Timeline: Your IT Career Progression

Pmorgan2

Title: Web Designer
Hour/wk: 10
Description: Modified Macromedia Flash templates (color schemes, text)
Company size: 3
Age: 15
Duration: 4 Months
How: Uncle owned business
Certs: None
Education: In High School
Pay: $800/mo ($200 a site @ 3-5 sites per month, under the table)

Title: Information Systems Operator/Analyst (Army 74B)
Hour/wk: 50+
Description: Help desk, cryptography management, video teleconferencing, shooting things, company "camping trips"
Company size: ~2000
Age: 20
Duration: 4 Years
How: Talked to a recruiter
Certs: None
Education: High School - some college
Pay: $21,000 (grossed up pay with free housing)

Title: System Administrator
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Small business server and help desk support
Company size: 2
Age: 28
Duration: 8 months
How: Craigslist
Certs: None
Education: High School - some college
Pay: $15/hour

Title: Information Technology Specialist (Army 25B)
Hour/wk: 50+
Description: Help desk team leader, VTC operator, information assurance compliance, shoot things, company camping trips
Company size: ~400
Age: 29
Duration: 2 years
How: Talked to recruiter again
Certs: None
Education: High School + 2 years of college (no degree)
Pay: $38,000 (grossed up pay with free housing)

Title: Information Technology Specialist (Army 25B)
Hour/wk: 50+
Description: IT Program manager and supervisor, shoot things, company camping trips
Company size: ~500
Age: 31
Duration: 2 years
How: Military promotion and transfer
Certs: Healthcare IT, A+, Security+, CISSP
Education: High School + 2 years of college (no degree)
Pay: $56,000 (grossed up pay with free housing)

Title: System Administrator / Network Technician
Hour/wk: 44
Description: vSphere, SharePoint, RHEL5, and Server 2008 admin. Help desk, VTC, lifecycle, and network support.
Company size: ~400
Age: 33
Duration: 19 months
How: USAJobs board (w/ veteran preference)
Certs: Healthcare IT, A+, Security+, CISSP
Education: High School + 2 years of college (no degree)
Pay: $68,000 ($103,000 grossed up estimate including value of free housing)

I'm trying desperately to get away from Help Desk. I'm getting closer!

2019 Update:
Title: System Administrator
Hour/wk: 41
Description: Windows server, RHEL, vSphere, and SAN administration
Company size: ~1250
Age: 35
Duration: 15 months
How: USAJobs board
Certs: Healthcare IT, A+, Network+, Security+, VCA6-DCV, CISSP
Education: High School + 3 years of college (no degree)
Pay: $79,000

Title: Information Security
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Auditing, security planning, continuous monitoring, NIST control implementation (absolutely no help desk!)
Company size: ~1250
Age: 36
Duration: 1 month (current)
How: Internal transfer
Certs: Healthcare IT, A+, Network+, Security+, VCA6-DCV, CISSP
Education: High School + 3 years of college (no degree)
Pay: $83,000

ramrunner800

zxbane wrote: »

This sounds like a great opportunity. Make solid pay and get tons of expensive training that will only make you more marketable. Congrats!

Out of curiosity, what area are you in and what industry is this with?

Thanks for the encouragement, I do feel very fortunate to have landed where I have. This forum helped a lot in guiding my career change, and I appreciate it tons.

I'm on the Gulf Coast, working in industry. Unfortunately the paranoid infosec guy in me isn't comfortable getting too much more specific.

xengoreth

Note: Pay is estimated to the best of my recollection.

Title: Tech Support Monkey
Description: Consumer and small business tech support calls for a now defunct computer manufacturer via phone and later email.
Company size: ~10000
How: Ad in paper
Age: 19
Pay: $11/hr (starting) - $18.75/hr (leaving)
Duration: 2.5 years
Certs: None
Education: Some college

Title: Desktop Administrator
Description: Desktop/telecom/server support for a call center. I ran around like a madman closing tickets on every possible technology in the call center. I learned a lot but didn't get paid much.
Company size: ~3000
How: Referral from friend
Age: 22
Pay: $32,000/yr
Duration: 2.5 years
Certs: None
Education: Some college

Title: Desktop Engineer
Description: Desktop engineering and technical lead for a desktop support team. Mostly SCCM (SMS at the time) packaging, managing the login scripts, and creating/updating the desktop image.
Company size: ~3000
How: Promotion and relocation
Age: 24
Pay: $45,000/yr (starting) - $48,000/yr (leaving)
Duration: 1.5 years
Certs: None
Education: Some college

Title: Systems Engineer
Description: Desktop engineering (OS integration, hardware testing, application packaging, GPOs, and of course engineering the desktop image.)
Company size: ~300,000
How: Merger: promoted and relocated (which was lucky as most of my former peers lost their jobs)
Age: 26
Pay: $55,000/yr (starting) - $78,000 (leaving)
Duration: 4 years
Certs: None
Education: Some college

(Unemployed for awhile after banking collapse of 2008.)

