DenyGFX

Brad_Hawthorne

bcavnaugh

RushXTC
IT pays okay, But the field I'm in pays even better bro...
 
Sometimes I make up to $4,000 in less than a week depending on if I'm feeling lazy or not.

What do you do to make that kind of Money?

He wrecks cars for a living.

While delivering oddly shaped packages?

• previous work experience
• education level (does not mean you are going to make far more starting out)
• cost of living in your area
• the job itself (no sense making your ideal pay if you wake up completely miserable every day)
• the people you work with (a team is only as strong as its weakest link)
• location (are you driving to a place your ok leaving your car) 

Clergy
There are so many deciding factors here it's just plain overwhelming.

• previous work experience
• education level (does not mean you are going to make far more starting out)
• cost of living in your area
• the job itself (no sense making your ideal pay if you wake up completely miserable every day)
• the people you work with (a team is only as strong as its weakest link)
• location (are you driving to a place your ok leaving your car) 

I think it's really important to look at the big picture when deciding if it's the right time to move on to a new job. Personally, am I making my ideal salary, no. But I enjoy my job, the people that I work with and in less that a year I went from help desk to a Sys Admin at a private school so I really can't complain. You should't base your decision off a number only. I realize it's an important number but hardly the entire picture.
 
Good Luck!
 

DStith

Clergy
There are so many deciding factors here it's just plain overwhelming.

• previous work experience
• education level (does not mean you are going to make far more starting out)
• cost of living in your area
• the job itself (no sense making your ideal pay if you wake up completely miserable every day)
• the people you work with (a team is only as strong as its weakest link)
• location (are you driving to a place your ok leaving your car) 

I think it's really important to look at the big picture when deciding if it's the right time to move on to a new job. Personally, am I making my ideal salary, no. But I enjoy my job, the people that I work with and in less that a year I went from help desk to a Sys Admin at a private school so I really can't complain. You should't base your decision off a number only. I realize it's an important number but hardly the entire picture.
 
Good Luck!
 

Yeah it'd be bad if you work for under 40k for many years and then have to re-locate to a place that is expensive to live at.  Even though your wage would go up, the previous money is still the same.
 
Personally I don't recommend anyone doing the IT career for the long term.  There's more interesting things to do with your mind and you can make more money if you know how to do more stuff than just IT support.
 
I know a friend of mine still is doing IT and he is pretty much trapped at the job he has and likely doesn't get more education on his own or even attempt to work elsewhere.  So he'll be stuck there for good.  This is what happens when people flunk out of math and sleep in class.

bcavnaugh

Holo

DStith

Clergy
There are so many deciding factors here it's just plain overwhelming.

• previous work experience
• education level (does not mean you are going to make far more starting out)
• cost of living in your area
• the job itself (no sense making your ideal pay if you wake up completely miserable every day)
• the people you work with (a team is only as strong as its weakest link)
• location (are you driving to a place your ok leaving your car) 

I think it's really important to look at the big picture when deciding if it's the right time to move on to a new job. Personally, am I making my ideal salary, no. But I enjoy my job, the people that I work with and in less that a year I went from help desk to a Sys Admin at a private school so I really can't complain. You should't base your decision off a number only. I realize it's an important number but hardly the entire picture.
 
Good Luck!
 

Yeah it'd be bad if you work for under 40k for many years and then have to re-locate to a place that is expensive to live at.  Even though your wage would go up, the previous money is still the same.
 
Personally I don't recommend anyone doing the IT career for the long term.  There's more interesting things to do with your mind and you can make more money if you know how to do more stuff than just IT support.
 
I know a friend of mine still is doing IT and he is pretty much trapped at the job he has and likely doesn't get more education on his own or even attempt to work elsewhere.  So he'll be stuck there for good.  This is what happens when people flunk out of math and sleep in class.

IT is such a broad field that saying IT in general just means you work with some technology of some sort.
IT encompasses support, systems administration, solutions implementations,  business analysts, SMEs, storage experts, network admins, programmers, architects. Its just a very broad field. Your friend might be stuck because he isn't pursuining certs and moving on thru IT but he is most certainly not stuck.
 
There are equite a few in IT topping out at 200-300k a year that are top grade system's admins.

+1
My 1st for you Holo
 
I hear this to often from X Co-Workers.
I cannot do it because they have not trained me to do it.
Lack of Self Motivation and Self Training is the problem.
You want to move up the Ladder and even move to a Lateral Position and Climb the IT Ladder you will need "Self Motivation and Self Training" and some schooling if need be. But it is still Self Responsibility Not the Manger or even the Company you work for.
 

bcavnaugh
I would add SharePoint Farm Administrators and SharePoint Site Collection Administrators to that list.

