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Home > Archive > Certifications and IT jobs/Salaries > June 2003 > where did you start
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where did you start
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| ghaouf 2003-05-23, 7:52 pm |
| where did you start in the it field and how much did you get paid and what year was that
what are you now and how much do you make a year
and how did you start and got the experience
share your stories | |
| Bravesfan 2003-05-23, 8:34 pm |
| Used to be a chemist...Then got my MCSE and CCNA and was hired in a tech support/help desk role around the fall of 2000 for $35k. I basically busted a$$ and was promoted to Network Administrator in a couple months and saw my salary go to $39k, then $43k, and then $46k over the last 2.5 years. With overtime, I was bringing in around $52k when I left a few weeks ago. I'm starting a new position here very shortly for a very significant pay increase. I can finally actually listen to those MCSE commericals on the radio and know that I'm making in the area that they quote...
Oh and by the way... my break into the industry came by way of Monster.com. I had a call one day and was hired two weeks later. | |
| newdanny90 2003-05-24, 11:11 pm |
| I am not here to tell you guys how much I make cuz I havent started yet  , means still trying to get my foot on the door. but I will definitly urgue others to please share their experiences with us, it will ,for sure, help beginners like myself.
ghaouf r u serious about "Working on: may, 27th ---- 76-210, may, 28th -------network+, june, 2nd ------ 76-215" just couldnt believe it man. | |
| ghaouf 2003-05-24, 11:39 pm |
| yes i am belive it. but i do not expect to pass all of them | |
| newdanny90 2003-05-25, 2:21 pm |
| Aight I believe it if you say so. I am thinking about goin for 70-270 as I am running XP Pro at home, you think its a good choice? I wanna take em down 1 by 1 (probably not as smart as you are). I am using MS training book and at first I thought I knew XP but now as I am goin over its topics I will have to accept that its much harder than I thought.
Any way good luck to you man, and let us know how u did on ur test.
Danny
A+, Network+ | |
| ghaouf 2003-05-25, 5:08 pm |
| well the reason i am doing them like that is because i am taking them for free
study the 2000 server with xp becasue they are almost the same
i am thinking of getting mcsa before school starts and also doing the 270 for fun with the 210
what was the network+ like easy or hard | |
| newdanny90 2003-05-25, 9:04 pm |
| what do you mean u are taking them for free? I've seen it somewhere else too that u can take the exams starting with 76 -*** for free, so please tell me about it. Isn't 2000 server 70-215? I am done with MS tarining kit of 270 and I took a transcender test and I was like "What the ----", first few questions made me think that I dont know ANYTHING about XP. Comptia exams are piece of cake, on the other hand M$ exams must be pain in the a$$.
I took Network+ about a month ago, it was alot easier than I thought. I used transcender, sybex, Examessentials and alot of other free internet resources, it took me about 2 months to prepare for Network+ and finally nailed it down. Make sure u know the protocols like FTP and others also their Ports, RAID, and OSI layer. I remember many questions on my exam covering these topics. | |
| ghaouf 2003-05-25, 10:35 pm |
| exactly i am taking the beta tests 76-210 and the 76-215 for free i regestered on the 9th of may
but now they are not accepting any new regestrations
microsoft tests are different from comptia's because they are all senario based and paragraph long
transender is harder than the real exam but the harder you preprare the more chance to pass
good luck on the 270 exam | |
| Winstoncpr 2003-05-30, 11:24 pm |
| I got my start in IT about 12 yrs. ago during college. I had a workstudy job that was in the development office of the college. I learned Word, Excel and Dbase during my time there (I was required to work 15 hours a week, which gave me credit towards my tuition)
After graduation I took the first job that was offered out of need. I hated it, it was a crappy telemarketing position. On a whim one day I called my old workstudy boss just to see what was going on, and they told me of a position that was opening up that I was perfect for, but the deadline for turning in the appication was noon the next day. So when I got home I printed a resume and stuck it under the door of the office. I got a call later that day for an interview to take place on Saturday. The position had to be filled asap.
I was offered the position on the following Monday and started on Wednesday. It was a decent place to work but it was low pay but great benefits (full company paid insurance, 401, tuition reimbursement for classes).
