Timeline: Your IT Career Progression

McxRisley

Title: Rollout Technician/Software Support
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Imaged, staged and deployed new systems for a local hospital. Provided tier 2 support for hardware, program and software related issues.
Company size: 100+
Age: 25
Duration: 8 months
How: Applied and interviewed
Certs: None when started, obtained Security + and Microsoft Server fundamentals MTA right before leaving
Education: Already had a B.S. Information Technology from a Brick and Mortar
Pay: Starting 23,000 - Ending 28,000

Title: Information Security Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Performed vulnerability scans, patch management and system administration on numerous systems.
Company size: 20+
Age: 25
Duration: 18 months
How: Knew someone and got an interview
Certs: Security + and Microsoft Server fundamentals MTA, obtained CASP, CEH, CSA+ and OSCP before leaving.
Education: Already had a B.S. Information Technology from a Brick and Mortar
Pay: Starting 47,000 - Ending 56,000

Title: Sr. Penetration Tester
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Performed adversarial assessments for the Navy on various technologies and systems.
Age: 26
Duration: 6 months
How: Met someone from these forums while doing OSCP and they helped me get an interview after passing the exam.
Certs: Security +, Microsoft Server fundamentals MTA, CASP, CEH, CSA+ and OSCP
Education: Already had a B.S. Information Technology from a Brick and Mortar
Pay: 108,000

Title: Lead Information Security Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Team leader of network security, Splunk Administator, IDS/IPS administrator. I see EVERYTHING lol
Company size: 50+
Age: 27
Duration: 7 months
How: Worked here previously and they wanted me back.
Certs: Security +,Microsoft Server fundamentals MTA, CASP, CEH, CSA+ and OSCP
Education: Already had a B.S. Information Technology from a Brick and Mortar
Pay: Starting 70,000 - current 100,000

Moldygr33nb3an

Glad this thread was made. Can see progression amongst everyone.

Title: US Navy Reserves IT
Hour/wk: After 8 months of training, one weekend a month
Company size: Alot
Age: 19-20
Duration: 6 years
How: Walk in
Certs: None
Education: HS
Pay: E1

Title: Circuit City Computer Sales
Hour/wk: 30 Part-Time
Company size: Location had about 20-30 employees
Age: 20
Duration: 1 Year
How: Walk-in
Certs: None
Education: HS
Pay: $8.50

Title: IT Help Desk Screener
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 5000
Age: 21
Duration: Roughly 4 Months
How: Unit Officer got me the job
Certs: None
Education: HS
Pay: $11.50

Title: IT Service Desk Technician
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 5000
Age: 23
Duration: 2 years
How: Promoted from screener
Certs: A+
Education: HS
Pay: $18.75

Title: Geek Squad Tech
Hour/wk: 15-30 (Second Job
Company size: I don't know
Age: 23
Duration: Less than a year
How: Walk-In
Certs: A+
Education: HS
Pay: $11.50

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RECALLED TO ACTIVE DUTY

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Title: S6 Comsec Custodian
Hour/wk: 80+
Company size: Team was about 80, but reported to brigade
Age: 24
Duration: 15 months
How: The President
Certs: A+
Education: HS
Pay: E5

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Returned Home

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Title: IT Service Desk Lead (DOD CIVILIAN)
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 5000
Age: 25
Duration: 2 years
How: Picked up before I left for contracting gig in Afghanistan lol
Certs: A+
Education: HS
Pay: 60k a year + Gov Benefits

Title: Jr. IT Project Manager
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 5000
Age: 26
Duration: 2 Years
How: Promoted
Certs: A+
Education: Some College
Pay: $65k a year + Gov Benefits

Title: Sr. IT Project Manager
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 5000
Age: 28
Duration: 2 years
How: Interviewed for a promotion
Certs: A+, P+, S+, N+, CSA+, CASP, CEH.
Education: AAS
Pay: $75k + Gov Benefits

Title: Network Engineer
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 5000
Age: 30
Duration: 6mo - Present
How: Interviewed for an opening
Certs: CCNA, eJPT, CCNA-SEC
Education: 3 classes away from B.S.
Pay: $85k + Gov Benefits

jws86

Squished wrote: »

I'll play. Don't laugh too hard.