Bruno747

blacksapphire08

bcavnaugh
The problem I see is that young workers will not start at the bottom and move up the ladder.
They want to start in the middle, and most think they deserve it. This I believe the really problem now for IT Jobs.
IT Jobs = Information Technology "Less Programmers as they are in their own class."

I started at the bottom working alongside people who have little to no qualifications. Im just hoping that it will eventually payoff.

I started working at a radioshack at 16 for 5.15/hr and was happy to have the job, I just love electronics that much. 
After a few years I had a degree and started working in another company for 11/hr ended my stay there at 14/hr, and moved to another company for 16/hr and moved up to 20/hr. Now I make well north of that. 
 
The degree and knowledge is but part of it. You still have to love the work to thrive in the the environment. Everywhere I work, I constantly get assigned work well out of my job description. Despite not being paid what the people that are actually supposed to be doing that get. I still do it, you know why? I love the work and feed on the challenge. All of that experience and knowledge puts you in an even better position when the time comes to jump or get promoted.
 
 
As others say, usually the IT jobs that pay the most are working direct with a medium to large company. They also tend to have the best benefits. When you are a contractor, you never really know how many people had their hands in your paycheck before you got it. In my case, I was working on networks for a big corporation. Someone directly working for them doing the stuff that I was would have been making 70-90k/year while I made 25k. There were at least 3 companies that I know of who got part of "my paycheck" for the work I did there. So yeah I was underpaid personally, but I can say that I managed and designed the network that a global company deployed to over 300 sites and saved them around $100k/site in hardware and administration costs by streamlining the systems and configurations and I have the documentation to back it up.
 
Again, love the work, have the experience and the paperwork and you will eventually get to those high paying IT jobs.

blacksapphire08
Well I make about 25K at my current job. I have a BA in CS (Specialized in Networking/Database/Security) and if I didnt have the student loans to pay back it wouldnt be so bad. Im working on getting some more certifications to give me a leg up on advancing to higher tier networking team.

You guys made some good points. I dont particulary like my job due to the tedious nature and the fact that I have to take calls in other areas like supply chain/logistics and software applications. I should point out that these apps are specialized to specific warehouses and we dont always have proper documentation for each one. Im going to stick with it since its still good experience.

Holo
Half the companies you will work for will have that issue of no documentation, and company specific things you won't know walking in. My advice to get ahead in those places is to learn the software and make yourself invaluable to them to where they can't lose you. If you become the go to guy for that stuff you have a leg up on negotiating a raise or asking for one before or at review.
 
As a side note tho, IT is always tedious..

bcavnaugh

blacksapphire08

Holo
Half the companies you will work for will have that issue of no documentation, and company specific things you won't know walking in. My advice to get ahead in those places is to learn the software and make yourself invaluable to them to where they can't lose you. If you become the go to guy for that stuff you have a leg up on negotiating a raise or asking for one before or at review.
 
As a side note tho, IT is always tedious..

It's not fixing equipment that I find tedious it's trying to get the correct info from the person on the phone since they usually have no technical knowledge whatsoever and sometimes they want to argue about it. Example: Caller: "The thingy isnt working" Me: "Could you describe it for me? What is the thingy used for?" Caller: "How should I know?! They dont pay me enough to know this stuff. Cant you just send somebody out to fix it?" Me: "We cant send somebody out until we know what it is and what's wrong with it." Then some expletives or continuing arguments, *sigh*.
 
The calls I get from people who are patient enough to explain things or even know what they're talking about are quite enjoyable. That's why I want to work my way up to the next level since I would be designing network architecture and working with regional technology managers to fix problems.

Like my computer screen is not working, it is powered off.
I changed my password but I forgot what I changed it to, 3 Seconds ago.
 
Remember that without users like that we would not need a Helpless Desk, I'm Sorry Help Desk.

Grey_Beard
Computers are my hobby, so I am self taught. I am run a business but the IT guys always listen to my opinion. I have an advanced degree but not in IT. I help more people in my organization with IT than almost any other single area. IT is an integral part of our business model. Without it, we would not be as effective as we are. The issues I have is that many in IT do not know what their end users do. Help desk in particular. Even help desk needs to know what the business is. Unfortunately many on both sides do not want to gain an understanding of the other. Those that do are the ones who can make large pay checks. This is the true value add.