Title: Technical Support Engineer
Description: TSE supporting enterprise customers for a major virtualization product. An important note here is this was my first opportunity to get the word "desktop" off of my resume. I strictly avoid putting that word on my resume, as a single occurrence automatically seems to tell an employer that you are interested in making no more than $45K/year.
Company size: ~7,000
How: Applied directly to company
Age: 31
Pay: $60,000/yr (starting) - $60,000 (leaving)
Duration: 1 year
Certs: None
Education: Some college

Title: Quality Assurance Engineer
Description: Embedded quality assurance engineer developing test frameworks, building automated test environments on virtualized infrastructure, supporting continuous integration, and creating test cases to ensure the quality of the product.
Company size: ~7,000
How: Lateral promotion within company.
Age: 32
Pay: $60,000/yr (starting) - $80,000 (leaving)
Duration: 2 years
Certs: None
Education: Some college

Title: Systems Engineer (I put Network Administrator when searching for jobs to generate more accurate results)
Description: Support for all aspects of a small (around 800 total devices), specialized environment with an emphasis on virtualization (VMware and Hyper-V), automation/scripting, application packaging, vulnerability scanning and patching, security hardening, Linux, and networking (Cisco gear).
Company size: ~150 (subcontractor on a larger contract)
How: Referred by friend
Age: 34
Pay: $94,000/yr (starting) - $94,000 (current)
Duration: 3 years (current)
Certs: None to start (A/S/N+, CCNA R/S, others in progress...)
Education: Some more college (in progress at WGU)

ITSpectre

joemc3 wrote: »

Education: Streets
Pay: 1 bill

The streets are wild these days huh?

joemc3

ITSpectre wrote: »

The streets are wild these days huh?

Some hard-nose sent me a message about my post. I know it was a shot at some humor. Guys says off topic and not funny. He must be fun to be around!!!!!!!!!

ITSpectre

joemc3 wrote: »

Some hard-nose sent me a message about my post. I know it was a shot at some humor. Guys says off topic and not funny. He must be fun to be around!!!!!!!!!

lol... Don't you hate when people take the fun out of things......:D

djb.45acp

Title (Unofficial): IT Specialist
Hours/wk: Variable (40-100)
Description: Backup and Restoration, Malware Removal, Access and Identity Management, Root Cause Analysis, Audit Response, Networking, Various misc. tasks
Company size: <300
Age: 26-33
Duration: 6+ Years
How: Knew someone
Certs: None
Education: High School Graduate – Online College Student
Pay : $16–$26/hr


Title: Software QA Intern
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Manuel and some automated testing, Build test plans and cases, Security scanning and analysis
Company size: >10,000
Age: 33
Duration: 4 months
How: Company Website Application
Certs: None
Education: Online College Student
Pay : $18/hr


Title: Software QA Analyst/Engineer
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Manuel and some automated testing, Build test plans and cases, Security Awareness and training
Company size: >1,000
Age: 34-35
Duration: <2 years
How: Knew someone
Certs: None
Education: BS Applied Computer Science
Pay : $24/hr-$26hr


Title: Information Security Analyst
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Disaster Recovery plan development and testing, Cryptography, Access and Identity Management, Active Directory, Training and Awareness, Various other duties.
Company size: >1,000
Age: 35-37
Duration: 2 years
How: Same Company – Lateral move – Knew someone
Certs: Security+, ITIL v3 Foundation
Education: BS Applied Computer Science – Started MBA
Pay : $26/hr-$31/hr


Title: IT Risk Analyst
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Training and Awareness, Conduct Risk Assessments, Maintain Risk Register, Report to Senior Management, Review Vendors, Review Contracts, Consult with Various Departments and Senior Management, Other Duties as Assigned.
Company size: >1,800
Age: 37-38
Duration: <1 years
How: Indeed
Certs: Security+, CISSP
Education: BS Applied Computer Science, Continued working on MBA
Pay : $43/hr + 12% Bonus available

Notes: Since starting in September, of last year, I’ve received my CRMP (Certified Risk Management Professional) from DRII, graduated with my MBA and taken the CRISC (June 2016) exam. In 2007, I set my goal to become an Information Security Manager>CIO, and am getting as much experience, and as many relevant certs, and education as possible to make it happen.

Trucido

Title: Technical Support Representative
Hours/wk: 40 - No overtime - being sent home early due to low call volume
Description: Provided basic technical support for external users with Verizion FiOS service. TV/Phone/Internet and all Verizon equipment provided.
Company size: (Contract) >1000
Age: 20-24
Duration: 3-4 years
How: Applied online, interviewed
Certs: None
Education: G.E.D
Pay : 10.50/hr (start) - 11.50/hr (end)


Title: Help Desk Analyst I
Hours/wk: 40 - 10 hr shifts - Overtime often - contractor
Description: Basic troubleshooting for internal users (branch managers/sales reps); PC and Server hardware/software, POS hardware/software, procedural support.
Company size: >10000
Age: 24-25
Duration: 1
How: Applied online, interviewed
Certs: None
Education: G.E.D
Pay : 15.00/hr (start) -> Promoted see below

Title: Help Desk Analyst II
Hours/wk: 40 - 10 hr shifts - Overtime often - contractor
Description: All Tier I responsibilities AND basically a mini-supervisor. Monitor other agents call/ticket quality (QA), Provide other internal departments with Excel reports, Manage/call back/resolve incoming voice mail incidents, provide knowledge articles.
Company size: >10000
Age: 25-26
Duration: 6 mo - 1 year
How: Applied online, interviewed
Certs: None
Education: G.E.D
Pay : 18.00/hr
Note: Was let go, long story short; In a relationship with a colleague, her mother was in another department and was very blunt, our manager did not like my gf's mother but couldnt do anything about it, so he fired both of us for nothing. This is why I hate contract work.