Title: Support Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Tier 1/2 Support for large corporation
Company size: 30,000
Age: 20-22
Duration: 3 years
How: Applied and interviewed
Certs: None
Education: Bachelor's
Pay: $55k/year

Title: Support Analyst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Tier 1 Support for large corporation
Company size: 145,000
Age: 23
Duration: 1 years
How: Applied and interviewed
Certs: None
Education: Bachelor's
Pay: $70k/year

Title: Manager/Director of IT
Hour/wk: Infinite
Description: Oversee all IT operations for small non-profit
Company size: 125
Age: 24 -> present
Duration: 8 years
How: Applied and interviewed
Certs: ITIL, A+
Education: Bachelor's
Pay: $75k/year current, started at $55k 8 years ago

That's a heck of a jump from Support Analyst to Director of IT. How did you manage that?

Squished

jws86 wrote: »

That's a heck of a jump from Support Analyst to Director of IT. How did you manage that?

I should have broken it down a bit more, sorry. I went from support analyst to "manager" of IT at this job. However the job was both "managing" the budget, hardware, software, servers, etc., as well as "doing" the actual technical work in each of those so there was quite a bit of transition. Plus I was the only "Manager" willing to work for $55k at the time so I got the job. Later I was promoted to Director, where I sit now, and have people working under me.

fcastjr

What's up everyone... new to the site, first post here, was looking through this thread and there are some very impressive posts on here.

I originally worked for a Junior College (where i got my Associates) making 8 bucks an hour

Worked as a correctional officer where i was making 8.5 an hour

Then my IT career took a turn for the better!

Went from making 17.83 an hour, moved town with same company, went up to 21.49 an hour, moved prisons in same town, went up to 28.84 an hour, two raises later I'm currently at $30.60 an hour, along with medical benefits we get extra funds for i'm at about $72,000. I'm hourly though and travel a lot... this last year i hit $76k i believe.

Started up with WGU this last October, which is where I got my first official IT certs, currently have A+, ITIL Foundations, and CIW Site Development Associate.
This next semester I should be getting my Network+, Security+, and CCSP. Total with WGU Bachelor's in CyberSecurity and Information Assurance the degree contains 11 certs.
Hopefully this time next year I'll be done!

adaliadella

I had newly joined as a php developer

ArabianKnight

Update....

Title: Cyber Threat Intel Analyst
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 1000
Age: 34
Duration: 4months-Pres
How: Headhunter
Certs: Net+, Sec+
Education: MBA
Pay: $157k Plus Benefits

jcole4lsu

ArabianKnight wrote: »

Update....

Title: Cyber Threat Intel Analyst
Hour/wk: 40 Hours
Company size: 1000
Age: 34
Duration: 4months-Pres
How: Headhunter
Certs: Net+, Sec+
Education: MBA
Pay: $157k Plus Benefits

Umm yeah, so I'm gonna need some more details on this one.

ArabianKnight

jcole4lsu wrote: »

Umm yeah, so I'm gonna need some more details on this one.

I work in DC as a contractor so it is not unusual to obtain this level of salary. I went from 113k working on Ft. Meade then started commuting to DC for this gig. Its in the senior billet, we have juniors and a lead as well.

earonw49

earonw49 wrote: »

2 year update:Title: Information Security Systems Engineer (Professional Development Rotation Position)Hours/wk: 40+ (Overtime Approved)Description: Firewall and security project support as well as project managementCompany size: 65000+Age : 26Duration: 1 yearHow: Applied internally Certs: A+, N+, S+, L+, P+ Useless CIW certsEducation: BSIT @ WGUPay : 65k. Note that this position was within a rotational program (glorified post graduate program). The pay does not decrease with the rotation switch. My pay significantly increased once I was hired out of the rotational program.Location:FloridaTitle: Information Security Analyst Hours/wk: 40 (Overtime Approved)Description: Firewall and security project support as well as project managementCompany size: 65000+Age : 27Duration: I start in a few weeksHow: Applied internally, word of mouth, knew the team that had the opening due to my Systems Engineering gig aboveCerts: A+, N+, S+, L+, P+ Useless CIW certs, CCNA, CCNA:SecurityEducation: BSIT @ WGU, MSISA pending late this yearPay : 72k + Bonus UpfrontLocation: Florida

Another Update:

