Am i underpaid

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Hi everyone i think i am underpaid in my current job i wont state my salary.

Basicly im 20 years old i do desktop support for 50 or so users and some active directory work and some basic server troubleshooting and i have over 2 years experiance how much can one with my experiance and certifications ask for in an anual salary roughtly?

 

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How long is a piece of string? You really can't answer that question - it's impossible to do so. At your age, with two years' experience, in London, for basic desktop support you're looking at anywhere between 14 and 20k. If you're on less than 14k, then yes, you're probably underpaid. If you're on more than 20K, then you're probably overpaid.

The key is whether YOU think you are underpaid. If you do, tell your company that. Do the research on jobsites and tell your management what the market rate is for someone of your age and experience, in your role. If you're edging more toward server/infrastructure work, tell them that as well - but be careful - they may not want you doing that work, and might only require someone to do desktop work. This could quickly lead to them questioning your commitment to the entry-level job they probably hired you to do, so if you're not actively looking to leave I'd play it a bit carefully - especially if you don't have anything else lined up.

 

Where abouts do you work? What kind of business? I have to know because what an Investment Bank pays will obviously be more than a school or local government.

I would honestly expect in the region of 18 - 20k max, I have seen fully fledged engineers (7+ years experience etc) happy on 27k before.

Whats right for one person might not be for another, obviously you feel unhappy with what you are being paid and I think that realistically only you can decide whether you should be paid more or not, if your company don't want to pay you more then you have two choices, you either accept it or move on. Word of advice tho, there will always be people happy to take what you earn and replace you. Be thankful that you have a job and carry on improving and gaining the experience and the money will increase.

At 16 (when I started work in the Army) I was earning 13k, at 21 I was earning 17k, at 25 I was earning 23k, now admittedly that was some time ago but salaries don't go up that much in the grand scheme of things.

 

Don't know about you being underpaid! But your keyboard is certainly underused!

 

I do know for sure that we are ALL not paid enough.

 

Couldn't agree more... lol

Not only I agree with this last comment but with other as well.
It all depends on you and if you feel that you are being underpaid just speak your thoughts out.
In any case be very cautious for I bet underpaid or not you wouldn't want to lose your job, would you?
The reason to this is that, in the current climate, they can easily get rid of you and get someone else who will be happy with the salary they're paying you. I know I would as I haven't yet managed to get into IT and it has been a long 10 months now.

Employers know that there's thousands of people out there, just like myself, looking for a job on IT and, as I have said before, it could backfire at you.
Hope you do well. In case you lose your job, fingers crossed you won't, let me know as I'd happily have it on £17k+. lol...

 

Without knowing the guy's salary, it is near impossible to make a judgement! It's rather like asking for advice on why one is skint at the end of every month whilst not disclosing details on one's outgoings!

However, debt and/or financial commitments are a big factor in feeling underpaid! And this is a trap that a lot of us get into i.e. big debts that erode a good salary. I know some people that are on 30 to 40k a year yet because of their debts it feels more like 15k a year.

In my case, I always felt underpaid...until I woke up and realised that I was a knob when it came to debt with my 'I want it now' attitude. This isn't so bad when they're lots of jobs about but now jobs are few and far between things have got tougher.

But back on topic, the OP should be aware that his role can pay anything from minimum wage to 24k in a permanent position. His job has a small user base so that would suggest to me a salary of 16k to 19k. However, the OP should think this job more of a stepping stone to the next 'higher paid' position.

In short, if you feel underpaid then look for another job that pays more.

 

THIS +1

This couldn't be more true. I don't earn a fantastic wage (or a particularly good one) at the moment, but my outgoings are incredibly little, so I have £640 a month disposable income AFTER all my bills are paid. So right now, I feel like I'm paid just fine, if I came out with only 100 disposable income as my manager does, then I would feel underpaid. So as Drum Dude says, situations, debts and all sorts come to play with feeling underpaid. I used to live in London, and I can say easily that with the costs, any wage is going to feel low.

 

I earn a reasonable wage, feel it's ok but definitely going to start making a noise to get a pay rise when i get my MCSA in the summer hopefully. For now though, i'm on a good wage for what i do but the experience i'm getting is amazing and they're paying for my study books and exams, etc.

This is my first job doing enterprise/business level support with IT doing what is essentially first line support, previously i worked as a tech in a computer shop, yet i'm given full domain admin rights, full exchange rights, full access to everything and i only escalate when i don't know how to resolve something and it'd take too long to research the issue - infact last week i re-wrote all the group policies for a 1200+ user site, going into testing tomorrow, then doing another 1200+ user site next week as well all going well, all this from a 1st Line Support Role and all great experience and stuff to put on my cv.

 

Hey I remember that the MET Police advertised for a desktop support post based in Birmingham with 2+ years experience starting on 27K

 

My friend has no IT certs, just a basic BTEC course from college, and has about 3 years of experience working in a computer shop doing repairs, same as where i was, and got a job working for Lincolnshire police doing desktop support and driving around lincolnshire supporting pcs for 32k a year.... From what i was told by him, the police employed a university graduate that didn't know even the most basic troubleshooting skills so they got rid of uni grad after a month and went for someone who they knew had the experience and then get them trained up and certified later.

 

Yup, I know I'm not on the most fantastic wage but I'm working with people I like in a nice environment (I look out of the window straight out on to the river and if I look down behind my desk I can see the waterwheel through the glass floor) and I have almost total free rein to dictate a lot of IT policy (within sensible budgetary constraints obviously).

Can't ask more than that, especially in the current market.

 

It's all relative.

I'd had 5 years first line experience, then got myself a 1st/2nd line role on just over 15k. (Which was a pay drop.)

After a few weeks, I just kept taking on more and more, learning more and more until within a few months I was pretty much doing 2nd/3rd line with direct responsibility for a VM infrastructure, still on under 20k for a good couple of years.

Was I unhappy about the wage? Sure. Did I gain valuable experience that would leave me with more skills and more confidence than I might otherwise have right now in my career? Most definitely.

For me, wages are obviously important, but so is how much I'm developing. Pay me 40k a year to do first line work now, and I'd most probably turn you down.

 

But then, aren't wages outside London lower? Was your first job in London?

 

When I was a chef I worked in Mayfair, commuting from Mill Hill.

A lot of people use the lower wages argument. The wages are lower yes, but are the wages in London high enough to truly account of the increased cost of living? **** no. I'd take being able to get from one side of Manchester to the next in half an hour, less people, £450 a month for a good 2 bedroom house in a nice area over an extra 4k in London, where it costs £9 a day to get from 5 to 1 and back and thats without the bus journey from the tube station any day.

Sure the wage is lower, but so is everything else, and on top of that, I could actually go to the centre of town at night without a 1 hour travel home afterwards ;)