| Author |
How much does a MCP make?
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| sixpakgq 2001-04-15, 10:08 pm |
| If I pass the 70-210 exam, How much do I expect to make? | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-16, 4:18 am |
| That's a little difficult to answer.
There are a whole bunch of things that go into determining your salary.
What other experience, education, and skills do you have? What job do you currently hold? Do you have any prior experience in the IT field? What are others paid in you area for having the same certification?
A good way to answer these questions is to enter "What are you worth?" or "Salary calculator." into just about any search engine and it will take you to a site that will calculate an _estimate_ of what you can expect. These are not hard and fast rules, but it willgive you some idea. There's one at http://www.brainbench.com
By the by (and it's no big deal), this might have been more appropriate for the Certifications and IT Jobs Forum.
Not that I mind it posted here, but you may have gotten an answer quicker on that forum. ;-)
SW | |
| Slinky 2001-04-16, 4:41 pm |
| Worst case scenario, no degree, no experience, and absolutely no skills, you're looking at about $75k. With an MCP alone.  Just kidding. StormWalker brought up a lot of good questions that you should ask yourself to determine what you might expect. The biggest factor in the answer to your question is experience. Having an MCP alone doesn't mean much if you don't have any experience to back it up. And don't get certified just because of the potential money. Enough for now. | |
| sixpakgq 2001-04-17, 2:54 pm |
| what kind of experience are you talking about? I have plenty Sales experience but very little IT....so what is the entry level salary? any estimates.i live in San Jose, California | |
| esexon 2001-04-17, 3:11 pm |
| One basic cert like the 210 won't get you a jack!!, MCSE ? Yes maybe but it will also only get u a entry level job.It all depends on experience.
At my job this guy handed im his resume and is a MCSE but before that he was waiting tables so my boss took one look at it then threw it in the bin.IOW NO Experience means NO JOB even if you are a Mcse.This is the way it is in the UK, not sure about the rest of the world but Mcse is a joke here.
I would recommend starting with the A+, this will give you a good grounding in general Hardware and Software issues.
Just my opinion
Evan
A+,Net+,Inet+,Mcp | |
| Taqwus 2001-04-17, 6:17 pm |
| Since you said you are from Ca. You will not make much over min. wage for just a MCP and probably only about $8 to $10 for the MCSE without having 1 year commercial experience | |
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| quote:
Originally posted by Taqwus
Since you said you are from Ca. You will not make much over min. wage for just a MCP and probably only about $8 to $10 for the MCSE without having 1 year commercial experience
That is scary man and specially for someone that wants to make carrier change. | |
| Taqwus 2001-04-17, 8:41 pm |
| I know. I am just about making what I use to make before I changed careers, and with the IT job market drying up, it will start becoming even harder to get in to it. In about 2 years you would need a BS and your basic certs just to get a starting help desk position. The sites that say you can make 60k from just getting the MCSE are pretty much lying or doing there there surveys in some BFE place.
In my opinion if you want to change careers, make sure you can support yourself for about 3 to 5 years with your savings | |
| stevenGDI 2001-04-18, 12:08 am |
| The MCP is the start on the track to being succesful. Sure having an A+ Certification helps but you cannot compare the A+ to that of an MCSE. I personally found the Basic MCP 70-210 alot harder than the entire A+ course. Let alone an MCSE which would be alot more harder and intensive than that of the MCP.
An MCSE will get you high job salaries, Experience does not neccesarily guarentee skill. Experience can include fixing peoples computers for 5 years which will give you no knowledge of what an MCSE would have.
The IT industry is evergrowing and while people may think the $$$ are fading in the industry, you need to realise that IT is fairly new to the world. In 10 years time there will be no question about it. Salaries would be the highest there is. | |
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| quote:
Originally posted by stevenGDI
An MCSE will get you high job salaries, Experience does not neccesarily guarentee skill. Experience can include fixing peoples computers for 5 years which will give you no knowledge of what an MCSE would have.
Sorry, I don't agree with that comment.
I could be off-base with this comment, but here is what I have seen and experienced in this industry.
An MCSE with little/no experience is not going to land you much better than an Entry level job unless you have 2-3 years practical experience in the field, specifically working in an Novell, NT or Win2k environment. I'm sure there are exceptions, but in general, without having "inside" contacts, friends, or just plain good old fashion luck/timing, that's what I've seen.