Title: Information Security Analyst II
Hours/wk: 40 (Overtime Approved, but rarely needed according to employees I talked to)
Description: DIACAP, RMF, Goverment Compliance, updating, scanning and security structure improvement for federal and private Aerospace & Defense contractors.
Company size: 500+
Age : 27
Duration: I start in a week
How: Previous position was taken from under my feet at the last minute (budget cuts) and I fell back into my old position. Decided to move on from company to the direction I wanted my career to go. Updated my resume, linkedin, and portfolio. Upgraded to linkedin premium and sent the head recruiter(s) my resume and applied for this position via their website and linkedin. They called me for an interview a few days later and after said interview, offered me the job a day later.
Certs: A+, N+, S+, L+, P+ Useless CIW certs, CCNA, CCNA:Security
Education: BSIT @ WGU, MSISA pending late this year
Pay : 70kish + Bonus Upfront
Location: Florida

kohr-ah

Update for new role:
Title: Security Operations Specialist 2
Hour/wk: 35 - 40
Description: Hybrid role of SecOps Engineering (Blue team, policy creation, etc etc) and Network Security
Age: 36
Duration: 5 months now
Certs: No new certs since last post
Education: 4 year degree from WGU and an Associates from local CC
Pay: 110k/yr.

kohr-ah wrote: »

Title: Jr System Admin
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Desktop work, exchange and Blackberry Server, basic networking work, 1 man team
Age: 26
Duration: 1 years
Certs: A+, N+, CCNA, MCP
Education: Attending college at the time
Pay: $15/hr


Title: System Support Engineer
Hour/wk: 40-60+
Description: MSP
Age: 27 - 31
Duration: 4 years
Certs: CCNA, CCNA+SEC, CCNP Route exam
Education: 2 years of college with AAS in Networking
Pay: $40k p/yr ended at 55k p/yr


Title: Network Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Part of 4 man team support global corporation for an enterprise Fortune 250 Office Supply company
Age: 31 - 32
Duration: 3 months (company merged and was letting us go. I left)
Certs: CCNP Route and Switch
Education: 2 years of college with AAS in Networking
Pay: 65k/yr


Title: Network Engineer
Hour/wk: 50/w
Description: Sole engineer for Fortune 1000
Age: 32 - 34
Duration: 2 years few months
Certs: CCNP, CCDA, CCDP
Education: 2 years of college with AAS in Networking
Pay: 85k/yer plus 15% bonus per year.

Title: Sr. Network Engineer
Hour/wk: 40-45
Description: Sr Network Engineer for Fortune 500 company
Age: 34 - 36
Duration: 1 year 11 mo
Certs: No new ones
Education: 2 years of college with AAS in Networking, got my 4 year degree while here
Pay: 100k/yr.

rj1790

Started late . Hoping to move up soon.

Title: IS Support
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Systems for fortune 500 company
Age: 27
Duration: 1 year-present
Certs: A+, N+, Sec+
Education: AA in Liberal Arts lol
Pay: 50k

Z0sickx

Title: I.T Intern
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Internship for Government
Company size: don't know
Age: 20
Duration: 2 Summers
How: dad got it for me
Certs: None
Education: In community college
Pay: $15/hr

Title: Subject matter Expert
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Gov contractor
Company size: 100k
Age: 22-27
Duration: 5 years
How: Job Fair
Certs: Sec+
Education: bachelors
Pay: $74k before i left

Title: Senior Security Engineer
Hour/wk: 40 (sometimes in 50-60 hour range but only when things are going south or work needs to be done)
Description: Contractor
Company size: 1000
Age: 29
Duration: 2+ years
How: Linkedin Search
Certs: Sec+, CASP, CISSP, CEH
Education: Bachelors
Pay: currently at $111,000

current job i had 5% raise first year then 4% raise 2nd year, yes i'm a heavy hitter on my team by no means the top dog

DatabaseHead

DatabaseHead wrote: »

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/Masters
Pay: 88,000 with a 10% - 20% bonus.

Update

Duration 1 year on the 23rd.

Pay went up to 89,990 still getting a 10% - 20% bonus. Role has expanded, should be good to go for another year....

