IT Salaries

[iaind]

Yup not huge amounts around here, was lucky with my first job as it was one of the regions reasonably big employers (ftse 100). Left to take a bit of a risk on a contract that turned into a perm role, was extrememly lucky to find a role that was in my specific area round here!

I've done the opposite, went from private to public.

Moving to London would see a huge rise in pay but it's just not for me, I like it down here so will be staying, for now

Sounds like it might be a rather large financial firm I know well

 

[kiteloopy]

For the OP;

I'm 22, a graduate in a IT relevant degree (Bsc hons 2.2).

currently on 1st line for a popular bank. 17.5k, + 4-6k bonus if I'm a Key player (very hard to get). Even without bonus its OK. Bank 1st lines are kinda different from other industry 1st lines...you have your job, and thats it, next to no diversity and consant "Personal developments"

your getting good experience with what you've listed. As previosly stated, markets bad (but getting better) so to have a job is pretty lucky. Find you 'ideal' job, make a long term plan, and go get it.

 

[Ev0]

Sounds like it might be a rather large financial firm I know well

nope, nothing to do with finance

They do have pretty much everyone in Devon and Cornwall as a customer

 

[iaind]

Lol you've got me thinking now.....!

 

[Akers]

 

[Ev0]

Lol you've got me thinking now.....!

Well the parent company is ftse 100 and they have 2 main companies below them, one being national and one being regional (which I worked for). Won't derail the thread anymore now, drop me an email to my trust address with your guess

 

[Joshy]

I work in the midlands for a large ISP, done nothing but Cisco for 10 years and now look after some of the UK's biggest customer's solutions...

My work history:

1.> Part time at a college doing basic server and network support, having blagged my way in, - minimum wage.

2.> Passed CCNA, went to a large Cisco gold partner, £30k a year, was only 20 at the time.

3.> Moved to a security company working mainly on checkpoint firewalls, took a bit of a paycut for simplicities sake and the fact the place was less than half a mile from my house, £26k a year.

4.> Went to work for a large university and did all manner of stuff there, ended up on around £35k a year, now age 24

5.> ended up at a large ISP in the midlands doing complex design and installing large projects, ended up on around £45k a yearish

6.> Still in the same company, 27 years old but looking after Business customers at the highest level take home around £65k, thinking about changing at the moment although unsure where to go.


If I had any advice to someone wanting to start out in I.T - just get a job, work your ass off, learn everything you can and use it, build an awesome CV and sell yourself. But you have to eat/sleep/drink it for the first few years, you can't blag technical ability like you can sales or management jobs.

Christ that's impressive!

I was always told that guys in IT earned decent money but after reading this thread I wasn't quite convinced, but that post really has confirmed to me that I'm in the wrong profession

 

[Mr^B]

Christ that's impressive!

I was always told that guys in IT earned decent money but after reading this thread I wasn't quite convinced, but that post really has confirmed to me that I'm in the wrong profession

It depends really. From that post it's clear that he's VERY driven - passing CCNA at 20 is pretty impressive. And probably interviews well too, which helps!

But that sort of career progression is the exception rather than the norm, especially for people without a degree.

If anything, I've noticed that people with a degree tend to coast along more than people without, without a degree you have to earn your beans early on, and that work ethic gets instilled. Maybe someone with a degree is expecting something handed to them for free. I certainly did for a while, which is why I was at a consultancy, being paid peanuts, for so long - waiting for the...whatever...I have no idea what I was waiting for, frankly.

It was only when I started looking around for a new job that I realised I'd have to work pretty hard to get anywhere.

It's taken 3 job moves and 10 years, but finally I'm earning a really good wage (£100k+) in an excellent company, doing a job I really enjoy doing.

My initial response to the OP was perhaps a bit harsh given the current climate, so my apologies for that. However there are ALWAYS jobs out there for talented people. For each position I've ever interviewed people for, there's been a ratio of 50:1 (dross:reasonable). So the best advice is stay and soak up as much experience as you can, then move on.

 

[Wizzkidy]

Pff some people get lucky others dont, i have worked my butt of for the large company I work for and have been here 9 coming up 10 years, started out on 13k on 1st line, moved up to Junior manager was earning 14.5 at that point. Then decided to go technical as I am a techie at heart, Moved into 2nd line on the same contract was on 16k at that point. Worked my damn arse of for 3 years doing SMS packaging / scripting / IIS stuff and general domain maintanance + project work then to be told our company was losing the contract, at that point I was on 18k had the option of tupe to the new company or stay within said company, decided to stay based on travel distance more then anything now been slapped into a dead end datacentre non tech role that I can do with my eyes closed. havn't had a payrise for over 3 years dont expect to get one either.

All of this without a single degree or anything, hardly sat my GCSE's.

