my area comes along that I like better.

lsud00d

Do independent consultation and be prepared to travel...and make MORE money

Flyingput

lsud00d wrote: »

Do independent consultation and be prepared to travel...and make MORE money

He needs to talk to his wife before jumping to a consultant role, out of town Monday through Thursday. It's horrible for the family....

paul78

Everyone will face this problem in their career at some time. It's usually not a bad time to re-evaluate what you want from your career. It's quite possible that where you are in your career is perfectly fine and other aspects of life are more fulfilling.

But if you want to progress past the ceiling if you reach the top of some particular role, sometimes you need to re-invent yourself and do something different. I came across this article on examples of individuals that have done just that - The 2014 Premier 100 IT Leaders: Reinventing themselves many times over - Computerworld - food for thought.

lsud00d

Thanks for the share @paul78...I love this quote on the first page because it's exactly how I felt jumping into my first full time position. I was a full time student at the time and I thought long and hard over it, and it was definitely the right decision to take on all challenges from that moment on.

"Never say no to an opportunity because you feel scared or under-ready or not ready. Take the leap, because you're going to learn a tremendous amount," says Marcante.