Next stop BI Architect, this could take a while.......

snapdad

Title: Help Desk Anayst
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Local Government
Company size: ~10k
Age: 24
Duration: 2.5 years
How: Knew someone
Certs: None
Education: Working on BS
Pay: $30k

Title: Desktop Tech
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Local Government
Company size: ~10k
Age: 26
Duration: 9 months
How: Promoted
Certs: A+, Net+
Education: Working on BS
Pay: $40k

Title: Systems Admin
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Local Government
Company size: ~10k
Age: 27
Duration: 8 years 2 months
How: Promoted
Certs: A+, Net+
Education: Working on BS
Pay: Start $40k - End $58k

Title: Systems Admin
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Local Government
Company size: ~1k
Age: 35
Duration: 3 years
How: Applied online
Certs: A+, Net+, Sec+, Proj+, MCSA Windows 7, Altiris Certified Professional
Education: Working on BS
Pay: Start $67k - End $70k

Title: Systems Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Health Care
Company size: ~25k
Age: 38
Duration: Current
How: Applied online
Certs:

A+, Net+, Sec+, Proj+, MCSA Windows 7, Altiris Certified Professional

Education: Working on BS
Pay: $78k

shimasensei

This is an inspiring thread! Speaking of starting from the bottom:

Title: Computer Technician
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Retail
Company size: >25
Age: 18
How: Brought in as a trainee
Certs: none
Education: HS, some college
Pay: $15k p/a

Title: IT Technician / Network Admin
Hour/wk: 40-50
Description: Government Contractor
Company size: >10
Age: 19
How: Applied directly
Certs: A+, Sec+, CCNA
Education: HS
Pay: Start $20k p/a - end $25k p/a

Title: IT Specialist / Support, SysAdmin, Security
Hour/wk: 40-50
Description: Financial Institution (Regional bank)
Company size: ~500
Age: 20
How: Applied online
Certs: A+, Sec+, CCNA
Education: HS, some college
Pay: $30k p/a

Title: Asst. Vice President / Network Security
Hour/wk: 40-60
Description: Financial Institution (Regional bank)
Company size: ~500
Age: 22
How: Promoted
Certs: A+, Sec+, CCNA, CCNA Security
Education: HS, some college
Pay: Start $38k p/a - end $50k p/a

Title: IT Specialist / SysAdmin, Security
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Defense
Company size: ~150
Age: 25
How: Applied online
Certs: A+, Sec+, CCNA, CCNA Security, CCNP, CISSP, L+/LPIC-1, P+, VCA6-DCV, CSSS, others
Education: BSc. Information Technology - Security
Pay: Start $65k p/a - end $70k p/a

Title: Network Security Engineer / SOC SysAdmin
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Defense
Company size: ~100,000
Age: 26
How: Applied online
Certs: A+, Sec+, CCNA, CCNA Security, CCNP, CISSP, L+/LPIC-1, P+, VCA6-DCV, CSSS, others
Education: BSc. Information Technology - Security
Pay: Start $110k p/a

Future plans: MBA, CCIE, PMP, CCNA CyberOps, others

Don't give up on your dreams, keep learning and grinding! The journey is not done for me, in fact, I'm just at the start.

Kinet1c

Kinet1c wrote: »

Title: Operations Engineer
Hour/wk: 40/week
Description: AWS, scripting, monitoring, chef
Company size: 200
Age: 33
Duration: Present
How: Applied directly having searched for smaller company as I wanted a lot of exposure to different things. Rigorous interview process but got through it.
Certs: A+/Network+/CCNA/JNCIA/ITIL-F/Linux+
Education: High school equivalent
Pay: 65-70k

Got an internal promotion recently in the above job after taking on several projects and completing them to a high standard.

Title: Senior Operations Engineer
Hour/wk: 40/week
Description: AWS, scripting, monitoring, chef, terraform, security
Company size: 200
Age: 35
Duration: May 2018
Certs: A+/Network+/CCNA/JNCIA/ITIL-F/Linux+/AWS-CSA/AWS-Sysops
Education: High school equivalent
Pay: ~85k

Nightflier101BL

Update to earlier post. Did some moving around but have now settled.

