moving job from helpdesk techie to..

[adam1942]

Hi guys, I currently work on a helpdesk as a techie and the company has asked me to do a presentation to ensure I have what it takes to become an infrastructure consultant - if they find it acceptable they said they have no problem moving me to become a IC

can anyone tell me what the payrise is likely to be?

cheers!

 

[ChrisR]

Job titles vary from place to place, what does an 'infrastructure consultant' do at your place, what do you do now, and how much are you on now?

 

[adam1942]

infrastructure consultant will be doing projects like exchange 2007/2010 and what not, with a bunch of EMC / ESX stuff and maybe some UCS or hyper-V stuck in. I'm on 18k at the minute I do that stuff at the minute but i'm only suppose to be doing basic first line support..

 

[Magic Johnson]

18k for first line. You c-unit.

Sounds good to me though! There's obviously a much better career path being a consultant than some chicken on the end of a telephone.

 

[Cookie]

In London Taaaahn the pay jump from 1/2nd to 3rd could be 10k plus, but I doubt you'll get that in Norn Iron

 

[iain187]

i found my bosses CV and he was on 9k more than me in his last job, i've got a feeling he might be on similar or slightly less because his last job involved a lot of travel and bumped it up a bit.

 

[ChrisR]

Should be a few grand then i'd have thought, but who knows as employers are fickle sometimes

from a business pov, you're already doing the work for 18k so why pay much more?

heres hoping you get something out of it

 

[Cookie]

from a business pov, you're already doing the work for 18k so why pay much more?

I got stuck in that trap too! Only way out was to leave.. I still don't have as much responsibility as I used to, 2 years and 3 jobs on, but I'm paid a shitload more

 

[The Hoff]

Do it, for any money, 6 months or a year down the line [with projects under your belt] you should jump ship and get a decent increase. Usually in house promotion will get you half of what you could get my moving company. You'll also find that with a job offer on the line, most employers will match it in some way, simply due to the fact recruiting a new bod costs a couple of K, and takes a s**t load of time and paperwork - but only if they value your services.

I work 3rd line in London, but am now looking for a job [I quit to go travelling] possibly as a Systems Admin, another 3rd line, or a consultant for project work. Looking at the job market though, I need to get myself some Linux admin certs, big money these days as more and more people jump on the open source bandwagon.

 

[PinkoCommie]

18k for first line. You c-unit.

We start our first liners on 20-22k. :rasp: (and we're not based in London)

Having said that, we expect them to be fairly good. We probably get rid of 25-30% of people before their probation is up, and they are expected to pass either a Cisco, Juniper or Checkpoint qualification within the first year.

I started doing first line for about £9k, and that was only about 12 years ago.

 

[Magic Johnson]

Fook me! You get different levels of 1st line to be fair though. Some guys can be actually quite knowledgable (the ones that make their way up the ladder fairly quickly) and some can be desperately retarded. Still, it's not fair they get paid that much.

 

[iain187]

i'm on 18k and i think my boss was pleasantly surprised with my standard of work.

i should really look at our helpdesk software and see what kind of problems the other guys solve and compare myself :rasp:


to be fair we have a government network in our place that we aren't allowed to touch, EDS support that and all their guys ever seem to do is plug monitors in and take down serial numbers - not sure how much they get paid for that haha.

 

[DMS]

A good Infrastructure Engineer can fix any non-hardware related problem remotely if the right setup is in place

 

[ChrisR]

I got stuck in that trap too! Only way out was to leave.. I still don't have as much responsibility as I used to, 2 years and 3 jobs on, but I'm paid a s**tload more

I have less responssilibity than I have ever had now I reckon and it's the most I've ever been paid lol.

Saying that, we're normally pretty boring in what we get to do but got some exciting things coming up in the pipeline which if they come to fruition will be pretty awesome.

We start our first liners on 20-22k. :rasp: (and we're not based in London)

Same here, our's start on that moving up to 30k supposedly over 3 years. Think part of that is they need to get their MCSA or equiv.

to be fair we have a government network in our place that we aren't allowed to touch

gsi?

A good Infrastructure Engineer can fix any non-hardware related problem remotely if the right setup is in place

I rarely need to leave my seat at work, do everything remotely

 

[iain187]

Nah prison stuff.

I get bored staying in my seat all day although I do pick and choose who I visit.... Brew makers!

 

[cava83]

Do it for the experience

I would love to have that knowledge.

Go for it!

 

[PinkoCommie]

A good Infrastructure Engineer can fix any non-hardware related problem remotely if the right setup is in place

And if it isn't you only have one person to blame

 

[Longy]

I get bored staying in my seat all day although I do pick and choose who I visit.... Brew makers!

haha this - I do tend to visit customers more who look after me while I'm on site than the "difficult" customers

 

[iain187]

And if it isn't you only have one person to blame

That pesky bill gates

 

[DMS]

And if it isn't you only have one person to blame

Indeed. Although blaming others is often part of the fun

 

[PinkoCommie]

Indeed. Although blaming others is often part of the fun

t'other week I had a right go at someone for not doing a VPN setup correctly, only to realise about an hour later that it was actually me that had set it up

 

[ChrisR]

I'm always moaning, turned into a right grumpy old man in this job

 

[Magic Johnson]

t'other week I had a right go at someone for not doing a VPN setup correctly, only to realise about an hour later that it was actually me that had set it up

LOL I hope you apologised!

 

[PinkoCommie]

LOL I hope you apologised!

Don't be daft, apologising makes you weak. :rasp:

 

[Magic Johnson]

Haha, I disagree! Acknowledging your mistake and learning from it earns you respect from fellow colleagues.

I wouldn't know of course...I don't make them.

 

[PinkoCommie]

Haha, I disagree! Acknowledging your mistake and learning from it earns you respect from fellow colleagues.

I wouldn't know of course...I don't make them.

Neither do I. Well at least none that I admit to my collegues :evil:.

Anyway, that's what first liners are there for. Monkey work and blame, at least when I threaten to stab them with the letter opener I keep on my desk I do it with a smile on my face.