Do you think paying people under 20k a year to provide IT Support is reasonable?

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The amount of jobs for well under 20k I am seeing right now is disgusting, yet they want you to have experience in group policy, server 08-16, TCP/IP, storage, Azure etc and then want to pay you less than 20k..? I dont get it.. it takes ages to develop these skills its not something you can master in a week or by reading a book so why the hell are these jobs paid so poorly.. I worked out its pretty much what you would get working in a retail store fulltime for less stress. Is IT now just paid poorly? I see jobs paying 30k a year which is a good wage, however want you to be an absolute wizard thus making them poorly paid.

 

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I have seen many job adverts that look for 1st liners who have knowledge of those technologies but I am sure they are looking for people who have the basic knowledge.

I highly recommend to apply for jobs even if you don't fit all the requirements, it's more of a wish list. They won't find someone who has all of those skills.

I can't complain about my pay, even though the IR35 is taxing me the same as an permanent employee with no benefits and getting screwed over by an umbrella company. I'm earning nearly £16 per hour for 37 hours a week for a 1st line job!

However, I'm starting to get bored of 1st line now and I'm desperate for a change now. I've actually applied to a video game company for a QA technician role paying peanuts but to be honest I don't care about the pay. It's a 3 month contract doing something else.

I've also had an interview for a desktop support role last week, I should get some feedback this week and hopefully a second interview soon.

 

I wont be applying as I already work in IT, I really think 1st line is a myth, out of the two companies I have worked for its “you deal with whatever comes to the door” so yes you could be installing a program on a machine but the next minute doing some complex server config.. guess what though, the pay stays the same.

 

So what do you think of these piss poor wages? I believe you are a hiring manager if memory serves..

 

They pay you whatever they can get away with, its economics 101.

Move into a role where they cant pay you whatever they like.

 

what positions are these that you speak of, where a company cant pay you whatever they like?

 

Not all companies are heartless, mostly large corporations are the ones that pay less but I think it also depends on your local economy and what kind of businesses are you in your area.

For example, I'm from Warwickshire and Leamington Spa gained the nickname Silicon Spa due to the number of video game studios are based here.

 

You need to do a job that has value in the marketplace that is not easily replaceable with commodity labor.

I'm sure you can think of such things, builder, plumber, surgeon, engineer, pilot, scientist, etc.

Second thing you can do is become more entrepreneurial or businesslike.

What are the most profitable businesses? Monopolies, Oligopolies and Cartels, why is that?

This stuff is on you, its not up to anyone else to tell you how to do it.

 

I'm strictly referring to the IT industry.. not sure how that isn't obvious.

 

Programmer, Robotics Engineer, Network Administrator, Data Scientist, Bioinformatician, User-Experience Designer, Quant.

Do any of these jobs well and manage your career well and you will be on 80k+

 

Whilst the jobs you mentioned are not support jobs and look to be programming again you are missing the point.. Im talking about IT support jobs where you have to be multiskilled in different technologies being low paid. Example:

IT Support Analyst - 1st / 2nd Line - £22-28K - EC1

http://www.indeed.co.uk/viewjob?from=appshareios&jk=fb4451a61f979a7c

Based in London so on that wage in London you will be eating Ramen all year.

 

I see programmer jobs for 20k pa, there are always people who low ball and take the piss, if they are outliers then its simple just ignore them.

If they are not outliers but part of a significant trend, then your role has been commoditized. You need to move into another role or another sector, possibly even retraining along the way.

You want me to tell you, you can get rich by being a janitor. My answer is, stop being a janitor.

You can live in any fantasy of your choosing, that is up to you.

All of the jobs I listed have a significant Information Technology component.

Generally the answer is become more technically skilled in a true niche area or become more entrepreneurial. Why not do both?

Moving a mouse around a desktop is no longer a niche skill.

Another one, Blockchain programmer, pretty sure you wont like that one either

 

Dmarsh is on the money.

You can't just demand that your skills are paid more than they are worth in the market. That's not how it works. