What can be achieved with the right certs, hard work, and little luck

Been pretty busy studying for VCAP5-DCD so I haven't posted in a while, but an exciting event happened and wanted to share with the TE community.

Just signed an offer letter to work at a mid-sized datacenter as 1 of the VMware experts. Wasn't looking for a new position, but couldn't say no to 6 figure salary and a chance to work with 100+ hosts.

Its been 2 years since I decided to switch to IT. Couldn't have made it w/out the support of my family and the knowledge I gained while visiting TE.

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powerfool

I can't say much more beyond what has been said, which is great advice.

Beyond the general cautions about counter offers, consider your career growth. The new opportunity will more than likely have a greater impact on your long-term earning potential and career path.

Congrats!

dave330i

powerfool wrote: »

I can't say much more beyond what has been said, which is great advice.

Beyond the general cautions about counter offers, consider your career growth. The new opportunity will more than likely have a greater impact on your long-term earning potential and career path.

Congrats!

The counter offer is actually less money, but I get to move to a different project which is massive datacenter (1000+ hosts). I would start on the server side with an opportunity to help out with VDI.

Letter

VA isn't THAT bad if you like commuting. You can commute about 45 minutes from the big areas and get more bang for your buck on living. Gratz.

networker050184

I'd take a pay cut to not have to travel 45 minutes. I don't know how some people do that! I'm a 10 minute walk from work now. I can't do more than a 15 minute drive without going insane!

jibbajabba

dave330i wrote: »

The counter offer is actually less money, but I get to move to a different project which is massive datacenter (1000+ hosts). I would start on the server side with an opportunity to help out with VDI.

Always important to do what you think is good for you in the long run . Money is only secondary at this point

jibbajabba

networker050184 wrote: »

I'd take a pay cut to not have to travel 45 minutes. I don't know how some people do that! I'm a 10 minute walk from work now. I can't do more than a 15 minute drive without going insane!

Amen to that.. I went from living next to the office to an 1hr40 by train to get to the office

Paycut would be a no-brainer. Train is £4402 per year (smidge over $6.5k I think). That's after income tax, so I could almost 'lose' about $8-9k a year if I get a job next door again without losing anything really.

Letter

I commute about 45 minutes everyday. It's nice to be able to live in the mountains with zero visible neighbors and simply commute into the city. The pay in the city makes the drive worth it. Beautiful views!

EMcCaleb

Congratulations on your new position! I’m a transplant to NoVa and I’ve totally fallen in love with the area. From a career perspective it’s very hard to beat. I came to the area for the possibility for career advancement and it delivered. There are many job opportunities and you’ll always be a little fish in a VERY big pond. I have found this to be invaluable.

As for the cost of living, like most places housing prices have come down significantly. Rentals are certainly higher than the national average but so are the salaries (greatly). But keep in mind that food, gas, air travel, utilities, insurance etc are not more here than “anywhere” USA. In fact, the airports here are very cheap to fly out of compared to regional airports. The school systems are great, there are wonderful restaurants and you’re close to the ocean and mountains.

Once again congratulations on your new opportunity and welcome to the area.

Mike-Mike

I'm blown away by this 2 years into 6 figures thing.... but I'm glad you shared that, what kind of role are you currently in and what kind of financial bump is this?

congrats by the Way... I'm 1.25 years into my IT switch

powerfool

I have to imagine his success is based on his ambition and motivation. He is jumping straight into one of the biggest things around. Same thing could have happened if he jumped into networking and busted his tail towards the CCIE ten years ago. Good on you.

WafflesAndRootbeer

dave330i wrote: »

Been pretty busy studying for VCAP5-DCD so I haven't posted in a while, but an exciting event happened and wanted to share with the TE community.

Just signed an offer letter to work at a mid-sized datacenter as 1 of the VMware experts. Wasn't looking for a new position, but couldn't say no to 6 figure salary and a chance to work with 100+ hosts.

Its been 2 years since I decided to switch to IT. Couldn't have made it w/out the support of my family and the knowledge I gained while visiting TE.

Good luck with that. Turn-over rate is pretty high for data center jobs here in Northern VA so watch your ass and cover it with documentation at all times.

WafflesAndRootbeer

Letter wrote: »

VA isn't THAT bad if you like commuting. You can commute about 45 minutes from the big areas and get more bang for your buck on living. Gratz.

Many IT companies here now won't hire you for high-paying work if you live more than 20-30 minutes away in traffic unless you're going for a senior position that doesn't require you to be hanging around all the time. That's why they built so many apartment/condo buildings around the tech corridors a while back.

networker050184

EMcCaleb wrote: »

As for the cost of living, like most places housing prices have come down significantly. Rentals are certainly higher than the national average but so are the salaries (greatly). But keep in mind that food, gas, air travel, utilities, insurance etc are not more here than “anywhere” USA.

