Why are computer tech jobs paying so low?

[Farmer]

Lots of egos getting bruised in this thread.

 

[Ketchup]

Getting back to the OP, the job you linked to in your post is not the job you are looking for, it is a job that will lead to the job you are looking for. As many others have stated, PC tech is now in-line with most other career fields - you have to work your way up.

What do I mean? I mean that you need experience. Head knowledge is great - for a start. You will be surprised by how much you learn actually working for a company instead of working on the problems you family and friends have with their computers.

If you love working with computers and want to make a career out of it, there is nothing wrong with that. But you are going to have to get experience, and the best way I have seen to do that is to get those "$12/hr jobs" and work your way up from there.

 

[Atreus21]

I recently started working in Desktop Support for a bulk-liquid shipping company in New Orleans at $17/hr. I had about 4 years of experience in Database Management and de facto Desktop Support prior to this, but I wasn't in an IT enterprise environment.

My strategy is to acquire additional certifications (MCTS, MCITP) and use them not so much as leverage, but to prove that I know what I'm talking about when I propose that they migrate to WDS and MDT 2010, both of which are free, over Acronis Backup and Restore, which is not, for their desktop deployment images.

I think any PC Tech should treat their job as a staging point from which to advance into a more senior IT field, like Systems Administration or DBA stuff.

Average wage for a sys admin in Louisiana is between $60 and $80k, which is pretty good in my book.

 

[Juddog]

I do get a laugh (and subsequent cry) out of seeing jobs in my area paying $10 / hour for people that are MCSE / CCNA. I have to think that the recruiters for these jobs are just tossing buzz words in there to try and attract people and don't actually know what they mean.

Ultimately the amount paid boils down to how much responsibility you want to have, and how much you'll have to work. If you just plan on cruising by lazily because you have a cert, you'll find out quickly that's a dead-wrong approach.

Example of a real job posting in my area, for $10 / hour, listed under requirements:

Required Skills / Qualifications: *High School Diploma with A+ Certification, Network + Certification, MCP, MCSE, or CCNA OR Associates Degree in a technical field.

So they basically view MCSE and CCNA as having the same weight as an A+ cert. Which indicates to me that the recruiter probably just threw in a bunch of buzzwords.

 

[Atreus21]

I do get a laugh (and subsequent cry) out of seeing jobs in my area paying $10 / hour for people that are MCSE / CCNA. I have to think that the recruiters for these jobs are just tossing buzz words in there to try and attract people and don't actually know what they mean.

Ultimately the amount paid boils down to how much responsibility you want to have, and how much you'll have to work. If you just plan on cruising by lazily because you have a cert, you'll find out quickly that's a dead-wrong approach.

Example of a real job posting in my area, for $10 / hour, listed under requirements:


So they basically view MCSE and CCNA as having the same weight as an A+ cert. Which indicates to me that the recruiter probably just threw in a bunch of buzzwords.

Dude, CCNA is fucking hard.

 

[HumblePie]

As you can tell by other people's reaction to your douche-ness in this thread, you're a borderline idiot. I pointed out this in particular because you "state" it as fact. I have no degree, only certs, started my IT career as a "PC Tech" and have been recruited by 2 different companies in 4 years and am knocking on a 6 figure salary in Kentucky.

Pointing out facts, by the way I never said a direct comment to anyone in this thread unlike you and one other guy above all of a sudden calling me a name, does not equate to douche-ness. Simple fact of the world is certs mean nothing. I'm willing to bet your case, as special as it is, has more to do with who you knew for those jobs than what you know.

Certs only get you a job working at geek squad. Nothing more. A kid fresh out of highschool has a better chance to earn a better job and a higher wage if they go to college instead of doing certs, or even worse, those DeVry or ITT vocational schools nowadays. That wasn't always the case, and many people 10-15 years ago DID get well paying jobs with just that. But those days are the past. Too many companies got screwed over by under-educated, incompetent IT people to go that route again. Not only that, there is too much groundwork and off the shelf solutions in today's world to have a need to hire over-priced IT techs for everything like it was done 10-15 years ago.


Basic computer tech jobs are not in demand, do not pay well, and realistically do not take much mental power to do by comparison to jobs that are higher pay and in higher demand such as computer programmers, or EEs, or something that requires a BS in something. I'm sorry if you are getting butt hurt over that fact, but it is a fact of the modern job landscape in the "IT" field. Which is a very broad category.

Besides you and a couple of others here, most of the people in this thread have all stated the same thing I have. Entry tech jobs are just barely above burger flipping in terms of pay and from now on will always be that way I would bet. If anyone is looking to earn more than that in the IT field and are just starting out then it's highly recommended to go get a degree from a reputable 4 year college for the specific type of "IT" person you want to me. Be that a developer, a network admin, a database admin, or whatever. There are degree programs for all the higher paying IT jobs out there.

Now if you have connections, then you don't have to go that route if you can leverage those connections. Who you know is always greater that what you know in terms of landing a job. Maybe not keeping the job, but landing it for sure. But not everyone has that.

 

[Juddog]

Dude, CCNA is fucking hard.

I know it's hard, that's why I laughed when I saw they put that in there for a $10/ hour job.