Title: Help Desk Analyst I
Hours/wk: 40 - No overtime - contractor
Description: Provide basic hardware/software support for internal users of a major bank.
Company size: >10000
Age: 26
Duration: Current (6 mo)
How: Applied online, interviewed
Certs: None
Education: G.E.D
Pay : 16.00/hr

Note: Quite frankly I am sick of being a contractor and only making less than 20/hr with 0 job security/benefits. Its now my goal to get certified (see signature) in various certs and hopefully become a IOC/Network Engineer and possibly a Network Admin. I am looking forward to reaching my goal / dream job of 50-70/hr.

Any pointers for my journey would be appreciated, thank you.

powerfool

Title: Systems Analyst (web development, HTML/JavaScript... actually ended up doing Novell>WinNT work)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Software and consulting organization (I worked on the consulting side)
Company size: >10,000
Age: 18
Duration: 1 year
How: Relative was branch manager and needed assistance in web development (which was super new at the time)
Certs: None
Education: High School
Pay: $25k

Title: Systems Analyst (web development, ASP/VB, HTML, JavaScript)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: consulting organization
Company size: ~10
Age: 19
Duration: 1 year
How: Relative from former employer founded a new company and brought several of us on board
Certs: None
Education: High School
Pay: $30k

Title: Programmer (Java/JSP/Java Servlets, HTML, JavaScript, a little systems support)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Early Software as a Service organization
Company size: ~10
Age: 20
Duration: 6 months
How: Found in paper, applied and interview
Certs: None
Education: High School
Pay: $30k

Title: Tech support team lead (Windows client of all varieties... Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000)
Hour/wk: ~50
Description: National ISP outsourced tech support
Company size: ~5,000
Age: 20
Duration: 6 months
How: Found in paper, applied and interview
Certs: Network+
Education: High School
Pay: $30k

Title: Network/Systems administrator (WinNT>2000 and Active Directory work)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Textiles
Company size: ~50
Age: 21
Duration: 9 months
How: Found in paper, applied and interview
Certs: Network+
Education: High School, working on MCSE
Pay: $30k

Title: Contractor (lot's of Win98 > 2000)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Desktop deployments and break fix for a hospital
Company size: ~100
Age: 21
Duration: 6 months
How: Friend from MCSE training program referred me
Certs: Network+, MCSE
Education: High School, beginning university
Pay: $30k

Title: Network/Systems administrator (major overhaul of network, implementation of AD, XP rollout, international expansion, Cisco PIX, Linux)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Hotel toiletries manufacturer
Company size: ~200
Age: 22
Duration: 3 years
How: Recruiting firm
Certs: Network+, MCSE
Education: High School, still in university
Pay: $40-45k plus bonus

Title: Network/Systems administrator (DR work, Cisco ASA, Sonicwall, tons of email migration for customers, Citrix, SCO Unixware, SAN)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Application Service Provider
Company size: ~20
Age: 25
Duration: 2 years
How: Found in paper, applied and interviewed
Certs: Network+, MCSE
Education: High School, still in university
Pay: $56-58k

Title: Network/Systems administrator (DR, Project management, Linux, Windows, SAN, virtualization)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Restaurant supply company
Company size: ~200
Age: 27
Duration: 3 years
How: Found in paper, applied and interviewed
Certs: Network+, MCSE, CCNA
Education: High School, BS in Information Systems
Pay: $65-78k

Title: Contractor (Email)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: DoD
Company size: >15,000
Age: 30
Duration: 4 years
How: Found on Dice, applied and interviewed
Certs: Network+, MCSEx4, CCNA, CISSP, MCITPx3, CEH, CCSP
Education: High School, BS in Information Systems, MS in Cybersecurity
Pay: $90-108k plus bonus


Title: Consultant (Exchange, Lync/SfB, Office 365, Security)
Hour/wk: ~40
Description: Large re-seller and services organization
Company size: >15,000
Age: 34
Duration: 2+ years (current)
How: Hiring manager stalked me and convinced me to join company
Certs: Network+, MCSEx6, CISSP, MCITPx4, CEH
Education: High School, BS in Information Systems, MS in Cybersecurity
Pay: $120-125k plus bonus


Advice for others and to reinforce to myself: always work on improving yourself... don't ask questions like should I do certifications or college... or anything... do all of them.

kalimuscle

wow so many inspiration stories.

It goes to show you, keep learning, keep up skilling and always look at bettering your career with consistency - over time it will pay $$$$ of big !

volfkhat

no kidding.
I especially like the posts that start at $10/hr... but finish over $90k/year.

clearly i'm doing it wrong :]

JoJoCal19

Well it's been 2 years since my last post and a good bit has happened so I guess I'll update.