Just being a "book-smart" MCSE may give you a solid knowledge foundation to build upon but if you haven't practically applied that knowledge in a working environment you really don't bring anything to the table to justify asking for 50k+ a year except that you were able to set a goal for yourself and attain that goal. (which is a good thing, don't get me wrong).
But bottom line, from my point of view (which lord knows has been wrong before ) 5 years experience fixing people's computer problems is better than an MCSE whose only practical computer experience is clicking the left mouse button to see the next question on the certification exam he/she is taking.
Just my 2 cents. Take Care. | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-19, 12:20 am |
| Well, my story may not be typical, but I entered the IT field from customer service. I work for a large company and had been doing some ad-hoc first line support. I applied for an internal posting and was hired.
At the time I had NO certification, and NO I.T. degree. (I do hold a B.A. however.) I had both a HR and a technical interview. I knew enough about computers, and more importantly, the troubleshooting process. When I started in my new role I was making about 33K in customer service and got bumped to around 40K. That was a little less than two years ago. Now that I have practical experience & the certs, I'm waiting to see if my role will expand where I am. If no opportunities open up - I'll look elsewhere. When it comes to my job, I'm like a Hyena with a kill. I stay with it only for as long as it feeds me.
Bottom line, (IMO): It isn't the degree, the certification, or the contact. It's what you know and how you apply it. | |
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| quote:
Originally posted by StormWalker
Bottom line, (IMO): It isn't the degree, the certification, or the contact. It's what you know and how you apply it.
Excellent point! | |
| sixpakgq 2001-04-19, 2:36 pm |
| What would be the average salary for a MIS degree with 70-210 passed, 3 years computer sales experience and 3 months desktop support? | |
| Taqwus 2001-04-19, 4:00 pm |
| Still around minimium wage till you get over a certain amount of experince since the employer will figure you will probably be a job jumper. Once you have about a year exp. you should be making from 20 to 35 a year | |
| sixpakgq 2001-04-19, 9:03 pm |
| just 20-30k a year? but some companies pay you $15 per hour doing tech support. | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-19, 10:18 pm |
| I went to http://www.salary.com and found that the median base salary for Help Desk Support was $39,121.00 the low was $33,353 and the high was $45,155.
SW | |
| Taqwus 2001-04-20, 4:58 pm |
| Wow that much then about 80% of the people in the IT field are grossly underpaid...... Er wait I think they get the salaries in a country that only has 3 help desk people in it.
I am aware of the companies that pay 15 an hour but I find that is rare now. A couple of years back there was a lot of IT opening now you usually end up competing with about 50 people sometimes to get a starting position.
If you want to get a starting job that pays well you would need to move out of the commercial areas and go to Iowa, Wyoming or Ohio or something.
P.S. 15$ an hour is about 30k a year it is about 31200 to be exact I think | |
| sixpakgq 2001-04-21, 5:41 pm |
| for a helpdesk position on salary.com it said lowest $38,622 median $45,303 and high was $52,290.......so who is right, salary.com or u guys ???!!!!! | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-21, 5:50 pm |
| When I did my number crunching I did it nation wide, sixpakgq, did you narrow yours to your geographic area? That would have affected the results.
And Taqwus, I didn't know they still allowed feudalism and serfdom. After being on a help desk just shy of 2 years I'm making $46K. | |
| joemomma 2001-04-21, 10:07 pm |
| This is what I come up with for Wichita, KS using salary.com. It sounds right to me...
Network Admin
Low ---- High
$45,862 $67,335
Webmaster
Low ---- High
$46,083 $65,727
Anyone want to move to Kansas?  | |
| Taqwus 2001-04-22, 12:39 pm |
| StormWalker have you adjusted your salary to the average cost of living it will probably come down a lot. A friend of mine lived up north for a while and said everything was real expensive. The min wage was almost 2x more than what we had.
Also when looking at surveys you should see how many people have been interviewed and what the percent of error is. If it is over 4% the survey is not very accurate.
Also I called up the avr. salary for a help desk person of a town that doesnt even exsit anymore and it still says that I should be making a lot more. That leads me to think that they modify the average salary to the cost of living per area, which will make it grossly inacurate | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-22, 6:41 pm |
| Actually when I average *everything* together, the base salary, the amount of money my company spends on training me, the paid vacation time, the personal time, the employer contribution to my 401(k), and other perqs, and then factor in the cost of living, expenses for commuting, the one week of on-call every two months etc. I still do very well and would guess that I come out well ahead of the national average.
