How much of a raise would you expect?

Given these circumstances, how much of a raise do you think would be fair at my annual review?

When I took this job I had my bachelor's degree and that was it.

I now have top secret clearance and have passed the Sec+, MCTS: Vista, and MCP: 70-290...by the time of my review I hope to have no less than the full MCSA completed.

What do you guys think? If I'm currently at 50k do you think I could reasonably expect to get 60k?

Keep in mind this is the DC job market.

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Comments

Hyper-Me

Thats like 25k where I live, way to low of pay for any kind of systems admin.

I'd say you definitely deserve something, given your continued education and progression in the field. It's really up to what the company wants to do though.

Do they ask you what you think you should get?

SrSysAdmin

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Thats like 25k where I live, way to low of pay for any kind of systems admin.

I'd say you definitely deserve something, given your continued education and progression in the field. It's really up to what the company wants to do though.

Do they ask you what you think you should get?

I still have a bit before my review but I just want to be prepared when I go in for it.

Where do you live that the salary would be 25k? I can't imagine working for that salary around here! 350k will buy you a shack falling down around here though, lol.

chmorin

CCNP gives our network admin around a 2k addition to this salary. So with everything you will have I'd say aroundt 5k. Plus your experience and value to the company.

SrSysAdmin

chmorin wrote: »

CCNP gives our network admin around a 2k addition to this salary. So with everything you will have I'd say aroundt 5k. Plus your experience and value to the company.

That's all? Hmm...I had read that Top Secret clearance alone was worth 10-15k alone before anything else is even taken into consideration.

colemic

A lot of times though, HR policies will dictate how much of a raise you can get - my company maxes out at 10%, and that has to be signed off on by the president, (who won't), and a 9% increase has to be signed off on by the deputy director (she won't, either.)

it really screwed me moving from desktop admin to IA... I finished my bachelor's and CISSP and got $1.60 an hour more. (unique location = ridiculously low pay, but housing/meals included...)

blargoe

Was this your first job? You're worth what the market will bear...

I think reasonably, you would deserve and expect a decent raise. However, 50k to 60K is 20%... that much of a raise might not fly. Did the company pay for your certs and training and your top secret clearance? If so, then your total compensation is much more than 50K. That is how they are going to look at it... and rightfully so. Just my opinion. 5K would probably be more in line, but you could negotiate additional training or some other perk. Or you could test the waters and see if you could do better at another company.

Either way, I think you are pretty well positioned for success in the not to distant future.

Good luck.

colemic

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

That's all? Hmm...I had read that Top Secret clearance alone was worth 10-15k alone before anything else is even taken into consideration.

Honestly, I have never found that to be true. Employer's market the last few years, I guess.

chrisone

it really all depends on your performance and value to the company. I have learned that certs are great and prove a certain point, but in the end the main point you can prove is your worth to the company based on projects and events completed during the year. The more and more you participate and resolve solutions with minimal errors (errors/faults will happen its normal, just keep them low) the better your value is to the company. You can get all the certs you want but if your not using them in your companies projects or in your day to day tasks, it wont matter to the company. Especially if your obtaining certs that dont even apply to your job. Its like a network admin getting VOIP certs and your company needs you to be proficient in security and routing and switching. I am sure your boss and co-workers will applaud you in your efforts, but what good does it due to them? I know this isnt your situation i am just spitting that out there hahaha

mmmmm as far as raise, well i havent been in a good company where i have been given a reasonable raise. the only time i earned more money was when i earned a new job role, it was usually like a 2 to 4 k job in salary, but my salary was low at that time so it didnt matter. I now earn a good salary at my new job with my new company , i have only been here 9 months so well see how much they give for raises here.

forkvoid

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Thats like 25k where I live, way to low of pay for any kind of systems admin.

I'd say you definitely deserve something, given your continued education and progression in the field. It's really up to what the company wants to do though.

Do they ask you what you think you should get?

Nah, I think it would probably get $40-$45k max here with a degree, Sec+, MCSA and TS clearance.

Still not that good, though.

SrSysAdmin

blargoe wrote: »

Was this your first job? You're worth what the market will bear...

I think reasonably, you would deserve and expect a decent raise. However, 50k to 60K is 20%... that much of a raise might not fly. Did the company pay for your certs and training and your top secret clearance? If so, then your total compensation is much more than 50K. That is how they are going to look at it... and rightfully so. Just my opinion. 5K would probably be more in line, but you could negotiate additional training or some other perk. Or you could test the waters and see if you could do better at another company.

Either way, I think you are pretty well positioned for success in the not to distant future.

Good luck.

Third job out of college, but it was a transition. My first job was in hospitality management while implementing and maintaining our minuscule IT infrastructure.

Second job was deploying IT systems in hotels.

