Timeline: Your IT Career Progression

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  • McxRisleyMcxRisley Member Posts: 494 ■■■■■□□□□□
    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
    I'm not allowed to say what my previous occupation was, but let's just say it rhymes with architect.
  • Moldygr33nb3anMoldygr33nb3an Member Posts: 241
    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


    RECALLED TO ACTIVE DUTY

    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

    Returned Home

    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
    Current: OSCP

    Next: CCNP (R&S and Sec)

    Follow my OSCP Thread!
  • jws86jws86 Member Posts: 77 ■■□□□□□□□□
    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?
    Currently studying for CCNA R&S
  • SquishedSquished Member Posts: 191 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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.
    [2018] - A+ 901 (PASS), A+ 902 (PASS), Project+ (PASS), Security+ (PASS), Network+(PASS), CySA, Cloud+
    [2018] - MBA - IT Management - WGU (PASS)

    HR: “What if we train them and they leave?”
    ME: “What if we don’t train them and they stay?”
  • fcastjrfcastjr Registered Users Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
    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!
  • adaliadellaadaliadella Member Posts: 10 ■□□□□□□□□□
  • ArabianKnightArabianKnight Member Posts: 278 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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
  • jcole4lsujcole4lsu Member Posts: 34 ■■□□□□□□□□
    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.
  • ArabianKnightArabianKnight Member Posts: 278 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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.
  • earonw49earonw49 Member Posts: 190 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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
    WGU B.S. IT - Progress: Feb 2015 - End Date Jan 2018
    WGU M.S Cyber Security & Assurance - Progress: March 2019 - End Date June 2019
  • kohr-ahkohr-ah Member Posts: 1,277
    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.
  • rj1790rj1790 Member Posts: 110 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Started late icon_sad.gif. 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
    WGU: Network Operations and Security - COMPLETED
    Current Certifications: A+, N+, S+, CCNA R+S, and CCNA Security, CCDA
  • Z0sickxZ0sickx Member Posts: 180 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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
  • DatabaseHeadDatabaseHead Member Posts: 2,753 ■■■■■■■■■■
    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.......
  • snapdadsnapdad Member Posts: 50 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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
  • shimasenseishimasensei Member Posts: 241 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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.
    Current: BSc IT + CISSP, CCNP:RS, CCNA:Sec, CCNA:RS, CCENT, Sec+, P+, A+, L+/LPIC-1, CSSS, VCA6-DCV, ITILv3:F, MCSA:Win10
    Future Plans: MSc + PMP, CCIE/NPx, GIAC...
  • Kinet1cKinet1c Member Posts: 604 ■■■■□□□□□□
    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
    2018 Goals - Learn all the Hashicorp products

    Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity
  • Nightflier101BLNightflier101BL Member Posts: 134 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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)
  • mikey88mikey88 Member Posts: 495 ■■■■■■□□□□
    It would be nice to also include location with the posts as that matters as much as all the rest of the info.
    Certs: CISSP, CySA+, Security+, Network+ and others | 2019 Goals: Cloud Sec/Scripting/Linux

  • NiTech-5NiTech-5 Member Posts: 25 ■□□□□□□□□□
    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 icon_sad.gif

    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.
    • Education: BA; MA (a concentration in Cyber/IT Risk Management); Later: MS in Cybersecurity @ WGU, 2020
    • Certs in Progress: Security+ Sy0-501 (late-August or early Sept 2018 )
    • Late 2018/ Early 2019 Goals: CCENT then CCNA Security
    • Self-Taught Programming: Python; SQL (basic)
  • PsychoData91PsychoData91 Member Posts: 138 ■■■□□□□□□□
    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_DZA_ Member Posts: 467 ■■■■■■■□□□
    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
  • fullcrowmoonfullcrowmoon Member Posts: 172
    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.
    "It's so stimulating being your hat!"
    "... but everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked."
  • Pmorgan2Pmorgan2 Member Posts: 116 ■■■■□□□□□□
    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.
    2021 Goals: WGU BSCSIA, CEH, CHFI | 2022 Goals: WGU MSCSIA, AWS SAA, AWS Security Specialist
  • Sheiko37Sheiko37 Member Posts: 214 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Did you convert everything to the same currency?
  • Pmorgan2Pmorgan2 Member Posts: 116 ■■■■□□□□□□
    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.
    2021 Goals: WGU BSCSIA, CEH, CHFI | 2022 Goals: WGU MSCSIA, AWS SAA, AWS Security Specialist
  • PsychoData91PsychoData91 Member Posts: 138 ■■■□□□□□□□
    pmorgan2, did you see anyone who had Doctorate level? or Was masters the highest?
  • NetworkNewbNetworkNewb Member Posts: 3,298 ■■■■■■■■■□
    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 icon_sad.gif
  • Pmorgan2Pmorgan2 Member Posts: 116 ■■■■□□□□□□
    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.
    2021 Goals: WGU BSCSIA, CEH, CHFI | 2022 Goals: WGU MSCSIA, AWS SAA, AWS Security Specialist
  • Alif_Sadida_EkinAlif_Sadida_Ekin Member Posts: 341 ■■■■□□□□□□
    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
    AWS: Solutions Architect Associate, MCSA, MCTS, CIW Professional, A+, Network+, Security+, Project+

    BS, Information Technology
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