Title: PC Specialist/Network Administrator
Hour/wk: 40
Description: JOAT for a small envelope manufacturer
Company size: 250
Age: 23
Duration: 14 months
How: Internal applicant
Certs: None
Education: AS Computer Networking
Pay: 32k

Title: Sr. Technical Support Specialist
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Second level desktop support for large American bank/financial firm
Company size: 200K+
Age: 24
Duration: 20 months
How: Employee referral
Certs: None
Education: AS Computer Networking
Pay: 50k

Title: Sys/Data Security Analyst II
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Security access control and IAM for the same Financial firm
Company size: 200K+
Age: 26
Duration: 20 months
How: Internal applicant
Certs: None, but got Network+, Security+, CISSP, and ITIL F while in this position.
Education: AS Computer Networking. Completed my BS in Business Administration while in this position.
Pay: 57k

Title: AVP - Information Security Risk Management
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Information security risk management and GRC for large American global financial firm.
Company size: 200K+
Age: 32
Duration: 8 months
How: Company recruiter
Certs: CISSP, CEH, CHFI, ITIL F
Education: BS in Business Administration
Pay: 72k

Title: Sr. IT Security Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Security engineering, project management, incident response, etc for a governmental firm.
Company size: 1500
Age: 32
Duration: 1.5 years
How: External recruiter
Certs: CISSP, CEH, CHFI, ITIL F
Education: BS in Business Administration
Pay: 85k

Title: AVP - Cybersecurity Problem Manager
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Security problem management (full lifecycle), project management for large German financial firm.
Company size: 220k+
Age: 33
Duration: 11 months
How: Recruited by former colleague
Certs: CISSP, CEH, CHFI, ITIL F
Education: BS in Business Administration, completed MSISA while in this position.
Pay: 102k + bonus

Title: Sr Manager - Information Security Risk Management
Hour/wk: 40 - fully remote
Description: Information security risk management, audit, compliance, governance, project management for full-service IT consulting firm.
Company size: 230k+
Age: 34
Duration: Current
How: Company recruiter
Certs: CISSP, CEH, CHFI, ITIL F, GSEC, GCIA
Education: BS in Business Administration, MSISA
Pay: 120k + bonus


If I can give any advice to people who want to advance their career, it's to spend a lot of time on these forums, get motivation from others, absorb knowledge, ask questions. I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for stumbling across these forums decade or so ago when I was starting out with certs (Network+) and then eventually joining a couple of years later. The best nugget of information that has helped me was posted here (I wish I could remember who said it so I can credit them) but they said to decide where it is you want to go, and build the bridge there. So I determined the roles I wanted, looked at what was being asked for, and set up the corresponding goals, whether that was education, knowledge, skills or certs, and tackled them. I firmly believe that everyone is capable of attaining their goals. It might not always be easy (in my case a relocation for 2 years, early mornings and late nights studying, school while working), but it will pay off.

OctalDump

volfkhat wrote: »

no kidding.
I especially like the posts that start at $10/hr... but finish over $90k/year.

clearly i'm doing it wrong :]

Something that I've learnt is that you should specialise, focus on an area and get good at it, choose jobs based on career goals, and move companies to get faster progression. A lot of these you can see people moving roles pretty rapidly - like after a year.

Naturally, I learnt this after not doing it Really became clear when I found out a guy I went to school with, has been in networking since he was still doing his Bachelor's and is now a double CCIE and working for a major bank. Kind of a "What the hell have I been doing with my life?" moment.

JoJoCal19

OctalDump wrote: »

Something that I've learnt is that you should specialise, focus on an area and get good at it, choose jobs based on career goals, and move companies to get faster progression. A lot of these you can see people moving roles pretty rapidly - like after a year.

Naturally, I learnt this after not doing it Really became clear when I found out a guy I went to school with, has been in networking since he was still doing his Bachelor's and is now a double CCIE and working for a major bank. Kind of a "What the hell have I been doing with my life?" moment.

I'll tell ya what, I spent (wasted?) 8 years at the one bank. Know what I got for my loyalty? A total of $7k raise from beginning to end, and continually being passed over for openings for outside candidates. Ever since that experience, and also seeing other people here making the moves, I realized that you've got to make moves to get the big jumps in salary. I don't recommend the amount of moves in as short of time as I've done, but I feel 2 years is ok.

darkerz

Wow, I haven't actively posted since 2013/2014, with a little sprinkle of 2015....

For context, when I joined tech exams in 2009 I was fresh in college, doing my first internship, learning the CCENT/CCNA and Microsoft classes in the midst of a devastating economic recession. Before then I had worked from age 16 to 19 making minimum wage to support myself and my family.

Reflecting back on it, I'm glad I found this place. You guys all changed my life.

Thank you.

...

Now, Let's see what happened.

