What's a good salary for Help Desk Support in NJ

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
What would be a reasonable salary to negotiate from ?

Salary.com has from 39k - 63k which is a huge range.



Oh yeah:

this will be for a first time Help Desk job.
I'm familar around computers for the most part. Have some experience doing support at University Labs and such



Also where does one usually branch into after help desk ?
 

zoiks

Lifer
Jan 13, 2000
11,787
3
81
what kind of helpdesk support and how many years of experience do you have? I believe salary.com rates salaries by tier level (i.e your experience level).
 

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
Originally posted by: zoiks
what kind of helpdesk support and how many years of experience do you have? I believe salary.com rates salaries by tier level (i.e your experience level).

Setup hardware/software/user support and other help desk duties.
 

WTurner

Member
Feb 21, 2008
93
0
0
Experience? Do they have to train you? Untrained geek $12-15/hour. Trained geek $15-18/hour. Trained tech (certs, technical program diploma) $20-25/hour. Trained administrator (Bachelors, 3-4 years experience or more) $25-30/hour. Anything higher than that is an Admin position not a help desk position.
 

cliftonite

Diamond Member
Jul 15, 2001
6,900
63
91
Originally posted by: isekii
What would be a reasonable salary to negotiate from ?

Salary.com has from 39k - 63k which is a huge range.



Oh yeah:

this will be for a first time Help Desk job.
I'm familar around computers for the most part. Have some experience doing support at University Labs and such


Part time or full time? Major? Exp?
 

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
Originally posted by: cliftonite
Originally posted by: isekii
What would be a reasonable salary to negotiate from ?

Salary.com has from 39k - 63k which is a huge range.



Oh yeah:

this will be for a first time Help Desk job.
I'm familar around computers for the most part. Have some experience doing support at University Labs and such


Part time or full time? Major? Exp?

full time bio none specifically except for university computing labs
 

cliftonite

Diamond Member
Jul 15, 2001
6,900
63
91
Originally posted by: isekii
Originally posted by: cliftonite
Originally posted by: isekii
What would be a reasonable salary to negotiate from ?

Salary.com has from 39k - 63k which is a huge range.



Oh yeah:

this will be for a first time Help Desk job.
I'm familar around computers for the most part. Have some experience doing support at University Labs and such


Part time or full time? Major? Exp?

full time bio none specifically except for university computing labs



I would say 16 to 20 per hour.
 

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
6,294
171
106
Yeah 35kish.. my internship for IT is 14/hour.. assuming a full time job offer at the place would get me at least 18/hour.

In NJ btw
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,353
10,876
136
The last helpdesk contract I had paid $28 an hour ... I've had similar but shorter term jobs pay up to $35 an hour but I have a ton of experience & this is in Connecticut.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Depends a lot on industry. Right now if it's for a home builder expect crappy pay. You will have to consider where you will live too in the salary.

I have seen most true help desk jobs in the $15-18 range...many 'help desk' jobs out there are really minor admin jobs/programming and not really true HD.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,134
2,450
126
From the help desk, most people either go into Systems Administration or "Incident Management" positions (think help desk manager). You could become a programmer as well, but that's a harder jump to make.

Those jobs can pay $50 a hour and up depending on skills and experience, or about $75-$85K if you're salary.
 

wasssup

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2000
3,142
0
0
right after graduating someone recommended that I work helpdesk, salaries ranged from $30k (vonage) to $40k (pfizer), keep in mind this was a few years ago and I'm sure salaries were higher for many people, this is just what I stumbled upon.

I couldn't stand helpdesk though and am glad I got out soon after. :)
 

WTurner

Member
Feb 21, 2008
93
0
0
Originally posted by: wasssup
right after graduating someone recommended that I work helpdesk, salaries ranged from $30k (vonage) to $40k (pfizer), keep in mind this was a few years ago and I'm sure salaries were higher for many people, this is just what I stumbled upon.

I couldn't stand helpdesk though and am glad I got out soon after. :)

I think everyone in any form of IT should work Help Desk or level 1 support for at least a year before moving on to a Sys Admin, DBA, Net Engineer or Security Engineer position. It helps you understand how to interact with the user base and what the challenges of IT are.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: WTurner
Originally posted by: wasssup
right after graduating someone recommended that I work helpdesk, salaries ranged from $30k (vonage) to $40k (pfizer), keep in mind this was a few years ago and I'm sure salaries were higher for many people, this is just what I stumbled upon.

I couldn't stand helpdesk though and am glad I got out soon after. :)

I think everyone in any form of IT should work Help Desk or level 1 support for at least a year before moving on to a Sys Admin, DBA, Net Engineer or Security Engineer position. It helps you understand how to interact with the user base and what the challenges of IT are.

About the same as working in sanitation shows you how to manage business.