 

[Juddog]

LOL I just saw this pop up as a job requirement for a job in my area:
"Minimum of 4 years experience in Windows 2008"

Umm last I checked, 2008 was 3 years ago.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

LOL I just saw this pop up as a job requirement for a job in my area:
"Minimum of 4 years experience in Windows 2008"

Umm last I checked, 2008 was 3 years ago.

If you can't at least time travel you're not cutout to be an admin.

 

[BoredWork]

Because people with computer and IT skills are a dime a dozen.

this is true. plus, kids are coming out of high school with almost as much training as some colleges in some areas. why get a guy with a full college degree..when you can just hire a high school brat for less.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Whats nice about the much of the software development arena is experience trumps all. I work in a group of about a dozen senior level developers, and about HALF, including our group manager, dont even have college degrees. Either someone is proficient at it or they arent. If you tech them out well, you can easily weed out the ones that exaggerate their abilities, which these days is about 90% of candidates.

 

[Juddog]

If you can't at least time travel you're not cutout to be an admin.

LOL true! Also I've seen more posts pop up lately asking for MCSE paying $10 - 12/hour. If I do a search on MCITP, then I only get one tenth of the results, and they're actual serious positions. Recruiters being retarded makes me sad.

 

[fantolay]

Because there are so many do it youself/how to guides online explaining solutions and tech support for most common problems that used to freak people out

 

[SKORPI0]

LOL I just saw this pop up as a job requirement for a job in my area:
"Minimum of 4 years experience in Windows 2008"

Umm last I checked, 2008 was 3 years ago.

Maybe they meant Windows Server 2008, since there no such a thing as "Windows 2008".

 

[Juddog]

Maybe they meant Windows Server 2008, since there no such a thing as "Windows 2008".

Windows server 2008 came out in.... get this... on February 27th, 2008.

It's impossible to have 4 years experience with something that came out 3 years ago.

 

[Wyndru]

LOL I just saw this pop up as a job requirement for a job in my area:
"Minimum of 4 years experience in Windows 2008"

Umm last I checked, 2008 was 3 years ago.

I've seen some Mobile OS programming jobs with these impossible experience length requirements. It's probably just a quick write-up by an HR dept that has no clue. You would think they would at least research a bit, but I guess it doesn't matter these days. They will still get a ton of applicants.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Supply + demand.

Welcome to capitalism, what's so confusing?

 

[Saint Nick]

They will still hire a ton of unqualified applicants.

FTFy

 

[Juddog]

I've seen some Mobile OS programming jobs with these impossible experience length requirements. It's probably just a quick write-up by an HR dept that has no clue. You would think they would at least research a bit, but I guess it doesn't matter these days. They will still get a ton of applicants.

That's just basic math though. It doesn't take a lot of research to realize 2011 - 2008 = 3.

 

[purbeast0]

That's just basic math though. It doesn't take a lot of research to realize 2011 - 2008 = 3.

to be fair, Madden 2012 is coming out this year

 

[Tsaico]

Actually what he says is true. A college degree only helps if you're in CS or CE/EE. MIS/CIS which is for general IS is useless and does not prepare you for shit.

I disagree with this entirely. Repair and management are two totally different things. So many business right now are in the mode of use it till it breaks. having more people that are IS global trained is helping me more and more. Repair wise, 10-15 an hour is all right. Management wise, is total crap. I would compare it to the HR director of company vs the front desk person. Knowing where your IT investment is how to best apply it, while mitigating your expenses is no different than knowing who are your weakest links in the HR pool are, paying the good ones as much as you can while keeping profits high, is the trick. Does the director know how to use the postage machine or handle the call volumes? Maybe yes maybe no, but when it comes to managing the HR pool and policies, a good HR director is one of the most important positions in a company. (right there next to a good IT director and CEO) Managing IT systems, budgeting the right amount, keeping on the forfront and abreast of tech trends or changes, while not spending the last profits.

There are too many repair break fix minds out there. I do not want to wish ill on any of my clients, so if I ran my business as if I was hoping they have problems so I can fix them, I should be paid 12 bucks an hour. Too many times, this repair/management is lumped into the same bucket when it really is not related.

 

[Juddog]

I hate to bump an old thread, but the job offers in my area lately are cracking me up.
Pay Rate: $11-$12.50 an hour
• MUST HAVE - Documented, paid-commercial experience in a technical support role
• ANY of the following are desired (but not necessary): A+ Certification, Network + Certification, MCP, MCSE, CCNA, Associates Degree, BS
• Pass an extensive background check
• Have at least 3 professional references (past supervisors)
• Pass a drug test (and ongoing drug tests)
• Pass a driver's license background check

Really? Someone with a MCSE or CCNA is going to apply for a job making $11 / hour? Gotta love the current economy.

 

[Franz316]

I'm seeing the same the same in trend in web development. Companies want someone who is an expert in PHP, AJAX, jQuery, mySQL, Javascript, C#, .net. HTML, and CSS. Oh, and they also want you to design the front end as well - all for 13/hr. I really hope no one applied to that position.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

skill requirements have gone down, available labor has gone up

 

[Ns1]

I cant believe there's so many people in this thread saying that a Techie job is "nothing" and easy... That's complete BS.

The A+ Certification is not easy to get by any means.

lol if you think A+ is a hard exam.


sitting for your CPA, now THAT'S a hard exam.

skill requirements have gone down, available labor has gone up

and this