IT Salary Survey 2014

plupien79 said:
Who's more to blame, the IT worker that accepts $13 an hour, or the local economy that won't pay more than that?
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The IT worker.

Supply and demand. The local economy supplies the low paycheck based on what they believe they are worth. The IT worker accepts it. If there are plenty of people available to accept that low paycheck, the paycheck stays low. If IT workers are in high demand and there aren't enough of them to go around, then pay starts to go up.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
The IT worker.

Supply and demand. The local economy supplies the low paycheck based on what they believe they are worth. The IT worker accepts it. If there are plenty of people available to accept that low paycheck, the paycheck stays low. If IT workers are in high demand and there aren't enough of them to go around, then pay starts to go up.
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This.

Very simple actually. Down here the wages get depressed by the massive supply of supposed IT workers, but that is less of an issue when you have a demonstrated skill set and verified career history, then your earning potential go up much faster. I cannot imagine trying to break into this now.
 
fdiaz78 said:
60K is poverty in one region while you can live like a king with that in others. One thing that really burns my bacon is some out of work IT folks giving away skilled labor at fire sale prices. Granted I get that you need to eat, I understand that very well but every time some guy with years of experience with certs settle for a job paying 13 bucks an hour, it affects us all.
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60 K is not a poverty wage in any region.
 
Wow, I'm getting shortchanged by at least 40k. Yet I'm still able to afford a car, townhouse, and support my immediate family that is living with me.
 
I'm not even sure what I fall under. I'm a System Integrator.
 
fdiaz78 said:
60K is poverty in one region while you can live like a king with that in others. One thing that really burns my bacon is some out of work IT folks giving away skilled labor at fire sale prices. Granted I get that you need to eat, I understand that very well but every time some guy with years of experience with certs settle for a job paying 13 bucks an hour, it affects us all.
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Aluisious said:
60 K is not a poverty wage in any region.
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Technically it's true. The COLA for a region could be $80,000 and you're making $60,000 where you're barely making anything to save.
 
J Macker said:
Apparently the New England region is so smart that they don't need Help Desk employees.
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Or maybe it is the exact opposite. Maybe they aren't smart enough to even use a computer so they don't have any.
 
shade91 said:
Why do some of you stay with your jobs knowing you're so underpaid?
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You're worth what you're paid, so if you're underpaid compared to your peers, what does that say about you? I've seen enough staffing agencies and HR drones try to apply that philosophy across regions with highly disparate pay. It's tough to relocate to more expensive areas after you've established your own limited value.
 
I wonder though. They list Systems Administrator as someone that does software primarily. What's the equivalent on the hardware side? I do both positions when it comes down to it. My boss does the low level VM (QEMU?) setups and router/firewall work as the Director of IT.
 
Kaitian said:
Technically it's true. The COLA for a region could be $80,000 and you're making $60,000 where you're barely making anything to save.
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No region has a cost of living of 80k for an individual. Or a family, either.
 
schizrade said:
Looking for liars and people that fake their experience. He was a liar. He went on and on about his bad ass skills, without us even asking about them. So I let him show me. Liar. Bye.

Liars don't pass the security clearance so why not filter them out beforehand? We don't have time or resources to waste on frauds and cheats. It costs cold hard cash to put a person through a clearance screen, so better to call a bullshitter one than find out after.
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It is one thing to add fluff to your resume but you always have to be ready to back it up. The talent pool is small, very small and there are even fewer people going in to tech these days than before. People love computers and technology but the vast majority don't like working with it on a daily basis. There are a lot of people leaving the field at the same time due to how demanding it is to keep your skills constantly updated.
 
I've been an IT manager for over 8 years now and I still don't make the national average according to the survey. However, the survey doesn't take into account what scale size company the survey sample primarily works for, and smaller companies tend to pay lower for the same work, or even longer hours (40 hours...haha, whatever). Sample size is also laughable. And if you work in the west where silicon valley is, then don't even bother letting it make you feel bad.

Personally, I believe companies that look solely for certs aren't even worth the time, because apparently they believe an expensive piece of paper equals how much you're getting, not how much you actually know, or how much experience you have, regardless of how you obtained said experience. I've seen people with a grip of certs and they can't even answer half the questions you throw at them when it comes to real life situations. And those damn certs are like an exclusive VIP club of sorts, just the cost to get the certs alone already bars most from even trying.