Title: Network Administrator
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Cisco networking
Company Size: 1000
Company Type: Local Government
Age: 35
Duration: 1.5 years
How: applied and interviewed
Certs:CCNA Security, CCNA R&S, CCENT, Security+, Network+, Project+
Education: AAS Information Technology, Security
Pay: 67K with benefits

Title: Network Security Administrator
Hour/wk: 40-50
Description: Cisco, Palo Alto firewall administration
Company Size: 1000+
Company Type: Satellite communications provider (private sector)
Age: 36
Duration: 4 months (started in Feb 2018
How: applied and interviewed
Certs:CCNA Security, CCNA R&S (CompTIAs expired)
Education: AAS Information Technology, Security
Pay: 102K with benefits (+ stock options)

mikey88

It would be nice to also include location with the posts as that matters as much as all the rest of the info.

NiTech-5

yzT wrote: »

Title: Desktop Support
Hours/wk: 40
Description: "Have you tried to turn it off and on again?"
Company size: 100+
Age: 22
Duration: 4 months
How: internship
Pay: 0

Title: Security Analyst
Hours/wk: 40
Description: Deal with threats, implement and analyze security controls
Company size: gov
Age: 27
Duration: Current position
How: company website. No interview, they just called me and asked when could I start.
Pay: 16k (not bad salary regarding to where I live, people is making 12k or even less)

Uh, what was your background at the time? Just the Security+ and the internship? Degree? I'm soon to be 26 and might be moving back home in these next two months or so...which is also located in an area with low costs of living compared to my current area. I'll take whatever until the time comes to re-locate...and work my way like the rest of us.

PsychoData91

I got my first IT job at a Community College, about a 30-50 minute commute one-way (depending on traffic) after I finished one degree and was a few months away from finishing my second

Title: IT Support Technician
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Helpdesky stuff
Company Size: 200 emps + like 2000 active students
Company Type: Community College
Age: 22
Duration: 6 months
How: applied and interviewed
Certs:A+
Education: AAS Computer Engineering Technology
Pay: 30k w/ benefits, no overtime

Then I finished my AAS Network Engineering technology, CCENT, Server+. I later learned from one of the System Administrators that they had been creating this next position at a higher level than the current techs from the beginning and it just took them a while to create it. I was handling around 85% of the tickets in the helpdesk and reopening tickets they closed to fix them correctly (otherwise they just showed back up a couple days or weeks later with the user more upset)

Title: IT Support Specialist
Hour/wk: 50-60+
Description: Helpdesk-y stuff, escalations, beginning System administration, assisting with network upgrades
Company Size: 200 emps + like 2000 active students
Company Type: Same Community College
Age: 23-25
Duration: 2 year
How: applied and interviewed
Certs:A+, CCENT, Server+
Education: AAS Computer Engineering Technology, AAS Network Engineering Technology
Pay: 32K with benefits, no overtime

During this time I was at this position, the CIO let go of the rest of the helpdesk (4 other techs) and only had me, a temp, and a student worker. And 2 system administrators, but they werent doing helpdesk and the student worker and temp werent allowed access to student information, which made it complicated sometimes. This was around 6 or 8 months into the position
after like 8 months of being alone for the majority of the tickets. I was getting burned out faaast working working days of about 7am-9pm, sometimes as late as 11pm or as early as 5am, and sleeping at lunch. Dont forget I have to drive home about 30-50 minutes commute too. And there was construction that closed lanes in the evenings, so the traffic wasnt any better.

As I grew into doing all the tickets, I also finished picking up the administration of all the windows desktops. I'd been doing most of the end computer updating through our tools like Altiris, but I formalized it and actually got access to things like Group Policy. By this time I was also administrator of around 1/3 of the windows servers so that I could administer the application that ran on them too. I was so busy during the day that the only time I could do lots of these upgrades were after the majority of classes were done at 6pm, and I pretty much had to be at the helpdesk all the time during regular helpdesk hours to answer the phone because the other guys werent allowed to work on the student accounts.

Anyway, we held interviews and managed to hire two other helpdesk guys to take some pressure off me. The CIO talked and asked if I would want to go to Sysadmin or Helpdesk supervisor, made a new position of system administrator, held interviews and I got that position. I also took CySA+ Beta somewhere in here

Title: System Administrator I
Hour/wk: 40ish
Description: Took Administration of basically all Windows Servers, Desktops, and the applications running on them, Updating of all the desktops and servers, still answering helpdesk phone a good portion of the time, handling upgrades, maintenance, and config changes for all but core stack
Company Size: 200 emps + like 2000 active students
Company Type: Same Community College
Age: 25
Duration: 8 months
How: applied and interviewed
Certs:A+, CCENT, Server+
Education: AAS Computer Engineering Technology, AAS Network Engineering Technology
Pay: 35k with benefits, no overtime