Anyway, I think my whole point was that these kind of sites were to be used to give our friend an inkling of what to expect and that it wasn't written in stone. If the low end of the scale is in the mid 30's then an offer for $21K isn't that great.
I'll emphasize again that to command a high salary you must have the skills to back up your demand. Your degrees, your certifications, your references are only an INDICATION of what you can do. You gotta convince the twinkie on the other side of the interview table that the indications are correct and then PROVE it when you're on the job.
To get back to the subject of the original post - an MCP should expect to make no less than one standard deviation below than the average salary for the job adjusted for COL. That's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it. <grin> | |
| Jewels 2001-04-23, 11:55 am |
| I disagree.
With an MIS you can earn alot more than someone with only a certification. I have a friend that made over 40k right out of the box. Within two years she was bringing in $55 an hour consulting. I also know another person that has an MIS and is working out of their home for over $100 an hour. It just depends on your situation. MIS definitly makes more than someone with just a certification.
I don't agree with the statement that the IT field is drying up. There are jobs out there if you are not narrow minded and only looking for the elite companies. You should be looking at what experience you can gain from a compnay rather than what you can make at this point in your career. Get the right experience and the money will follow. | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-23, 6:40 pm |
| We have a saying where I work _ "You have a Master's Degree? Great! Just don't touch anything!!"
It's ALL about the money. Do you think for one minute that your boss, your company gives a good g_d d_mn about you "as a person?" No. Not in any real sense that would keep them from letting your sorry _ss go if it would save the company more than it would cost them.
Give me the money NOW and forget all the candy _ss talk about experience and development. When someone gets hired for second level support and they haven't got a CLUE about what they're supposed to do - then believe me the Cert doesn't matter and the degree doesn't matter. It's all what you know and how you apply it. | |
| sixpakgq 2001-04-24, 12:22 am |
| Can someone give me a clear idea to which practice tests to study for this exam? does anyone know the selftestsoftware.com from microsoft...is it worth studying from what microsoft releases? | |
| Jewels 2001-04-24, 6:28 am |
| StromWalker Do you have a Degree?
If not that would explain your negative atitude towards someone who does. Getting a Master's degree is no easy task. You can't do "braindumps" and the like to get you through. Someone who has a Master's shows dedication and hardwork. That person may not have the hands on experience, but should be trusted to "touch" something, they are not stupid! They have a well rounded educational background and that should count for way more than what you give them credit for. | |
| stevenGDI 2001-04-24, 7:22 am |
| EXCELLENT POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO TRUE | |
| StormWalker 2001-04-24, 5:15 pm |
| Yes Jewels, I have a degree. Do you have a job?
Since you missed my point, I'll post it again: Degrees and certifications don't matter. It's what you know and how you apply it.
The degree or certification is only useful in getting to the point in the hiring process where you can talk to someone who has the authority to hire you. After that you must first convince that individual that you are capable, and then you must demonstrate that capability when hired.
I've worked with those who have degrees and those who do not andI have found incompetence and mastery in both camps.
If nothing else, it has taught me not to make assumptions...... | |
| sixpakgq 2001-04-24, 11:44 pm |
| does anyone know the cheet-sheets.com site...i went there....and downloaded sample exams and they said that those are actual exams from the test...is that true? worth studying from it? i am little confused to which practice exams i should be taking on the net....some are really rigourous and some are simple | |
| Jewels 2001-04-25, 9:29 am |
| Yes, StormWalker, I do have a job. Thank you. And I also have a degree. You missed my point which was, give credit where credit is due. Since you obtained a degree don't you feel you have a broader education than someone with just certifications?
I have worked places where having a degree put you over the edge of the competition when you are a person is looking to move up in a company, it does make a difference.
I understand how much experience you have plays a part, but I didn't like the statement you made that you don't let people that have Master's degree's "touch" anything. I wouldn't want to work at a place where you had fellow employees controling what you touch in an IS department. How would you ever learn without making a mistake? If your network is run right you can overcome just about anything.
Do you hire the people at your place of business? If not how do you know how they determine who they are going to hire?
Are you a net admin? |
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