Title: Internships (x3 3-month gigs)
Hour/wk: 20-30
Description: Large Networking Company that rhymes with "Crisco".
Company size: >10,000
Age: 18-19
Duration: ~2 years
How: Walked in and asked if I can configure switches, work for free and for credits, netadmin said "sure why not".
Certs: CCENT
Education: High School
Pay: $0/hr

Title: Helpdesk Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract, MSP for Health Care, I reset passwords and configured switch ports / AP's
Company size: >100
Age: 19-20
Duration: 6 months
How: Applied directly
Certs: CCENT, CCNA, MCSA, MSCIT: Something Windows
Education: HS, Associates
Pay: $13/hr

Title: Datacenter Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract, Hospital 3rd shift network/wireless/mainframe monkey, NOC guy, "Red Bad Green Good"
Company size: 500-1000
Age: 19-20
Duration: 6 months
How: Got poached from offsourced help desk, still a contractor
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $19.75/hr

Title: Network Engineer I
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract at a local MSP, national sized SMB network w/ firewalls/routes/switches/mpls/etc
Company size: 500-1000
Age: 20-21
Duration: 1 year
How: Applied on craigslist, 8pm-6am shift was destroying my life
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $21.25/hr

Title: IT Network Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract at a international distribution company on the verge of acquisition
Company size: 5000+
Age: 21-22
Duration: 1 year
How: Recruiter reached out to me
Certs: Added CCNP, CCIE R/S
Education: Same
Pay: $39/hr

Title: Network Smarthands Engineer
Hour/wk: 50-60
Description: Contract at a large technology cloud company "Big 4", data center deployment/tshoot
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 22-23
Duration: 6 months
How: Recruiter reached out to me
Certs: Added multiple Fortigate certs, CCNA Security, CCNP Security
Education: Same
Pay: $45/hr

Title: Network Development Engineer
Hour/wk: 50-60
Description: Contract at a large technology cloud company "Big 4", research and development
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 22-23
Duration: 6 months
How: Internal Move, new contract / team
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $49.50/hr

Title: Network Security Engineer II / III (6-month renewal, promotion)
Hour/wk: 40-70
Description: Contract at a large technology cloud company "Big 4", security environments
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 23-24
Duration: 1 year
How: Recruiter reached out to me
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $61.50/hr

Title: Senior Network Security Engineer
Hour/wk: 40 (Salary)
Description: Full time (finally, jesus) at Big 4 cloud company. Hyper scale network security architecture / strategic role
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 24-26
Duration: 2 years
How: After 2 years of contracting, I got picked up for FTE, total of 4 years so far!
Certs: Same
Education: Associates Degree, Still.
Pay: $93.75/hr (year 1)
Pay: $100.28/hr (year 2, promo)

kalimuscle

darkerz wrote: »

Wow, I haven't actively posted since 2013/2014, with a little sprinkle of 2015....

For context, when I joined tech exams in 2009 I was fresh in college, doing my first internship, learning the CCENT/CCNA and Microsoft classes in the midst of a devastating economic recession. Before then I had worked from age 16 to 19 making minimum wage to support myself and my family.

Reflecting back on it, I'm glad I found this place. You guys all changed my life.

Thank you.

...

Now, Let's see what happened.

Title: Internships (x3 3-month gigs)
Hour/wk: 20-30
Description: Large Networking Company that rhymes with "Crisco".
Company size: >10,000
Age: 18-19
Duration: ~2 years
How: Walked in and asked if I can configure switches, work for free and for credits, netadmin said "sure why not".
Certs: CCENT
Education: High School
Pay: $0/hr

Title: Helpdesk Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract, MSP for Health Care, I reset passwords and configured switch ports / AP's
Company size: >100
Age: 19-20
Duration: 6 months
How: Applied directly
Certs: CCENT, CCNA, MCSA, MSCIT: Something Windows
Education: HS, Associates
Pay: $13/hr

Title: Datacenter Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract, Hospital 3rd shift network/wireless/mainframe monkey, NOC guy, "Red Bad Green Good"
Company size: 500-1000
Age: 19-20
Duration: 6 months
How: Got poached from offsourced help desk, still a contractor
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $19.75/hr

Title: Network Engineer I
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract at a local MSP, national sized SMB network w/ firewalls/routes/switches/mpls/etc
Company size: 500-1000
Age: 20-21
Duration: 1 year
How: Applied on craigslist, 8pm-6am shift was destroying my life
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $21.25/hr

Title: IT Network Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Contract at a international distribution company on the verge of acquisition
Company size: 5000+
Age: 21-22
Duration: 1 year
How: Recruiter reached out to me
Certs: Added CCNP, CCIE R/S
Education: Same
Pay: $39/hr

Title: Network Smarthands Engineer
Hour/wk: 50-60
Description: Contract at a large technology cloud company "Big 4", data center deployment/tshoot
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 22-23
Duration: 6 months
How: Recruiter reached out to me
Certs: Added multiple Fortigate certs, CCNA Security, CCNP Security
Education: Same
Pay: $45/hr

Title: Network Development Engineer
Hour/wk: 50-60
Description: Contract at a large technology cloud company "Big 4", research and development
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 22-23
Duration: 6 months
How: Internal Move, new contract / team
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $49.50/hr

Title: Network Security Engineer II / III (6-month renewal, promotion)
Hour/wk: 40-70
Description: Contract at a large technology cloud company "Big 4", security environments
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 23-24
Duration: 1 year
How: Recruiter reached out to me
Certs: Same
Education: Same
Pay: $61.50/hr

Title: Senior Network Security Engineer
Hour/wk: 40 (Salary)
Description: Full time (finally, jesus) at Big 4 cloud company. Hyper scale network security architecture / strategic role
Company size: 100,000+
Age: 24-26
Duration: 2 years
How: After 2 years of contracting, I got picked up for FTE, total of 4 years so far!
Certs: Same
Education: Associates Degree, Still.
Pay: $93.75/hr (year 1)
Pay: $100.28/hr (year 2, promo)

Amazing

Is your current role the $100 a contract 40 hour role or full time permanant

Because that means your on 200k on a full time role which is amazing

Also the roles you listed there were they all full time or contracy roles.