But what do I know. I've never had a single certification and I can still handle Cisco / Juniper devices, but big enterprises won't even bother asking just because I don't have a piece of paper that says I'm a bitch to the ladder.
 
plupien79 said:
Who's more to blame, the IT worker that accepts $13 an hour, or the local economy that won't pay more than that?
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the worker who accepts $13...imo more & more this type of stuff happens, people need money or they never made more than $9-10 and hr so $13-15 is enticing and they bite. No body Knows how to negotiate any more, Every interview i do, the candidate never asks for more than we offer. not once.

i think these samples are way to small to take seriously though.
 
Ins0mnyteq said:
the worker who accepts $13...imo more & more this type of stuff happens, people need money or they never made more than $9-10 and hr so $13-15 is enticing and they bite. No body Knows how to negotiate any more, Every interview i do, the candidate never asks for more than we offer. not once.

i think these samples are way to small to take seriously though.
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EDIT: LMFAO 40hrs
 
EndlessRed said:
I've been an IT manager for over 8 years now and I still don't make the national average according to the survey. However, the survey doesn't take into account what scale size company the survey sample primarily works for, and smaller companies tend to pay lower for the same work, or even longer hours (40 hours...haha, whatever). Sample size is also laughable. And if you work in the west where silicon valley is, then don't even bother letting it make you feel bad.
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That's not true. I've lost engineers to companies with no more than 20 employees at rates my fortune 100 company wouldn't compete with.

Personally, I believe companies that look solely for certs aren't even worth the time, because apparently they believe an expensive piece of paper equals how much you're getting, not how much you actually know, or how much experience you have, regardless of how you obtained said experience. I've seen people with a grip of certs and they can't even answer half the questions you throw at them when it comes to real life situations. And those damn certs are like an exclusive VIP club of sorts, just the cost to get the certs alone already bars most from even trying.
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Let me clarify why we look for certifications from operational and support engineers. It shows you are dedicated to your craft and work towards proving it and growing your skill set. Someone with a CCNA is more valuable to me than the guy who worked at a single company for 20 years as a network engineer with no certifications at all. I'd interview them both but my experience has taught me the CCNA guy is coming to the table with better practices than the guy with 20 years experience and no certs at all.

But what do I know. I've never had a single certification and I can still handle Cisco / Juniper devices, but big enterprises won't even bother asking just because I don't have a piece of paper that says I'm a bitch to the ladder.
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Stop kidding yourself and GET THEM. The cost of the books and cert exams are tax write-offs and very often companies will incur the cost for you. They are valuable and will get your resume answered back more often than it would without them. It perplexes me how IT managers don't get something like an ITIL foundations certification when it is a relatively easy 40 question exam which teaches you the best practices of service management available today. Microsoft's Office Framework is based off ITIL v2 as are a lot of the other service management best practice sets.
 
I'm just about right on with that survey. I do very well for my location. Not a big cost of living, so wages are usually pretty small. But, with wages and bonuses I make a little more than what they are saying (plus add in other benefits), and I'm doing great. I'd like to move up the job title, though, and make some more (not to mention have fun with some cool hardware).
 
Aluisious said:
No region has a cost of living of 80k for an individual. Or a family, either.
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If you want to live in a decent area where you can raise a family safely and maybe go for a walk without the threat of violence then yes 80K is nowhere near enough.
 
mine's right on target, and it looks high from what I see advertised for slightly more specialized roles... of course, the available ones are more likely to go unfilled.
 
In NYC my 1 bedroom apartment is 3400 a month (it is in Manhattan, could probably do ~2300 if I lived a 50 minute subway right away). Thats more than most peoples Mortgages (more than twice most poeples mortgages). So while I make a lot of money, I spend a lot. Id argue 80K is close to cost of living for a family of 4 in this city, unless your willing to travel ~90 minutes each way (and admittedly some are).
 
blinx said:
"More than 15 responses but fewer than 30"

hmm.. quite the sampling group.
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This...

It's the same for the whole regions last I checked so I wouldn't bank on it unless it has at least 10-15 samples per position in each regions before I even take it in with a grain of salt.
 
shade91 said:
That's not true. I've lost engineers to companies with no more than 20 employees at rates my fortune 100 company wouldn't compete with.
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keyword: tend to. if your engineers found a small startup that's willing to pay big bucks, then good for them. most of the time small companies won't.