Basically with this position, I added the responsibility of administering the servers, but still had to keep all the IT Specialist functions. I was supposed to only be answering the phone when the other two guys werent there, but that never worked out, or I would pick up the phone on the fourth or fifth ring when I could look over at their desks and see they werent busy.
The massive hours over 40 I'd been working died at least though, and I was only there after about 5-5:30pm for scheduled upgrades and off-hours maintenance, and not regular maintenance, which made all the difference that I only had to be there out of hours for big things.

But about 6 months in, I was annoyed that I hadn't gotten the office I was told I would (this is academia, even assistants to people and career coaches have their own separate office) even though there was a free office right next to the helpdesk. The CIO still wasnt checking on some licensing things that I wanted to get SCCM setup to improve patching (turns out we had already licensed it, but he just wouldn't check and tell me that). I ran my experience through PayScale and found I was being preeetty grossly underpaid, even for a Community College and started applying and taking interviews. and thats how I found my current job

Title: System Administrator
Hour/wk: 40ish, still occasional outside normal hours upgrades ofc
Description: Systems and Network Administration of all the company's Windows computers, macs, and network. design and implement AD and Security in Servers and network
Company Size: 55 emps
Company Type: Baby Products Company
Age: 25
Duration: 8 months - current as of 6/6/2018
How: applied and interviewed, through recruiter
Certs:A+, CCENT - which expired since I started working here, Server+, CySA+
Education: AAS Computer Engineering Technology, AAS Network Engineering Technology
Pay: 60k with benefits, no overtime

This place is much better. I've rebuilt their AD to get rid of SBS, implemented VLANs and some actual network segregation that can scale very well with the business (Desktops, Servers, Company Wifi, Guest/home device wifi, vlan, et cetera), upgraded about half the servers to Server 2016, and plans in the works to do the rest. I will probably be looking to move on from here in a few months or so, once I'm all out of fun projects and trying to script things. Maybe a bit longer if they go with my recommendation to drop VMware and go Hyper V (we only have two servers, and arent paying for DRS or FT, so really I dont see any benefit over Hyper V).

I'm registered to start attending WGU for BS Network Operations and Security. Between my certs and degree I transferred in with a pretty good bit already done. With my significantly higher salary at my last job, I've paid off almost all my debt and I am looking at paying for WGU completely out of pocket, once I finish paying off my credit cards. In the meantime I am going to try and work on finishing my CCNA before I have to have my transcripts in since that will knock out 3 classes toward the WGU degree.

We had an incident of a hacker who got in through open RDP about two weeks into my time here, and I got to apply a lot of the things that I learned with CySA+ and other independant study I've done. We had a security audit and several other tests and I've enjoyed locking it down... I might try and go into security in the future, who knows.

DZA_

Title: Service Desk Analyst
Hour/wk: 40-60
Description: Managed Service Provider
Company size: 80
Age: 22
How: College classmate Referral
Certs: none
Education: College - Advance Diploma
Pay: 34k CAD

Title: Network Consultant
Hour/wk: 50+
Description: Managed Service Provider
Company size: Same Company
Age: 24-25
How: Promoted
Certs: MCSE, CCA, ITIL, CCNA, CCP-N
Education: College - Advance Diploma
Pay: Start 60k CAD

Title: Application Delivery Consultant
Hour/wk: 60+
Description: Managed Service Provider
Company size: ~Same Company
Age: 26-27
How: Promoted
Certs: CISSP, CCP-N, CCP-M, MCSE
Education: College - Advance Diploma
Pay: Start 80k+ (4K bonus every quarter) CAD

Title: Systems Engineer
Hour/wk: 40
Description: Financial Institution (National bank)
Company size: 85k
Age: 27-28
How: Applied through job posting on website
Certs: CISSP, CISM
Education: College - Advance Diploma
Pay: Start 83k (Possible bonus up to 35% at year end) CAD

fullcrowmoon

Title: So Long Ago I Can’t Remember
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Dallas,TX
Description: Tier 1 Help Desk
Company Size: 70k employees
Company Type: Defense Contractor
Age: 28
Duration: 1 year
How: Promoted from Administrative Assistant
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci
Pay: 22k