Is the silicon valley booming these days?

Also is it hard to get hired full time at Microsoft where you work?

dhay13

Ok, I will play....

Title: Internship (summer 2008 )
Hour/wk: ~35
Description: Local school district
Company size: about 200 staff and about 2000 students
Age: 39 (yeah, got a late start)
Duration: ~3 months
How: knew people at the school and asked about doing an internship
Certs: none
Education: enrolled in dual A.A.S. programs
Pay: $0/hr


Title: IT Support (Feb 2009-March 2011)
Hour/wk: ~20
Description: same local school district
Company size: about 200 staff and about 2000 students
Age: 40
Duration: just over 2 years
How: IT Coordinator called and asked if I would like to come back and help out
Certs: still none
Education: A.A.S. Network & PC Specialist, finished A.A.S. Computer Forensics & Security and completed B.S. Information Technology
Pay: $8.25/hr


Title: System Administrator (2011-2014)
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Small manufacturing business
Company size: ~90
Age: 42
Duration: 3.5 years
How: Applied through newspaper ad
Certs: A+ and Network+
Education: A.A.S. Network & PC Specialist, A.A.S. Computer Forensics & Security, B.S. Information Technology
Pay: ~$50000


Title: System Security Administrator (March 2015-present)
Hour/wk: 40
Description: FT employee of company that holds contract with federal gov't
Company size: ~700 on contract
Age: 46
Duration: 2 years and counting
How: Applied to internet job board
Certs: started with A+ and N+ but added CISSP, Sec+, Solarwinds, Nessus, and Six Sigma
Education: A.A.S. Network & PC Specialist, A.A.S. Computer Forensics & Security, B.S. Information Technology
Pay: started at $60,000, currently at $64,000

jrisbrook

dhay13 wrote: »

Ok, I will play....

Title: Internship (summer 2008 )
Hour/wk: ~35
Description: Local school district
Company size: about 200 staff and about 2000 students
Age: 39 (yeah, got a late start)
Duration: ~3 months
How: knew people at the school and asked about doing an internship
Certs: none
Education: enrolled in dual A.A.S. programs
Pay: $0/hr


Title: IT Support (Feb 2009-March 2011)
Hour/wk: ~20
Description: same local school district
Company size: about 200 staff and about 2000 students
Age: 40
Duration: just over 2 years
How: IT Coordinator called and asked if I would like to come back and help out
Certs: still none
Education: A.A.S. Network & PC Specialist, finished A.A.S. Computer Forensics & Security and completed B.S. Information Technology
Pay: $8.25/hr


Title: System Administrator (2011-2014)
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Small manufacturing business
Company size: ~90
Age: 42
Duration: 3.5 years
How: Applied through newspaper ad
Certs: A+ and Network+
Education: A.A.S. Network & PC Specialist, A.A.S. Computer Forensics & Security, B.S. Information Technology
Pay: ~$50000


Title: System Security Administrator (March 2015-present)
Hour/wk: 40
Description: FT employee of company that holds contract with federal gov't
Company size: ~700 on contract
Age: 46
Duration: 2 years and counting
How: Applied to internet job board
Certs: started with A+ and N+ but added CISSP, Sec+, Solarwinds, Nessus, and Six Sigma
Education: A.A.S. Network & PC Specialist, A.A.S. Computer Forensics & Security, B.S. Information Technology
Pay: started at $60,000, currently at $64,000

After reading this man I admire you so much more. At 30 I've been feeling so late to the game, but have been trying my best to buckle down and stay determined. To read that you wanted it so bad you were willing to work for free at 39 and then 8.25 is really a testimony to who you are as a person. I can't wait for us to get started on the home lab project lol. Talk to you soon

dhay13

jrisbrook wrote: »

After reading this man I admire you so much more. At 30 I've been feeling so late to the game, but have been trying my best to buckle down and stay determined. To read that you wanted it so bad you were willing to work for free at 39 and then 8.25 is really a testimony to who you are as a person. I can't wait for us to get started on the home lab project lol. Talk to you soon

Thanks for that. It wasn't my planned tract but I played the hand I was dealt and tried to make the best of it. I was a laborer in a steel mill and suffered an injury in 2002. I limped through until I had surgery in 2003. Went back to work about a month later but wasn't able to do the physical demands of that job so ended up with a medical leave in 2005. I didn't know much about computers but knew that would likely be my easiest path to change careers so started looking at some college programs. Basically I did what I had to do and figured if I was going to do it then I might as well go all in. Besides, I had a lot of catching up to do so I try to learn as much as I can from anywhere I can learn it. I'm 48 now and hoping to move onto my next position soon and get a nice bump in pay. I do work 100% remote so that is a benefit but I am willing to give that up to move to the next level.

DatabaseHead

Recently accepted counter offer, received 90,000 with 20% Bonus. Went from senior analyst to manager. End up getting a new manager who is very new to the team, in a few months will give my career path and explain what I am looking for. Will decide if I stay or leave depending on that conversation. That will entail a senior management title, role. That would put me at ~110,000 with a 30% bonus. Interesting piece to this, would be the next level, which would be director. At this point you are getting profit sharing and stock options. If the company has a well performing year, 70% of your income could come from stock and bonus. It is a huge jump that is where my focus is at.