I'd disagree with this 100%. Food, gas, utilities and insurance are all much more in NOVA than anywhere else I've lived (not sure about air travel). The vast amount of jobs and high salary make up for it though. If you have a family you need a six figure job to be comfortable in the area IMO. Good thing those are fairly common though! Great place to live though thats for sure.

bmy78

Congrats!

May I ask, how did you make the switch to IT and what were you doing beforehand? I'm in the midst of a career change and I'm always curious how people make such a transition.

Congrats again!

dave330i

Mike-Mike wrote: »

I'm blown away by this 2 years into 6 figures thing.... but I'm glad you shared that, what kind of role are you currently in and what kind of financial bump is this?congrats by the Way... I'm 1.25 years into my IT switch

I got my first IT job in 10/10, so my work experience in IT is 1.5 years. My current role is building and maintaining the virtual environment, back end database and Windows infrastructure servers. Making 65k now which was too much when I got hired.

erpadmin

networker050184 wrote: »

I'd disagree with this 100%. Food, gas, utilities and insurance are all much more in NOVA than anywhere else I've lived (not sure about air travel). The vast amount of jobs and high salary make up for it though. If you have a family you need a six figure job to be comfortable in the area IMO. Good thing those are fairly common though! Great place to live though thats for sure.

I know you've premised this with places you have lived, but I can almost assure you that the metro-NYC area is much more expensive to live in than NOVA. My personal experience has been staying the night at Vienna when I've visited DC in my younger days [now I can afford DC proper] and I've found groceries to be somewhat cheaper there than back home. Gas is probably a different story. But there are people and colleagues I know that commute anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour (sometimes more with traffic) just to have access to the higher salary jobs that can be accessed in this area.

My feelings on commuting is that it's all about what one makes it. There are some folks who do not want to live next door to their job, and others who are more comfortable being in a certain area where the school system is top notch. As long as one plans accordingly, the commute should not be a dealbreaker.

dave330i

bmy78 wrote: »

Congrats!

May I ask, how did you make the switch to IT and what were you doing beforehand? I'm in the midst of a career change and I'm always curious how people make such a transition.

Congrats again!

I was a senior mechanical engineer with 14 years experience before I switched. Mechanical Engineers with my skill set just weren't in demand in the area, so I switched to IT.

I spent a lot of time at the public library reading cert books, watching cbt nuggets and labbing. After getting my CCNA & Sec+ I started job hunting. Got my big break when a small start up needed someone cheap to maintain their network and slowly build Windows infrastructure on VMware.

erpadmin

dave330i wrote: »

I was a senior mechanical engineer with 14 years experience before I switched. Mechanical Engineers with my skill set just weren't in demand in the area, so I switched to IT.

I spent a lot of time at the public library reading cert books, watching cbt nuggets and labbing. After getting my CCNA & Sec+ I started job hunting. Got my big break when a small start up needed someone cheap to maintain their network and slowly build Windows infrastructure on VMware.

Having an engineering background, I am sure, is what gave you such a leg up in the IT field. It wasn't like you were a recent HS grad in help desk jumping up to a six figure salary; your experience and degree was leveraged very well. (As well as your study habits...)

Congratulations, and I really hope you don't accept the counter offer.

Mike-Mike

dave330i wrote: »

I got my first IT job in 10/10, so my work experience in IT is 1.5 years. My current role is building and maintaining the virtual environment, back end database and Windows infrastructure servers. Making 65k now which was too much when I got hired.

thanks for the update, keep us posted on the counter battle

SteveLord

erpadmin wrote: »

Having an engineering background, I am sure, is what gave you such a leg up in the IT field. It wasn't like you were a recent HS grad in help desk jumping up to a six figure salary; your experience and degree was leveraged very well. (As well as your study habits...)

Congratulations, and I really hope you don't accept the counter offer.

Have to agree. I knew there was something else to this that had not yet been revealed.

healthyboy

congrats brother

dave330i

Ended up staying with my current company. The money was about even, but there were more benefits in staying with current company. I have a much shorter commute (5 miles vs. 25 miles), tons of down time (gonna need all of it if I'm going to pass DCD), better educational reimbursement and I'll get an opportunity to work at a large datacenter.

N2IT

Nice work Dave glad you made the right decision for you.

dave330i

Reviving an old thread to provide an update. Interview to work at a datacenter scheduled for Friday. It'll be on the VDI side. I have been studying View on and off for a while so I'm not a complete n00b, but will need to spend today and tomorrow watching lots of videos on View.

pizzaboy

Same company or is this a new company that the interview is at?

FloOz

congrats!!! You earned IT!!!

dave330i

dave330i wrote: »

Reviving an old thread to provide an update. Interview to work at a datacenter scheduled for Friday. It'll be on the VDI side. I have been studying View on and off for a while so I'm not a complete n00b, but will need to spend today and tomorrow watching lots of videos on View.

Same company, different project.

pizzaboy

Sweet!! good luck

dave330i

Phone interview went well. Blanked out on vSS vs. vDS

, but nailed the rest of the technical questions. Face to face next.

lhietpas

Congrats!