The job was to support a small network of 10-15 users using Windows for workgroups 3.11 on a serial network (ack!) I worked in that position for almost two years and took that time to learn everything about the system thati could. From there I went on to bigger and better things.
HSN Online Broadcast tech support (supporting products that were sold through the show) My first experience with 95 came from there.
Signature Group as a telemarketing Systems Analyst, supporting a 85 station call center network
Raymond James Brokerage Firm as a Senior Installation specialist, Traveled all over the country supporting and installing workstations and servers for the company.
SIU School of Medicine as a Computer Support Specialist (kind of a generic job description, because my job doesn't fit into any of the cookie cutter position descriptions that the state uses) Supporting several departments workstations and servers throughout the school.
Through all my trials and tribulations, I also did volunteer work for several catholic schools to help fill the lack of experience in different areas.
The funny thing is I went to school and have a BS in Marine Science and I haven't done anything dealing with my degree since the day I graduated. (exception is scuba diving for recreation) | |
| aznluvsmc 2003-06-03, 12:44 pm |
| In January I took a volunteer position for co-op as I was desperately in need of job experience before graduation. The position is for a Help Desk Analyst and was supposed to be a 8 month work term. After being on the job for 2 months they offered me a $30,000 contract to stay for a year on top of the work term and so what was suppose to be 8 months work exeperience will now turn into 20 months. I am also taking advatnage of the fact that I have a lot of free time after work to get my certifications. My goal is to have a handful of CompTIA certifications along with an MCSE and a CCNA by the time I head back to school in September 2004. | |
| StevoC 2003-06-03, 2:35 pm |
| Before IT I worked as an automechanic. I decided to quit that job an go back to school. I started 10 years ago this coming august for the DOD at something like $6.00 an hour. (it came out to $12,287.00 a year  ) Worked as a co-op student while I went to school. After receiving my AS, I was hired on full time. I started in what we call our tape library, then went to desktop support/helpdesk and then network administration. I am still at the same place and my salary is over $60,000. | |
| Crutch 2003-06-05, 1:31 am |
| I joined the US NAVY in 1987 and became a Data Processing Technician. I spent almost 7 years in the NAVY. It was a great experience. I left as an E6 at something like $1700 (plus non-taxables).
Fast forward to today and I'm making $60K+ working for a defense contractor as a support supervisor. | |
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| i get my degree in chemistry but i switch to IT line. i got 7 years experience and currently work as IT support at a local college in malaysia and working here more than 2 years already.last time when i join this listed company,i get low paid because i got no proper cert.now i got the mcsa but the increment damn low! i got RM 24k annually only. just the job responsiblity promoted not even the salary match with my expertise.this is what happen in malaysia!(sigh) | |
| ghaouf 2003-06-05, 5:54 am |
| thnx to all the responces | |
| newdanny90 2003-06-05, 11:37 pm |
| yeah thanx indeed, but most of u guys started out when the economy was in good shape and there were alot of jobs out there. I remember back in school days, couple of yrs ago, there were many jobs posted on search engines like monster.com or etc and now you can barely find few of 'em, most of which are for people with big exp.
Hope, I will also start out somewhere soon
Thanx | |
| Fugaz13 2003-06-10, 6:45 pm |
| 3.5 years ago I started as a seasonal employee for a software company, providing tech support for their program. While at the company I've moved between products and now work as a Product Support Engineer, for the professional version. *basically tier II, I get to call customers that tech support reps couldn't fix* I started at $9.35 an hour, and with the last position changed went to $32,000. This past Dec I started towards my MCSE, passed 70-210, and taking 70-215 next fri. I'm hoping to finish at least the core exams by Aug/end of summer and move on to better things, more $$$, and get away from END USER hell. I'm hoping bigger and better things are soon to come. Someone can only take "Where is the start button?" some many times before you want to reach through the phone and kill someone. | |
| hard_coder 2003-06-10, 7:03 pm |
| Started programming in the lower grades. First real world experience - junior year in college as a COBOL/SQL programmer. It sucked but it gave me an edge when I graduated. Actually had experience to showcase with the BSCS. First job - 38K, then went to 40K, then 45K, now at 68K. Also picking up some extra cash writing proggies for small businesses and doing websites, too. Let's not forget the three letters over there "MCT" - brings in some extra dough. I would teach full-time, but here in the Dallas area I prefer the consulting gigs. |
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