Let me clarify why we look for certifications from operational and support engineers. It shows you are dedicated to your craft and work towards proving it and growing your skill set. Someone with a CCNA is more valuable to me than the guy who worked at a single company for 20 years as a network engineer with no certifications at all. I'd interview them both but my experience has taught me the CCNA guy is coming to the table with better practices than the guy with 20 years experience and no certs at all.
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let's just agree to disagree here.

Stop kidding yourself and GET THEM. The cost of the books and cert exams are tax write-offs and very often companies will incur the cost for you. They are valuable and will get your resume answered back more often than it would without them. It perplexes me how IT managers don't get something like an ITIL foundations certification when it is a relatively easy 40 question exam which teaches you the best practices of service management available today. Microsoft's Office Framework is based off ITIL v2 as are a lot of the other service management best practice sets.
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oh I agree some certs are easy as kelp, and even CCNA is actually quite easy compared to other higher level certs. still, tax write-off != money spent, and again, i'm just against what certs stand for, but that's just my opinion.
 
Make sure to adjust as necessary for any political position you might have taken that bitchy people won't like.
 
It's not how smart you are, or how many degrees you have, or even who your friends are. In the end it all comes down to one skillset: the art of negotiation.
 
McFry said:
lol aint that the truth. I just completed 1 year as a helpdesk manager with 10 years experience in the helpdesk/service role and only make 55k =/

I think 86k is a little high, but I've heard enough verbal slips from payroll/HR to know what they were paying the last guy, and no matter how drunk I get them at happy hour they refuse to divulge what my position really pays.
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LMAO, you make more than an associate professor at an Oregon university makes and about 10k less than an associate professor at a Cal State makes

but you probably don't have about 150k in student debt ;)


my roommate dropped his phd when he got an internship that transformed into a full time job at broadcom. I think he makes roughly twice as much as I do :)
 
mope54 said:
LMAO, you make more than an associate professor at an Oregon university makes and about 10k less than an associate professor at a Cal State makes

but you probably don't have about 150k in student debt ;)


my roommate dropped his phd when he got an internship that transformed into a full time job at broadcom. I think he makes roughly twice as much as I do :)
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Well that all depends on what you are majoring in and if it really makes sense to get a phd. A lot of majors aren't really worth it anymore if you go to an expensive college.
 
I have yet to see a salary survey that says I make more $ than I should. :p
 
xIronCrossx said:
Well that all depends on what you are majoring in and if it really makes sense to get a phd. A lot of majors aren't really worth it anymore if you go to an expensive college.
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doctorate in criminology and law...hardly a non-growth industry ;)
my students generally make more than me their first year in law enforcement or fresh out of law school but the money isn't the primary reason I got into this profession

engineering: it simply doesn't make sense to earn a doctorate when one could spend those years post-masters in the field without the debt burden. at least that's what I saw when I was completing my doctorate and my roommate and his friends were all dropping out of their phd programs to go work in tech. but then again orange county is a weird little bubble where it's practically impossible to throw a stone and not hit someone making 6 figures

it was just odd to me that someone working at a help desk would be making more than any doctor, regardless of discipline.
 
Cali3350 said:
In NYC my 1 bedroom apartment is 3400 a month (it is in Manhattan, could probably do ~2300 if I lived a 50 minute subway right away). Thats more than most peoples Mortgages (more than twice most poeples mortgages). So while I make a lot of money, I spend a lot. Id argue 80K is close to cost of living for a family of 4 in this city, unless your willing to travel ~90 minutes each way (and admittedly some are).
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You just answered everyone else's questions/remarks arbout poverty NOT being under 80k. See... you would save over $13k a year just by moving 50 minutes away. I bet subways are cheaper than car payements and gas too, so you would save money there also.

It's not that under $80k is the poverty level, it's that you guys don't want to change your lifestyle to match your income. Do you think you're too good to get a little cheaper place, not buy a brand new car vs used, etc. If you refuse to even attempt to match your lifestyle to your paycheck, you could be a millionaire living in "poverty."
 
Yep... Even as my "official" title of technician I make less then what is the average in my state even though I technically do "systems administrator" work... Thanks for the extra motivation to take that new job I've been offered! lol
 
Paying $40k a year in rent seems like a really bad choice to me. Regardless of how much you make.
 
fdiaz78 said:
If you want to live in a decent area where you can raise a family safely and maybe go for a walk without the threat of violence then yes 80K is nowhere near enough.
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I live in a place with all that, for FAR FAR less than 80k a year. It's a lot easier when houses cost less than 100k on average.
 
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