Market rate for IT jobs

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

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Does anyone know the market rate for 1st line support, 2nd line support and Citrix engineers/support? (outside of london)

Is there a site that has average market rates?

Thanks
 
I'm not sure that sites all that great. First line around the country earn £12-£13k a year, but folks on low pay don't seem to be super interested in filling out pay surveys. In reality, it depends more on the actual job role then the title, you will see anything from £12-40k for those roles.
 
aln said:
I'm not sure that sites all that great. First line around the country earn £12-£13k a year, but folks on low pay don't seem to be super interested in filling out pay surveys. In reality, it depends more on the actual job role then the title, you will see anything from £12-40k for those roles.
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I disagree, it helped a few friends look at what they should be on if they were going into certain sectors of IT.

Whilst I agree with you on the lower end of the scale, such as 1st line or helpdesk stuff, it's still pretty accurate.

For example, I am a few months from finishing college, done my IT course, I want a 1st line role, close to home, I live in... Manchester lets say.

How much is the average in the area?

£20k seems to be the average, take off a couple of grand because you are new and that's the wage you will be looking for. £18k is not a lot.

£12-13k? Where are you getting those figures from? My lowest paid IT job was £16k...

Not only that, it's also got contract statistics. Which is even more important.
 
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I'm first/second line support. It's mixed because they call me first line although I do mostly second line stuff, smallish firm. I get paid £12,000 a year.
 
agnes said:
£12-13k? Where are you getting those figures from? My lowest paid IT job was £16k...

Not only that, it's also got contract statistics. Which is even more important.
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I've been out of that line of work for a few years but outside of big cities 12-13k as a starting salary for first line IT support wasn't unusual last time I checked.
 
agnes said:
I disagree, it helped a few friends look at what they should be on if they were going into certain sectors of IT.

Whilst I agree with you on the lower end of the scale, such as 1st line or helpdesk stuff, it's still pretty accurate.

For example, I am a few months from finishing college, done my IT course, I want a 1st line role, close to home, I live in... Manchester lets say.

How much is the average in the area?

£20k seems to be the average, take off a couple of grand because you are new and that's the wage you will be looking for. £18k is not a lot.

£12-13k? Where are you getting those figures from? My lowest paid IT job was £16k...
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Job sites and personal experience. I earned* £13k working for Atos on their NHSGG&C Helpdesk. Give or take a few k, it's what many people are on all around the country, those are barely even IT roles though.

There are those that pay more, but I imagine the average is lower than you suspect as companies paying below "market rate" tend not to mention an actual salary number on the ad.

* this was years ago to be fair, but I've helped friends find similar roles since then and still see those types of roles about commonly. Take the job for 6 months experience and you'll open up the market, but really, the cheaper/smaller firms are more likely to train/promote you from my experience.
 
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Ah, well I hope the site is of some use haha.

Didn't think it was that low! I was on £16,000 9 years ago putting servers together. Not an ounce of IT knowledge to me. Then I got into it and my mate got me into computer games... Suddenly, the geek in me came out. Now I'm on £45,000 at 25 years old. Not far from 2nd line, but as I said, my current role is a lot of responsibility. I spend at least 1 days of the week heading to other sites and often do long days. But still enjoy it :D
 
Guest2 said:
For 1st, 2nd or 3rd/Citrix?

I am in the process of summarising myself, skills and market rates
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Citrix is a hit and miss thing. You could go into a role where the site hosts the citrix farm which you will be expected to support/maintain. Or, you could be on a site where a handful of staff use a citrix client to connect into their home office.

It's so wide, you need to be pretty specific on that.

Counting that out, with a years experience and no qualifications for 1st line, I would say £16-18k if you are under 20 years old. Above 20 years old with 3+ years experience... £20-25k... Although if you have 3 years in 1st line, you should really look at moving up.

2nd line, is generally viewed that you have 3 years in 1st line with at least one MS certificate, ideally a server and desktop certificate. If that's the case, then £25-35k I would say.

£35k being the upper end where you are not far off moving up again.
 
Someone I know started at ~12K worked up to 2nd line over 3-5 years picking up MS certification, etc. and was on a bit over 20K then left to start elsewhere and took a big hit to 15-16K and that was only due to past experience otherwise they'd have started on around 13K, currently back on a little over 20K and 2nd line support having recently completed CCNA certification and I think working on CCNP atm. AFAIK thats pretty much par for the course outside of London, etc.


EDIT: Just talking to them for their skillset 5+ years 2nd line experience, CISCO cert, etc. they could be on 25-35 in London but don't expect to hit 25 outside the city.
 
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to be fair, I was going to suggest that site. It's not that accurate all round, but when you're looking for a ballpark, it's a good starting point. I then look on jobserve and check out what current jobs are about in the area I live, see what ranges they're giving to get an idea.
 
Havnt looked around in a while but when I was working in 1st line jobs in Southampton it was from 12K - 16K. There were others paying less but I didnt entertain those roles. In 2nd line now an on mid 20's

Edit: to give a better idea: this is from experience and dont have any big name certs
 
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Jesus, I really didn't know it was that low... :s

Reading is good for IT jobs then haha.

I have actually yet to do my certificates... Will do them this year, but all my skills are based on self teaching and learning on the job. Never really needed the certificates. As with or without them, most employers still ask the same questions and it's the answers you give that matters.

I do work bloody hard though which helps with the high pay haha.
 
agnes said:
Counting that out, with a years experience and no qualifications for 1st line, I would say £16-18k if you are under 20 years old. Above 20 years old with 3+ years experience... £20-25k... Although if you have 3 years in 1st line, you should really look at moving up.

2nd line, is generally viewed that you have 3 years in 1st line with at least one MS certificate, ideally a server and desktop certificate. If that's the case, then £25-35k I would say.

£35k being the upper end where you are not far off moving up again.
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5 years experience 1st (including 1 year work placement)
BTEC national in computing
BSc business computing (2:1)
CCA (Xenapp 6.5 1y0-a20)
 
agnes said:
Reading is good for IT jobs then haha.
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Relative proximity to London probably inflates the wage a bit there.

EDIT: Doing well on the technical exam at the interview does go a long way to make up for lack of certification - I aced the Telewest one when applying there (only one of 4 people who'd ever got 100% first sitting or some BS*) and they quietly added another 3 grand onto the starting salary before I even started talking money, then added another 2 grand on when I turned them down - and I didn't even have any qualifications beyond Advanced GNVQs in IT.



* IIRC the hardest question on it was the reasoning behind why a PC would have an IP in the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx range.
 
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