Title: Distributed Systems Analyst
Hour/Wk: 50
Location: Dallas, TX
Description: UNIX Systems Administrator
Company Size: 70k employees
Company Type: Defense Contractor
Age: 29
Duration: 2 years
How: Promoted from Help Desk (Also a bet was involved)
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci
Pay: 35k

Title: Network Engineer
Hour/Wk: 50-60
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Description: Y2K Remediation
Company Size: 30k employees
Company Type: Telecom
Age: 31
Duration: 6 months
How: Interviewed
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci
Pay: 40k

Title: Microsoft NT Systems Administrator
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Description: What it says on the label
Company Size: 30
Company Type: Start-up ISP
Age: 32
Duration: 6 months
How: Interviewed
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci
Pay: 40k

Title: Consultant – Network Operations
Hour/Wk: 60-70
Location: Colorado Springs, CO and Northern VA (I moved)
Description: UNIX/Linux Systems Administrator – supported 1200 production nodes and the accompanying labs on a 24x7x365 basis until I burned out
Company Size: 60k
Company Type: Telecom
Age: 32
Duration: 11 years
How: Contract-to-Perm
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci, earned MSM Proj Mgmt and MSM Info Sys Sec while in the position
Pay: 50k start, ended at 94k

Title: Engineer III Consultant – Network Engineering and Operations
Hour/Wk: 50-60
Location: Northern VA
Description: Built and ran a digital media NOC
Company Size: 60k
Company Type: Telecom
Age: 43
Duration: 2 years
How: Promoted
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci, MSM Proj Mgmt, MSM Info Sys Sec
Pay: 94k-100k

Title: Senior Engineer – Network Planning
Hour/Wk: 40-50
Location: Northern VA
Description: Made developers, testers, and production support play nice together; it was hell
Company Size: 60k
Company Type: Telecom
Age: 44
Duration: 8 months
How: Promoted
Certs: None
Education: BA Poli Sci, MSM Proj Mgmt, MSM Info Sys Sec
Pay: 110k

Title: Consultant – IT Audit
Hour/Wk: 40-50
Location: Northern VA
Description: Examine all our networks and point out when the engineers are lying about security
Company Size: 60k
Company Type: Telecom
Age: 49
Duration: 4 years
How: Lateral move
Certs: CISSP, CISM
Education: BA Poli Sci, MSM Proj Mgmt, MSM Info Sys Sec, earned MS Information Security and Assurance while in the position
Pay: 110k-122k

I’m currently interviewing to move back into Operations as a Principal Engineer and handle the consolidation of all our video support teams and NOCs into one big happy family.

Pmorgan2

I've been watching this thread for a few years now, and thought I'd aggregate some of the data. I ended up with 452 unique jobs from unique 104 people.

Formatted Results
All Data: https://imgur.com/a/8WooGZq
Removed outliers: https://imgur.com/a/CSeB9ck

Issues with the data
- Data is self reported.
- Data is from members of TechExams, whose population leans towards self improvement and doing certifications.
- Sample size is too small to make a general statement. Paul78 was a massive outlier for the 43 & 45 age.
- Number of certs is not a great thing to track, but I didn't want to try and "value weight" the certifications. That would cause some fights.
- IT is a broad field. You can't expect a programmer to progress the same as an MSP super star.

Take Aways
- Wage slowly increases until about age 30, then things start to wildly fluctuate.
- There's a general upward trend of wages vs experience. Breaking the "10 year mark" seems to make a big difference.
- Number of certifications doesn't really matter. Those who have more than 5 tend to make more though.
- Having a 2 or 4 year degree doesn't add too much to wages.
- Having a Master's Degree seems to be a huge boost. That, or people who pursue Master's Degrees are hard chargers.

Observations not reflected in the charts
- Those who got a 4 year degree in their early 20's, and joined IT immediately did really well.
- There seems to be a breaking point at $50,000 - $60,000. Suddenly wages start increasing quickly and drastically.
- While the chart makes a 4 year degree seem insignificant, individuals tend to jump up by 20-40% within 2 years of getting their degree.
- The tendency to take a lower paying job seems to happen more below the $60,000 range. This is the opposite of what I expected.

Sheiko37

Did you convert everything to the same currency?

