Hi everybody, What do you suggest for being a "System Administrator"? What's the current market worth / paying rate for the above designation? Thanks
Several Factors.. Depends on the type of Systems.Microsoft, Redhat, SuSe, Solaris, or even Cisco IOS. This in my opinion is a huge factor. the more common the OS, then less money...supply vs demand. Also the market. I am not too far from Durham (RTP) so that pushes the base pay up alittle, even though its an hour away..more supply vs demand.. Most Admins I know make between 25-30 an our (50-65K). Do contact work and maybe 35-40. BUT this is for seasoned Admins, and thats usually the trick. People have the knowledge, but not the experience...and that siginifigantly drives down pay... I tell people to move all the time. For me, it was the single biggest and beneficial move i ever made. If your thirsty then you go where the water is.... Good Luck!!! Good luck!
Thanks for the reply, I am attracted towards windows sytem administrator, and I have earned Brainbench Windows System Administrator cert as well.
lspahn offers good advice about system/network administration employment opportunities and pay scales. A great way to gain experience since you are most interested in working as an administrator of a Microsoft-centric environment, would be to work as a consultant for a large consulting/outsourcing organization. Additionally, earn as many certifications (MCSE, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, CCNP/CCNA, et al.) because the market for system/network administrators is highly competitive in terms of the number of applicants for each job.
Very Very True. and Working for a consulting company is big for a reason most do not understand If you work for a Bank or Insurance company you effectivly COST them money. There is no chance of turning a profit on you and not likely to support you in getting certified. Effectivily giving you a ticket to a better job somewere else. If you work for a Consultant, then you certs are Billing power! PLUS a huge thing in private consultants is vendor status, and you need alot of certifications for that. Get a CCIE, and some companies just want you to work for them cause you passed the test. I got alot of mine when I worked for a company that was big on HP certs. You needed MCSE, Network+, and Server+ as pre-requisites for some HP tests...
Thank you very much for both of you, I really very much appreciate your quality feedback. I already had planned for cisco and ms certs but they are banned here in Pakistan, can anyone gives me update for microsoft and cisco certification suspension in Pakistan?
I googled for the reason and founds following Testking's owner was thought to be a UK based Pakistani, it is still not sure and remains an assumption and as a punishment MS have banned its certifications in Pakistan References:- http://mcpmag.com/news/comments.asp?EditorialsID=1022
This appears to be fairly accurate - at least for the major metro areas. http://www.certmag.com/salarycalculator/calculator2004.cfm
Hi jimnagrom, Thanks for the website, but it seems that the website covers only US based salary approximation. Anyways, thanks
As I systems adminstrator, I am appalled at the general level of willful incompetence in the field. Just knowing the commands really isn't enough to successfully run a reliable, maintainable data center. I strongly recommend the two books by Tom Limoncelli as well as a number of the books from "The Pragmatic Programmers". Learn about the processes and procedures that lead to successful, productive environments.
The late 1990s was the start of the decline of IT in terms of the skill levels when training programmes were pumping out hundreds of MCSEs and to a lesser extent MCNEs per month. You are quite correct that merely knowing the commands is not sufficient to successfully maintain a reliable information systems infrastructure.
