Survey: Where do you work, how much do you make, with what education/training?

[NetCadet]

Hi Guys,

A lot of personal questions here...of course I don't expect most of you to be comfortable answering them. I am just curious what fields some of you are involved in, what the pay is like, and what kind of education you needed to get where you are. I thought it might help to get some ideas from you guys since I still have no idea what I want to do with my life.

I'll start things off...

Student, making largely nothing, with a High School diploma.

 

[NetCadet]

Oh, and please be honest guys. I'm sure I'm not the only one on the forums exploring career choices, and this info has the potential to help a few of us out.

Thanks.

Also, I'd be curious to know whether or not you like what you do, and if you have any regrets.

 

[bigredguy]

how about you give people longer than 2 minutes to respond before you get impatient and bump your own thread.

 

[kikokam]

college student, summer job right now, ends tomorrow, doing procurement stuff, made some $$ but will be gone probably by the end of next two quarters with tuition, books, rent, utilities, and Hot Deals...

 

[GTaudiophile]

Who do you represent, and why do you want this information?

 

[hungrypete]

ok, heres my sad story
Im part time in college, which has done me NO good so far, but it will when i get that BS.

I work as a desktop tech for a logistics company.

I make $10.50 (this is missouri, wages are low, but so is cost of living, my rent for 2 bdrm 1.5 bath apt is under $400)

Everything is self taught. School hasnt shown me anything useful yet (after 45 credit hours) but I'm still going. I got myself A+ certified, and am working on an MCP. I'd like to start leaning towards Cisco certification. Get yourself an A+ and you should be able to sneak into a computer job somewhere, then it just builds.

 

[Viper GTS]

I do DSL tech support, $12.75 an hour. With OT I should hit $29 thousand this year. Decent benefits, medical, dental, fair amount of paid time off.

Education: AS from 1998, no high-school

Oh, I'm 19 BTW.

Viper GTS

 

[Deeko]

Circuit City/commission/none

 

[StageLeft]

23 years/software developer/$46k ($40/hr OT and I can pretty well pick my own OT)/bachelor of science & IT diploma & MCSD

Easy come easy go though. I live like I'm making half this as I have a wife in school and after being laid off for 6.5 months before this I know it could happen again so I plan for it as best I can.

 

[John]

I am 27, co-owner of Hard Drive Cafe in San Angelo, make a decent salary, and I only hold a high school diploma. Maybe one day when I get bored I will attend the local state university to major in business. Knowing the right people, and being in the right place at the right time is always a plus.

 

[yoda291]

Work part time in NYC at 2 jobs. $20/hr being a teacher uptown by 23rd and 12/hr for doing lab work/tech support/general IT crap for my school. I also get all the old hardware they chuck out like "old" atx server cases and scsi controllers/drives. Keep in mind, cost of living is high in NY. I'm always lookin to get something better tho. I'm workin on my msce and my ccna, which'll someday be a ccie. fingers crossed.

 

[AmigaMan]

Web Developer/~$65K/Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

 

[NetCadet]

bigredguy,

The second post was not to bump my thread to the top - As it still was most likely within the top 5 posts, a bump would be pointless and largely a waste of time. I merely wanted to add the information that I did in the second post; although I admit in retrospect that an edit of my first post may have been more appropriate.

GTaudiophile,

I represent only myself. My reasons for asking are curiousity pertaining to what fields the rest of the AnandTech Forums members are involved in (They can't entirely be computer/technology fields, can they?) as well as the slight chance that a career choice one of you has or has not made will help me or some other members in deciding where we want to spend our 40 hours a week. Of course, participation in this survey is completely voluntary.

hungrypete,

"Get yourself an A+ and you should be able to sneak into a computer job somewhere, then it just builds." - That's the kind of valuable info I'm looking for. Thanks for contributing! Did you find the A+ Cert. exam(s) difficult?

Deeko,

CC must pay you a salary also, right? They don't require you to have any training in sales?

 

[NetCadet]

AmigaMan,

ASP, ColdFusion, PHP? All of the above?