Most likely senior manager is within in my grasp, since I am doing that role right now. You know how it goes, you don't get paid for the job unless you prove you can do the job.....

Director would require a move to another team, most likely operations. Not pretty but you know sometimes that happens.....

SweenMachine

NT 4.0 Migration
40hrs weekly contract 3 months
Age: 20
Pay: $9 hourly

Win 2k Migration
40 hours weekly contract 9 months
Age: 21
Pay: $12 hourly

Unix Level 1 Helpdesk
Age: 21
Pay: $15 hourly

Bank: Business Analyst 1
Age: 23
Full time, 2 years
Pay: $34k-37k when I left

Payroll company: Technical Analyst
Age:24
Full time, 1 year
Pay: 36k

Helpdesk Analyst Level 1, then Level 2, then Event Cooridinator
Age: 26-35
Full time:
Pay: 39.5k-44k

Helpdesk Level 1
Age: 35
Full Time, 18 months
Pay: 44k

Helpdesk Lead, same company
Age: 36
Full time, one year
Pay: Slightly more, don't want to say as employees who work for me are on this forum.

Director of support
Age: 37
Full time, current role for 2+ years
Pay: much, much more, don't want to say for the same reason.

jstock

This will be neat to come back to every now and then...

Title: IT Intern
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~100
Age: 18
Duration: 3 Months
How: Networked
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay: $10/hr

Title: Network Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~100
Age: 19
Duration: 6 Months
How: Networked
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay: $12/hr

Title: Asst. System Administrator
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~30000
Age: 21
Duration: 18 Months
How: Applied
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay: $15/hr

Title: Security Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~7000
Age: 24
Duration: 11 Months
How: Applied
Certs: None
Education: B.S Information Security
Pay: $25/hr

Title: Security Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~7000
Age: 24
Duration: Current
How: Title Change
Certs: None
Education: B.S Information Security
Pay: $56,000 + Bonus

emek

Wow darkerz way to go! Did you get your CCNP and CCIE in the same year? You must have put in some serious study time. Looks like it paid off.

kalimuscle

emek wrote: »

Wow darkerz way to go! Did you get your CCNP and CCIE in the same year? You must have put in some serious study time. Looks like it paid off.

Its nice darkerz !

Respect !

This is what hard work,

Self belief !

And following your dreams does !

Keep it up buddy

Luis103

Title: IT Support Associate
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~1100
Age: 21
Duration: 15 Months
How: Applied and got job
Certs: A+, N+ and MCSA Windows 7
Education: AAS Degree
Pay: $18/hr

Title: Systems Support Associate
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~1100
Age: 22
Duration: 2 years
How: Promotion
Certs: A+,N+ MCSA 2008/2012/Windows 7, CCNA
Education: AAS Degree
Pay: $25/hr

Title: Systems Engineer II
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~1100
Age: 24
Duration: 3 months
How: Promotion
Certs: A+,N+, S+ MCSA 2008/2012/Windows 7, CCNA
Education: AAS Degree
Pay: 75,000$

Title: Systems Administrator II
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~4200
Age: 24
Duration: Current
How: Called by an Old Manager, Sidebit: I learned always treat everyone with respect, you never know who you can impact and assist you in future.
Certs: A+,N+, S+ MCSA 2008/2012/Windows 7, CCNA
Education: AAS Degree
Pay: 95,000$

Currently working on getting my VCP6, Project+, jumping into WGU and obtaining my Degree by the end of year. I'm really grateful for 1st company. I got to dip into: Networking, Backups, AD, Exchange, Load Balancers, Monitoring tools and really learned a lot. Now I just want to master something.

Dakinggamer87

Great to see all the progress and progression salary wise from the TE crew!!

emek

Happy to finally update this!

Title: Assistant II
Hours/wk: 20
Description: Student worker position in college. Help desk duties.
Company size: 4000+
Age : 25
Duration: 4 Months
How: Applied through work study program
Certs: A+
Education: AA- General Studies, B.S. -Business/Info Systems nearly completed
Pay :$12/hr


Title: Analyst 1- Help Desk
Hours/wk: 40
Description: 1st real full time IT position post grad. Mostly newbie help desk type work (Tier 1), password resets, application support, system deployments
Company size: 10000+
Age : 25
Duration: 4 Months (Temp)
How: Applied online through University website
Certs: A+
Education: AA- General Studies, B.S. -Business/Info Systems
Pay :$19/hr


Title: Analyst 1- Tech Support Coordinator
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Same location as before but different department. This was a permanent position with excellent benefits and pension. Sole help desk person for 200 people.
Company size: 10000+
Age : 25-28
Duration: 2 years 7 Months
How: Applied online through University website
Certs: A+, S+, Started CCENT
Education: AA- General Studies, B.S. -Business/Info Systems
Pay :$21/hr


Title: Analyst 2- Desktop Support (Tier 2)
Hours/wk: 40
Description: End user support, system deployments and imaging, patch management, , casper suite.
Company size: 10000+
Age : 28
Duration: 1 Yr
How: Referred by old boss
Certs: A+, S+, Some CCENT
Education: AA- General Studies, B.S. -Business/Info Systems
Pay :$55000

Title: Jr. Network Administrator
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Job is 50% Network Administration 50% Systems Administration. Will be working with Cisco and HP switches/routers, firewalls, VMWare, Citrix, SAN, Exchange.
Company size: 250
Age : 29
Duration: Current
How: Applied online
Certs: A+, S+, CCNA: RS
Education: AA- General Studies, B.S. -Business/Info Systems
Pay :$68000

SoCalGuy858

Just accepted a new job offer that gives me a 66% bump in base salary and puts me over the six-figure mark... at the age of 25!