This job is purely IT stuff. The work itself wasn't really above what I was doing before but I couldn't give up the opportunity to get security clearance, plus they pay for all my training and certs (to answer somebody else that asked).

This puts things in more perspective. I am still going to shoot for 60k but I guess I would be willing to accept something in the 57k-ish range. Fortunately I work for a small company where raises aren't restricted by HR...only by the value they can get out of me when bidding on federal contracts.

Thanks for all the great responses...I love this place.

Hyper-Me

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

I still have a bit before my review but I just want to be prepared when I go in for it.

Where do you live that the salary would be 25k? I can't imagine working for that salary around here! 350k will buy you a shack falling down around here though, lol.

The cost of living where I am, East Tennessee, is half that of Washington DC.

Consider that I bought a brand-new, 1600 sq ft Condo for 140k, with custom chosen options.

Your same pay in my town would be 25k a year.

Hyper-Me

forkvoid wrote: »

Nah, I think it would probably get $40-$45k max here with a degree, Sec+, MCSA and TS clearance.

Still not that good, though.

I was speaking to the differences in cost of living between DC and here. Its crazy cheap to live here compared to most places in the country.

SrSysAdmin

Hyper-Me wrote: »

The cost of living where I am, East Tennessee, is half that of Washington DC.

Consider that I bought a brand-new, 1600 sq ft Condo for 140k, with custom chosen options.

Your same pay in my town would be 25k a year.

Bah, wish I could find a decent job down in the Nashville area...I love Nashville/Tennessee in general.

I've been all over the state, from Pigeon Forge to Martin and Paris to Murfreesboro, and a lot of places in between. Great place filled with great people, reasonable cost of living and no income tax!

tpatt100

My biggest raises have always come from the company that hired me next. Your current employer usually has a cap they can give and bigger raises will come from changing positions in the company to a higher paid position.

themagicone

Humm this makes me question my career choices. I'm 26, grew up and still live in Minneapolis Suburbs. No college, no real training, just on the job training. My last job was paying me $43,000/year and with OT I was over $60k + 100% fully paid medical/dental, 3 weeks paid vacation to start. I'm not gloating but if going into IT with a BS and a few certs is going to get me only in the 30-40k, it won't make much sense...

To answer your question to what you should expect, look on job boards and research job that meet your qualifications to see what they pay and base it off that. If current certs and position are getting around 52k starting, don't expect too much more. It really has to be based on the market, and company can handle. Don't price yourself out of a job.

forkvoid

themagicone wrote: »

Humm this makes me question my career choices. I'm 26, grew up and still live in Minneapolis Suburbs. No college, no real training, just on the job training. My last job was paying me $43,000/year and with OT I was over $60k + 100% fully paid medical/dental, 3 weeks paid vacation to start. I'm not gloating but if going into IT with a BS and a few certs is going to get me only in the 30-40k, it won't make much sense...

Remember, Hyper and I are mainly lamenting our choice of where we live. Cost of living is low here, so pay tends to be low, though not in a proportional manner as one would expect. It's not exactly a hub of IT in East TN.

chmorin

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

That's all? Hmm...I had read that Top Secret clearance alone was worth 10-15k alone before anything else is even taken into consideration.

Good point, the clearance should land you a load.

TechJunky

60k and living in DC, look for a new job. How can you even afford to live in D.C for 60k? When I contracted and flew to Virginia once a week I made more than that. Most guys were around 80-90k.

Seriously, find another job.

Kaminsky

I agree... but

It is very difficult to get any kind of decent pay rise in the same company especially a 20% pay rise which is what you are hoping for. You will get all sorts of promises etc but you will be waiting a very long time I expect, even if it has already been promised you. If they say yes to $60k right off the bat then maybe ... otherwise, not gonna happen I wouldn't have thought.

You only get decent leaps in pay when you get another job and negotiate a decent pay rise right at the start. However, as they have probably just paid out a lot of money for you to get Top Secret clearance, I don't think they would be very happy if you took it and ran and I doubt they would be that happy to give you a 20% salary increase.

I would say you should explain how much you have improved since your last review and take the best you can get, if anything considering how much the clearance has cost them and then wait until the clearance is a year old and then move on. Would also give you time to move on from MCSA to MCSE.

RobertKaucher

Kaminsky wrote: »

I agree... but

It is very difficult to get any kind of decent pay rise in the same company especially a 20% pay rise which is what you are hoping for. You will get all sorts of promises etc but you will be waiting a very long time I expect, even if it has already been promised you. If they say yes to $60k right off the bat then maybe ... otherwise, not gonna happen I wouldn't have thought.

