Salary for 1st line support?

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What kind of salary do you guys generally find acceptable or decent for a 1st line support role? ( especially if its your first I.T job).

for those who are in the 1st line support role, what are you current salaries if you dont mind me asking.


Thanks for any insight.

 

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It's going to depend on where abouts you live, cost of living down south is more than up north and salaries do tend to reflect that.

It's like asking for a piece of string.

What you really need to do is have a think about how much you can afford to live on, work that out to what that 'should' equate to in salary terms and then have a look at how much is generally on offer and as long as you're happy with what's on offer then it really shouldn't matter what other peoples opinions on salary are because you're happy with what you're getting.

 

i totally agree with you. It doesn't bother me what others get. i just want an idea of what is to be expected for putting all the hardwork in with certs.

Whats the average from the location your from?

 

Mate I haven't earned an average salary in over 10 years, I couldn't honestly tell you what kind of salary a 1st line bod should get as I haven't done 1st line in probably 12 years.

 

I think in the first few years of your career, you shouldn't focus too much on salary.

I've very quickly been fast tracked from a 1st Line Support role to working as a sys admin in an Infrastructure team, but my salary is still less than what you might get in a 2nd Line position. I'm totally relaxed about it though, because when I move to another employer, it's far more impressive to say "I worked on X platform, with X technology" than it is to say "I worked 1st Line, but I earned £25k!".

 

Interesting thread.....When i was trying to get into IT and applying for lots of 1st line support jobs in terms of an entry level job i was finding they all ranged from 15-18K. I was looking at the possibility of breaking into IT but after travel expenses just about breaking even on what i earnt at my retail job.

Luckily the job i picked up which i start on Wednesday paid more than the average ive stated above, so im extremely chuffed.

 

Just echoing all the comments as it will vary from company to company, even within the same areas.

My first IT role back in 2003 paid about 16k which was largely first line stuff to begin with, and at the time in that company it wasn't a purely 1st line role you did 2nd line and project stuff as well (but obviously not from the word go).

I know that the company now with a slightly different structure employ people purely for first line, they do nothing else, and they pay 21k for that, and I'm in an area down south where I'd say it's pretty hard finding something well paid (I left there years ago but still have a lot of friends and some family there so know all the details ).

 

My first IT job was 13k.

For your average first line support job I would expect anywhere from 12 - 18k. Its not an exact science though.

Where I live decent IT jobs for career progression are hard to find. If your in a large city though it shoudlnt be to hard.

 

I'd say its whatever you can wangle, theres so many variables its unreal. If you've got good connections then i suppose you could always pull in a salary higher than the competative rate. We've all heard of people in "cushy" jobs on a lot of money because they know the MD quite well etc.

Another way to look at it is businesses will always try to (generally speaking) pay you enough so that you wont leave, but not too much so that they are over paying you. its about finding a happy medium where both parties are happy. This of course changes (or should) as new roles and responsibilities are taken on / new accreditations etc.

 

4 years ago, I started on £13k just to get a foot in the door having no prior experience or qualifications in IT. The experience gained was worth more long term then rejecting the job over the salary. I now do 2nd line desktop support earning over twice as much. 1st line guys in my company now earn £14-18k.

My advice is get in a 1st line role, whatever the pay, and show eagerness to learn new systems. After 12 months, you should have a good idea of the different career paths you can pursue.

 

I start my junior technician role next month and took a lower salary than i could get elsewhere just because of the benefits, training and progression they offer. I agree with above, 1st role for me isnt about how much your gonna earn, its about how much your gonna learn

 

imo it's always about how much you can learn until you land that 6 figure salary doing eff all ;).

My first IT job was 12k rising to 15k, 2nd was 20k rising to 25k learnt alot during those but not as much at my current (3rd) job which I took a drop and started on 20k.

 

Our first liners come in on £15k. We do historically have a very quick moving first line though. When we brought the Helpdesk back to client site in 2006, within 12 months all but one of the original staff were working in 2nd line roles or similar, of those 10 or so, 2 are in 3rd line Wintel roles, about half are in Desktop Support 2nd line roles and one has become a Service Delivery Manager..

..so the opportunities are out there