Pmorgan2

Yes, everything is in USD by today’s conversion rate. So they may be a little off.
Actually, a lot will be off cause $40000 in 1998 was more than $40000 today.

PsychoData91

pmorgan2, did you see anyone who had Doctorate level? or Was masters the highest?

NetworkNewb

Pmorgan2 wrote: »

Yes, everything is in USD by today’s conversion rate. So they may be a little off.
Actually, a lot will be off cause $40000 in 1998 was more than $40000 today.

Went about about 50% since then... That makes me feel old

Pmorgan2

PsychoData91 wrote: »

pmorgan2, did you see anyone who had Doctorate level? or Was masters the highest?

No one here self reported having a Doctorate. I have a two colleagues with Doctorates and they're doing pretty dang amazing.

One joined federal service straight out of college as a supervisory network engineer making $90k + housing (it was overseas). I didn't work directly with him, but it seemed like he did his job well. I've lost contact with him, but he was being considered for the IT Director position when I left. After that he would likely be deputy of some sort, then deputy CIO, then CIO. Federal doesn't pay their CIO / CTO very well considering the level of responsibility (capped at $164k currently), so he may leave for private sector.

Another worked as a government contractor. He went straight to college at 18, graduated with his Masters in CIS at 24, then went straight into the IT work force as a system administrator. He switched over to infosec a few years later and got promoted a few times. He was making around $110k with a Master's and 6 years of experience. Then he started his Doctorate at 30. He was working on his dissertation last I spoke to him, but he should be done by now. I don't know what he plans on doing with that Doctorate besides putting "DIT" after his name.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Title: IT Support Technician
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Orlando, FL
Description: Desktop Support for small local businesses
Company Size: Around 10 or so people
Company Type: Managed Service Provider
Age: 22
Duration: 3 months
How: Monster or careerbuilder.com
Certs: None
Education: In school for AS
Pay: 29,500k

Title: Technical Specialist II
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Orlando, FL
Description: Technical Support and webinar training for online business banking software
Company Size: ~20k employees
Company Type: Large US Bank
Age: 22
Duration: 2.5 years
How: Contract to hire via monster or careerbuilder
Certs: None
Education: Started while in school for AS. Left after graduating with AS degree.
Pay: 43k

Title: Systems Administrator
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Orlando, FL
Description: Systems Admin for enterprise applications. Also did some ETL and database development.
Company Size: ~9k employees
Company Type: Publishing
Age: 24
Duration: 1.5 years
How: Monster or careerbuilder.com
Certs: MCSA, A+, Network+
Education: Started with AS degree in Computer Networking, left after finishing BS in Information Technology.
Pay: 50k

Title: Starting position-Support Engineer, Ending position-Developer Support Engineer
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Orlando, FL
Description: Supported and implemented Business Intelligence software. Specialized in ETL development.
Company Size: ~500 employees
Company Type: Late software startup
Age: 26
Duration: 3 years
How: Applied on company website
Certs: MCSA, A+, Network+, Security+, Project +, CIW certifications
Education: AS Computer Networking, BS Information Technology
Pay: Started-68k, Ended-83k

Title: ETL Developer
Hour/Wk: 40-50
Location: Company was located in San Jose, CA. I worked remotely while living in Orlando, FL
Description: ETL developer for a database solution that company sold. Also billed out as ETL developer for contract work with external customers.
Company Size: ~20 employees
Company Type: Early stage startup
Age: 29
Duration: 1 year
How: Recruiter found me on LinkedIn
Certs: MCSA, A+, Network+, Security+, Project +, CIW certifications
Education: AS Computer Networking, BS Information Technology
Pay: 125k

Title: Solutions Architect
Hour/Wk: 40
Location: Orlando, FL
Description: Assigned Architect to several key customer accounts to help design and lead the development of BI solutions using my company's software. Write best practice white papers on development and architecture. Also act as lead architect or developer for certain internal projects and initiatives.
Company Size: 5k employees (parent company is around 300k employees)
Company Type: Data Analytics software company that is a subsidiary of a larger global tech company
Age: 33
Duration: 3.5 years (current)
How: Applied on company website. Also knew people internally.
Certs: MCSA, A+, Network+, Security+, Project +, CIW certifications
Education: AS Computer Networking, BS Information Technology
Pay: Started-150k, Current-160k