 

[SpongeBob]

Right now I'm a senior in college(BS Mechanical Engineering), working for the dept. of defense making just over $24,000/year + plus tuition/books are paid for($17,000/year). I've co-op'ed since I was a freshman so I have 4 years of training also. Should be graduating in December 2002

 

[AmigaMan]

None of the above.
Java (JSP, Servlets, JDBC), VB, HTML, Javascript.

 

[hungrypete]

<< hungrypete,

"Get yourself an A+ and you should be able to sneak into a computer job somewhere, then it just builds." - That's the kind of valuable info I'm looking for. Thanks for contributing! Did you find the A+ Cert. exam(s) difficult? >>



A+ test is paaaainfully easy. A+ doesn't mean anything to a tech, too easy to get, but an extra line on your resume makes all the difference in the world. If you want to go into hardware/networking/etc A+ is a good place to start. If you are going to be a developer for a large company, it might be a waste of time.

A+ is eeeeasy. Wish the new MCP tests were as easy

 

[vi edit]

Fancy schmancy name is: Business system analyst (that't what they decided to call me)

Basically I manage a network of about 20 PC's in an office, 25 pc's in remote locations, administer all application, mail, web, and print servers, maintain POP/POS communications, troubleshoot and maintain voicemail system, maintain company intranet, write crystal reports, debug applications, and maintain an AS/400 system.

Whew! That's a lot of crap Oh, I also manage to put in a decent amount of time on Anands.

Salary is VERY competative. It's between 40k and 50k...leaning more twords the 50k side of things.

I've got a BS in Computer Science with a very extensive IT background while in college (Supported million $$ + Unix mainframes for a fortune 500 company).

When I first took the job, I pretty much hated it. I had my hands tied, my users didn't trust me, and they feared IT technology. But they are starting to warm up to me and are giving me more free reign to do what I need to do.

 

[Bitek]

I just graduated with a BS in Molecular Bio. and am currently looking for a job, but Kelly services (temp agency) has promised at least $17/ hr for an entry level position ( to be ~$22-25 w/ 2 yrs experience)

My girlfreind has a masters in Molec Bio and started her job at ~$25/hr, entry level (if had PhD, would be much higher)
Her brother has a PhD in Chem Engineering from Berkeley, and now works as a post doc in a cancer lab at Harvard (Smart Guy!) he makes ~$30k a year, but would make 3x that in industry (acedemia sucks for pay!!!)
I know a guy who just graduated w/ a BS in Chem Eng. who makes $56k entry-level working for Merck

Engineering tends to pay very well entry level, but some claim the ceiling is lower (don't know if true)

This is the NYC area, so salaries tend to be high. I moved from Boulder (Denver) CO, and was looking @ ~$12 avg for an entry level lab tech position.

PhD's are needed in science to reach highest level positions, but also severly limit your opportunities as well (overspecialized, and few positions)
You can do very well with just a BS ($100k+) if you are talented and hard working (in the end, most important determinants of career)

 

[flambus]

pharmaceutics
51K
BS + half way through MS + 4 years industry exp

 

[Ameesh]

ygpm

 

[iamthesystem]

29/Consultant for SW company/70-80k/BS Degree

 

[777php]

22 ... two weeks ago

Open Source/Web Development - Cisco Systems

ASP, PHP, HTML, Javascript, GTK, Unix, Flash (Actionscripting) ....

Still in school for my Digital Media degree, it's a Graphic Design emphasis.

 

[Base10]

<< Hi Guys,

A lot of personal questions here...of course I don't expect most of you to be comfortable answering them. I am just curious what fields some of you are involved in, what the pay is like, and what kind of education you needed to get where you are. I thought it might help to get some ideas from you guys since I still have no idea what I want to do with my life.

I'll start things off...

Student, making largely nothing, with a High School diploma. >>




a) I have my own IT firm in SoCAL specializing in multimedia Flash development....

b) My income is 70K+/year....my company will prolly gross over 400K+ this year...(ain;t a lot...but it'll do for now)

c) MCSE certified....left UC Irvine after 2 years (1994) and went 2 NoCAL to work during the inet revolution (evolution)....

 

[T2T III]

My specifics:

Internet Consultant / D.C. area / I make enough to feed three mouths, 2 cats, 1 car payment, a small balance on the credit card and have a mortgage that only consumes 16% of my income / College educated with a 4-year IT degree.