Most of the time its if your face fits NOT what you can do.

 

[Rwac]

Pff some people get lucky others dont, i have worked my butt of for the large company I work for and have been here 9 coming up 10 years, started out on 13k on 1st line, moved up to Junior manager was earning 14.5 at that point. Then decided to go technical as I am a techie at heart, Moved into 2nd line on the same contract was on 16k at that point. Worked my damn arse of for 3 years doing SMS packaging / scripting / IIS stuff and general domain maintanance + project work then to be told our company was losing the contract, at that point I was on 18k had the option of tupe to the new company or stay within said company, decided to stay based on travel distance more then anything now been slapped into a dead end datacentre non tech role that I can do with my eyes closed. havn't had a payrise for over 3 years dont expect to get one either.

All of this without a single degree or anything, hardly sat my GCSE's.

Most of the time its if your face fits NOT what you can do.

Move - quickly!

 

[Beasty]

I'm on 6k doing an apprenticeship while working as an ICT Support Tech in a college, after I finish I should be on about 13/14k level 1 or 2, level 3 is about 15k at the lowest spine.

 

[cosmogenesis]

I am presently marking exam papers for 16-18 year olds taking industrial IT diploma. Its an intense course lasting 22 weeks and the kids have to be ther for a whole working day getting into the frame of mind required to get a job which they then do on helpdesks taking phone calls and logging support calls for 14-16K a year.

By the time they are 20 they will be getting 20K I would imagine and given more and more responsibility the more they know and get to know. The problem is that its all government backed and hence its a number shifting game that gets people into a job, mainly IT it would seem and hence IT in this country for many people is going to be the end when they get made redundant at 40. Career over more than likely as the industry is full of kids eager to learn and work straight out of school.

So when it comes to earning money, 16.5K was it with a IT degree (lots of people have them now) and 2 years experience then you are earning too little. Way too little. 20K minimum for the sort of work you are doing and yet as its you and your manager then its a small company no doubt and hence wages are low anyway espeically in the recession.

 

[HangTime]

Shows you can learn, shows you can stick at something, shows you havent lived at home and worked in a crappy job for years.

Not necessarily; I'm a graduate and I lived at home and worked in a crappy job for years

Anyway as mentioned there's a huge range of salaries between employers in the sector. The 'problem' is that different firms have totally different expectations of what IT personnel are supposed to do. Some firms will be paying say high teens for basic first line support staff who have a huge network of more experienced techies to fall back on. They do little more than take calls, do a bit of administration via a front end gui, and pass calls on to other staff. Other firms (particularly small ones) will be paying low-mid teens for a techie who is basically supposed to handle pretty much any IT (support) related task in the business, reporting directly into the 'IT Manager' or similar. They are doing network admin, soft/hardware support, DBA etc etc.

One advantage of the public sector is they tend to have fairly robust pay scales and consistent responsibilities for staff, a friend of my was working as an Application Developer at my firm, they were really taking the mick on salary (something like £15k for a graduate who'd been there nearly 3 years and was running his projects when the team lead wasn't there) so he went to work at a university instead where they had a proper pay structure. There was another guy in the same team as him, doing the same job albeit with a few years more experience, yet earning maybe 3x as much (not sure, but I know he's in the high tax bracket!).

 

[ivrytwr3]

Am in the IT security field; but only really just started (16 year police background though). Deal with RMADS, IS calcs etc. Anyone got any jobs going going or know of what salary should be for this field?!

 

[neil3k]

IT Consultant for a local authority.

Got a 2.2 in my degree in BSc Computing. First IT job out of University and I graduated 4 years ago started last January. Mainly provide second line support for local youth services and Connexions. Problem Solve, Write test plans, Database work, Project Planning, Deal with suppliers etc deal with customers.

On £23,100

Quite lucky to find this job straight after moving down to Winchester and very lucky to jump straight in at second line rather than do

1st Line -> Second Line

 

[dangerstat]

Just been looking at cwjobs quite surprised how high some of the salaries are for some really simple work. 40k for simple Linux administration roles, 40k plus for C developers with a little bit of experience. I need a new job! lol

 

[NotAGolf]

Just been looking at cwjobs quite surprised how high some of the salaries are for some really simple work. 40k for simple Linux administration roles, 40k plus for C developers with a little bit of experience. I need a new job! lol

This is the website I must have seen (refering to my previous post). I guess it must be the few people at the very top level (100k+) really pushing up the averages.

In this thread it seems most people are under 30k, but there a few earning serious money, I suppose that's what's happened on that website.

I personally think that most people would be starting close to 20k, move nearer 25-30k after a few years. Much over 40k and you've got to be very motivated, very smart, or very lucky! Or a mixture of all 3!