ATTN IT Techies - How much do they pay you?

[ashhash]

Hey all,

Just wondering who here does IT Tech work?

Ive been working at a local business for 5 years now (fulltime) and am getting pretty pissed with my pay rate.
I am a HP certified tech (Desktop, Notebooks and Printers)
We (the business) are contracted to do repairs for numerous large IT companies.
I also do ADSL installation for the big telcos.
Plus the standard walk in private stuff and support for numerous local business.

The problems I have are;

a) I dont have many paper qualifications. (MSCE seems to be the shit for many of these jobs....shame its cost like 5k+ to do these courses!)
b) Im in a pissy small town.
c) There is no award rate for this job (or IT in general it seems!)

Really just wondering what you guys make per annum?
How much difference are the "bits of paper" going to make?

I currently make 35k before tax :(

Cheers
Ash

[Mahoney_007]

I got one mate that does what you do by the sounds of it, but he has a few "pieces of paper" not sure which ones (MSCE is more than likely), and although I cant be sure exactly how much he is getting I know its a bit more than myself and I earn more than you, so my guess is 50k.

My other mate who does similar stuff but no papers earns about your rate.

Hope thats of some help :confused:

[ashhash]

Yeah I thought as much, you guys are in Perth yeah?
How much should where you live affect your pay rate?

I keep telling myself that I cant expect to much because I live in a pretty small town (Armidale) but I cant help but feel that im gettin used here.

Again any advice appreciated.

Cheers
Ash

[928stu]

I'm in the Dept. of Education.
No paperwork - demonstrated ability - $65K
School hours, school holidays - lifes a bitch ;)

Council workers around town(in a town of 2000) are on $32K - $35K for IT is shit!

[rimas]

How long have you been in IT ashhash?

I get paid alright now but have been paid as low as $11 per hour for skilled work.

Maybe you should apply for other jobs...

[ashhash]

No paperwork - demonstrated ability - $65K

Bastard ;)

Ive been in IT for about 8 years all up.
Yeah im gonna start posting my resume around to some places.

Cheers
Ash

[steamfrog]

Applied knowledge is the best, If you know your stuff you will beat anypaper holder hands down. Nothing is better than real life experience,businesses dont care if your certified, as long as you can solve theproblem fast. They like the certifications as they can charge more. Wefound with the techs we have that the paper holders follow a set ofrules when confronted with a porblem and if the error isnt covered bythose rules, it gets ugly, on the other hand we have a guy who isnt apaper holder and he solves the issues straight away. We pay ours 70 -80k a year.

[LordNikon]

The bits of paper are only useful with experience aswell.

I have 3 unrelated IT qualifications, CLP (Lotus), MCSE (Microsoft) and CGE (Genesys). All of which are pretty much useless on their own.

You need the experience aswell.

$35k is pretty low for 8 years experience, but without any qualifications you don't really have any kind of precedent to compare to. The only way you'll be able to get more cash is by going to other places, with the certifications you'd be able to fight for more cash where you are.

My advice, get out of the small town and head for your nearest big city. Money is better.

[neko]

I just finished a 2 year traineeship last year and am now full time at the same workplace. So, 2 1/2 years in IT. I earn the same wage as you.

[ashhash]

Does your work need any more employees Neko? ;)

Thanks for the advice all, it confirms what I thought.
Time to go job hunting :D

Cheers
Ash

[GoingDHfast]

You should start your own business and become a freelance IT consultant. Before you do it, make some of your bigger clients at the moment aware of what your doing and bam, you have your first client base. ;)

Start by charging $60 per hour for your work, then you can move up towards $200 within a few years if you are an absolute perfectionist and set up computers "the right way". Word of mouth will do good things for you and before you know it you will HAVE to put your hourly rate up because you have too many clients. Might sound like BS but there are so many shitty IT support people in the industry - there are also people out there prepared to pay top dollar to have things done right - when they find you they will want to stick with you..