Title: Computer Support Technician
Hour/wk: 20
Description: Computer guy and semi-tech support for local MSP with varied types of clients.
Company size: 3
Age: 18-19
Duration: 10 months
How: Knew somebody.
Certs: None
Education: High School Diploma
Pay: 13/hr

Title: Technical Support (officially: Technical Liaison)
Hour/wk: 20
Description: JOAT responsible for all end-user PCs, tech support, A/V, physical security systems, and production IT systems (PCs / label printers).
Company size: ~50 (200+ if you count non-end user production technicians).
Age: 19-20
Duration: 1.5 years
How: This company was a client of my previous company; wanted someone in-house for the non-server, non-networking stuff.
Certs: None
Education: High School Diploma
Pay: Started @ 13.50/hr, ended @ 14.25/hr

Title: Systems Administrator
Hour/wk: 40+, including after-hours on-call Monday-Monday once every ~8 weeks.
Description: JOAT w/ all of the responsibilities of the previous job, now including servers, and multiple engineering applications (SW & HW).
Company size: ~400 (supported entire enterprise but directly responsible for 100+ / ~25 servers at 3 global sites in my business unit).
Age: 20-22
Duration: 2 years
How: Knew somebody.
Certs: None when I started. Obtained Associate of (ISC)2 - SSCP (almost done w/ endorsement); A/N/S+, VCA-DCV, and 2 MTAs
Education: High School Diploma
Pay: Started @ 21.63/hr FT w/ OT (45k); Ended @ 57k salaried.

Title: Information Security Analyst
Hour/wk: 40; no on-call
Description: Newly established InfoSec department; just me at the Director; building policy framework from the ground up; personally responsible for vulnerability management and the majority of our security awareness program.
Company Size: ~400
Age: 22-23 (present)
Duration: 6 months and going....
How: Previous boss (Director of IT) moved into Director of Security role and needed help.
Certs: Same as above. Company paid for SANS SEC-401, about to take the GSEC soon.
Education: Professional Certificate in Information Systems Management (local univ.); 6 credits away from AAS degree.
Pay: Started with same 57k as above and will end with a final salary of $65,000
Bonus: Got the approval to work from home, so I'll be moving across the country to a much lower COL area than I'm in now. Woot!

Received offer for the following job and going to be figuring out a start date soon:

Title: Staff Information Assurance Engineer
Hour/wk: 40 (per discussions with management); not an on-call type thing
Description: Supporting the overall security architecture of a very large US Gov't entity with national IT functions HQ'd here in Raleigh
Company Size: ~126,000
Age: 25
Duration: Starting in a few weeks!
How: Applied for ~10 positions on a newly announced federal contract; did one phone panel interview for all jobs, and was selected for one a few weeks later!
Certs: CISSP, GSEC, SSCP, Network+, A+
Education: Two professional certificates and ~70 credits into by BSCIA at WGU
Pay: $108,000

DatabaseHead

Title: Senior Business Intelligence Analyst
Hour/wk: 40 week
Description: SQL, Data Warehousing, Data Marts, Statistics, Audits
Company size: 91,500
Age: 42
Duration: 3 months - Current
How: Corporate recruiter reached to me on LinkedIn.
Certs: None that I list anymore
Education: Bachelors
Pay: 88,000 with a 10% - 20% bonus.

TheFifthLetter

Title: Service Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~ 10,000
Age: 29
Duration: 2 years
How: Applied online
Description: Tier 1 NOC position for an international communications company(Mainly to allow communication between mobile networks to facilitate roaming interworking). I got trained from the ground up to troubleshoot VOIP, GRX and traditional telco SS7 issues.
Certs: None
Education: AAS Degree Accounting
Pay: $52k + Bonus depending on performance.


Title: Specialist Service Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: ~10,000
Age: 31
Duration: 1 year
How: Promotion
Description: Responsible for designing and implementing new interconnections with customers. Implemented IPsecs, BGP circuits to facilitate connectivity for SMS, Voice and Data services between mobile operators and companies like Facebook, etc. Pretty much worked from Layer 2-7, got familiar with implementing SS7, DIAMETER, SMPP, M3AU protocols.
Certs: None
Pay: $67,000 + Bonus.

Title: Associate Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Company size: 250k
Age: 32
Duration: 1 month into this new gig.
How: Applied Online
Description: Tier 2 support in a NOC environment for one of the biggest banks in the world. Will be dealing mainly with the infrastructure they use in the voice and data side.
Certs: None
Pay: $90,000 + Bonus.

Prior to my entry into IT I was stuck in customer service jobs in call centers. I'm still not sure where I'll be in 10 years, it's cool what I've learned so far in my IT career.