Been Offered a Team Leader Role

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Hi there,

I've been working in IT for the last 6 years, during which I have predominantly worked in 2nd/3rd line desktop support roles, though I have been working in server support for the past 6-7 months.

I recently applied for an internal team leader position and have been offered this, though the pay increase is a modest £2.5k - which takes my wage up to £25 K per annun.

While I'm very happy and excited to have been offered the job, it also represents a long term commitment in terms of me staying in the role long-term. I do not feel that the wage is sufficient to warrant this. I know the company can pay more than this - they are recruiting senior server engineers at £27 K per annun. In a way, I feel rather under valued.

I recently declined a desktop support role offering £26K, and was also approached by a job agency regarding a desktop role offering £28-£32 K per annun. At this stage I chose to stay with my current company, as I had every faith that I would have prospects there, both in terms of career development and remuneration.

I haven't recently been circulating my CV on job sites etc, but I'd imagine that with the credit crunch etc, vacancies and wages will be siginificantly reduced to how they were last year.

In a way I feel tempted to take the job, but then in another I feel it would be wrong for me to accept it not being 100% happy on what I'm earning.

I'd be happy to do the job for £27K+, but not £25 k. Am I being too greedy or should I put my foot down on this one?

Cheers

MaX

 

If the job stipulates that you commit yourself for x amount of years then so be it. If it does not, i would take the job and the pay rise and keep my eyes peeled for better offers elsewhere.

 

Do you want a position in Management? as that is what Team Leaders roles are designed to move into?

Do you enjoy ITIL? because again thats where your focus will be moving towards.

Do not take all the hype from the job agencies that people are not paying the money. That is absolute nonsense.

I was speaking to an agency in November 08 about a 2nd Line Support Position and we both started laughing at the wages that where being offered, which was £20K, guess what they still haven't got anyone to fill it!

Pretty much in my area which is only 50 miles from you in Northampton and 2nd Line command anywhere from 22K (cheap) to £28K (expensive) and 3rd Line command £28K (cheap) and £40K (expensive).

Oh was meant to say I did recently go for a 2nd/3rd Line Support Role which was £25K plus 10% Pension, which I thought was on the low wage side and it was 20 miles away, but did offer work with VMWare.

So what opportunities are there to work areas in IT that interest you in your current role?

 

Oops forgot to say that for people management I would want ALOT of extra money, been there done that and got the T-Shirt.

But if you take onboard what Ken has said, I have got oodles of people management skills and would want a minimum of £40K to even think about opening that door again, more like £60K.

Do I think that an extra £2.5K to put up with all the crap of stuff like:

- Do I have to ring you every f***** morning to get you to work on time?
- What do you mean your ill, a friend saw you in town last night getting pi****?
- Hey who wants the opportunity of working XMas day for no more money?
- No your not going to get a pay rise as you have had a third of a year of sick.
- No you cannot wear trainers to work.

How big is the team, if it is only you and someone else then fair enough, but if its four plus, I would recommend going for at least an extra £5K probably £7.5K to even start to compensate for the hassle factor.

Is it good to have on your CV, yes, but only if it is what YOU want.

 

Basically the role is to be put in charge of a new business function concerning change, release, test and version management within the IT Departemtn. I would have ownership of all standard images and builds etc and play a fundemantal part in the change control process. Initially I will be the only person on the team, with the prospect of growing it as it becomes more established.

I have been told that subject to a performance review, the sallary should go up by another 1 K in 6 months time.

My only concerns are that if things don't move in the right direction for me at my current company in the next few years, I could be disadvantaged. I would no longer have recent hands-on tech experience, and would only have experience of managing a small team. Additionally I haven't seen many change/version/release management jobs on job serve either, so I could be putting myself into a specific role without universal appeal on the job market. At the moment I am a Desktop/Server Support Techy and could probably find a job fairly easily.

I am in no desperate hurry to leave where I am, I like the people and enjoy the atmosphere. However this alone can't and will not pay bills and improve my quality of life if my pay doesn't keep moving up.

I suppose I'd like to be in a position where I'd find it fairly easy to get jobs and move around the country if I so desired. I don't want to be in a position where I can't get a job anywhere else!! Although I enjoy techy work, I also enjoy dealing with people. Before I moved into Server Support I was 2nd line/on-site desktop. I loved the job and dealing with people etc. I suppose in years to come I would like to go into managing a desktop support team.

 

Depends on how comfortable you are with pissing on the hand that's feeding you. Turning down a role like that because of money is a sure-fire way to burn a career bridge with your current company, with no other job-in-hand in case things turn south.

Personally, I'd take the role. You might find you LIKE it. And if not, well, you were thinking about leaving anyway, so nothing lost, eh?

 

It's a difficult one to say. If you take this position you may well be loosing a lot of tech side of your career to concentrate on management of your team so you have to ask yourself if you would miss this part of your job. Also I would ask to see if there would be a review of your wages to just diplomatically state your concerns on that area. Only you will know how approachable your boss is.