Questions for the IT professionals

[Arkitech]

I'm just curious about what Linux and Unix admins and support contractors are making these days? Either with 1-5 years of experience or 6 years and up

30 dollars an hour?
45?
60?

 

[blackdogdeek]

i think more than that. possibly 100+/hr. i have a friend who is a unix SA with tibco experience. he is an aspiring director. so he works for about 6 months a year then lives off what he made for the next 6+ months trying to shop scripts around or film something. one time he financed his own short film on his own funds ($15,000-$20,000) while not working all while paying off his mortgage, buying his own food, etc.

EDIT: this is in NYC at a global investment bank

 

[ITJunkie]

Scale depends a lot on the area you live in and the demand for services...as is pretty much true with any skill set.
I couldn't give you any real numbers but in my experience Linux/Unix admins generally make a little more.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: ITJunkie
Scale depends a lot on the area you live in and the demand for services...as is pretty much true with any skill set.
I couldn't give you any real numbers but in my experience Linux/Unix admins generally make a little more.

I live in the Chicago area, I'm a little light in direct Unix experience (almost a year) but I'm working on supplementing my skills with industry certs. I'm thinking of trying to do short term contracts starting next year so I can devote more time to my side business.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
I'm just curious about what Linux and Unix admins and support contractors are making these days? Either with 1-5 years of experience or 6 years and up

30 dollars an hour?
45?
60?

for the last time...in IT the range is across the board.

It depends on who is hiring you and your true skills which more often than not are things you can prove through documentation or references.

*nix admins can make as little as $15/hr or less up to and beyond $120k per year.

Support the same way. Typical middle of the road contractors see $75 to $125 per hour in my area with the 'I learned this at home' crowd under bidding at $25-50 per hour.

We have seen some gurus come through pulling in $250+ per hour. Something we don't have a need for, but in an environment where each minute of downtime is written in substantial dollars; it's worth it to get the best you can afford. Best = quickest fixes.

 

[Shyatic]

The best answer I can give you, is you make more money doing what you're GOOD at. If you happen to be better admining Windows than *nix, then you're better off doing Windows because your work will show to your bosses. Same goes for anything else really... if you're better at Unix than Windows, the converse works though the salary CAN cap out higher for Unix than Windows admins. If you like Unix a lot, but devote more time to learning about routing layers and stuff like that, then there's another level to make money.

Possibilities are endless, but don't do something because "it makes a lot of money". You just might suck at it, then where will you be? 🙂