You only get decent leaps in pay when you get another job and negotiate a decent pay rise right at the start. However, as they have probably just paid out a lot of money for you to get Top Secret clearance, I don't think they would be very happy if you took it and ran and I doubt they would be that happy to give you a 20% salary increase.

I would say you should explain how much you have improved since your last review and take the best you can get, if anything considering how much the clearance has cost them and then wait until the clearance is a year old and then move on. Would also give you time to move on from MCSA to MCSE.

I tend to agree with Kaminsky here. The factors you have to consider are how much your boss may even be allowed to give you and also the fact that the current environment gives you very little room for negotiation. If your clearance is under a year old you probably agreed to stay for a year so you are stuck for a little while. The value I see in what you have gone through professionally will be an investment that only helps you if you start poking around looking for other poritions. If you have another job it gives you a little leverage. Without it, I would be sure to argue my case but not expect more that 5% to 10%. I, in fact, expect a mega 0% raise this year due to the financial situation of the company and I am already seriously underpaid for my skills. As another member said... "employer's market."

duzzey

TechJunky wrote: »

60k and living in DC, look for a new job. How can you even afford to live in D.C for 60k? When I contracted and flew to Virginia once a week I made more than that. Most guys were around 80-90k.

Seriously, find another job.

I second that!!! Some contractors here in DC are complete itdiots when it comes to IT. They make more than 100K...

blargoe

I'll amend my earlier comments based on some of the other comments I've read. Yes, it's an employer's market, I wouldn't expect you'll get full satisfaction out of your annual review. However, I'm sure your employer is fully aware how big of a bargain he is getting for your skills, even if you've only been in your position for a year. If you can meet somewhere in the middle it would be a huge win. Being as they just shelled a fortune out for your training, as i said earlier, they may not be very amenable to the discussion.

fly351

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

That's all? Hmm...I had read that Top Secret clearance alone was worth 10-15k alone before anything else is even taken into consideration.

I don't doubt your semi-underpaid for your location, but... did you pay for the clearance? If not.. just remember that when you go asking for a raise

earweed

In reading through this thread it looks like a lot of people think 5 - 10 % would be a good deal. If you continue on your current course and obtain your MCSA by review time that would actually be not too bad a deal considering the current job climate and the amount of money your employers invested in getting you the clearance and helping with your training.
They're looking for a ROI and the best would be to give you a moderate raise now. A year down the road you should expect more and will be able to get more elsewhere. Before moving on though consider other factors (1)work environment ie. bosses, coworkers, assistance with additional training, ability to advance in current company
(2) Benefits usually increase with time as you stay with a company such as a 401k which really gains value as the employer adds matches to it (if they do)
All in all if it is a job and an employer you like then there is always a possibility you could go somewhere else for more money and be unhappy there.

mrgetdown88

I'm a fellow Washingtonian, I'd say that clearance moving vertical in the same company can be almost meaningless sometimes... If you want to get the most impact from your clearance, get a new job where it's required. With the certs that you have I'd say they are worth about 2k each, but then again, you're staying with the same company, so expect them to d!ck you around a little bit and be appreciative that you still have a job with them. In one year, my biggest increase in salary was about 14k but I'm a contractor and job hopping to me is a hobby. To summarize, if you're looking for a great increase in salary, look outside your company's walls. For your yearly review, I'd expect somewhere between a 3k to 7k salary increase. Good luck with everything!

Zaits

JrSysAdmin,

In most cases your job title dictates your pay grade and the lower the pay grade the higher the range of increase you can receive. You can't think of a raise in terms of dollar amount but rather percentage increase. Let me explain in an example...

30-40k - Standard Raise -6% - top raise 10%
40-50k - Standard Raise -3% - top raise 6%
50-60k - Standard Raise -2% - Top raise 4%

*Disclaimer- I completely made those numbers up for an example

Lets say you fall in the catagory of 45k and you received all those certs and earned your keep, chances are the best you can receive is 6%. This is very important when it comes to hiring new employee's because managers would rather hire someone at a lower pay grade so they can give them higher raises which in return makes the employee feel good. If they higher someone at the top of the pay grade typically raises are very low percentage and in return the employee gets upset. This is a trick managers are taught this way the employee stays with the company longer.

Realistically you are probably looking at a 4-6% increase which equates to 2k-3k increase. You may not agree, but you need to go into your review with proof and show them you are worth 10k increase. If they wont settle maybe ask for a bonus instead.

RobertKaucher

earweed wrote: »

(1)work environment ie. bosses, coworkers, assistance with additional training, ability to advance in current company
(2) Benefits usually increase with time as you stay with a company such as a 401k which really gains value as the employer adds matches to it (if they do)
All in all if it is a job and an employer you like then there is always a possibility you could go somewhere else for more money and be unhappy there.

1++ In my opinion a good boss and a job you enjoy is worth 15K a year.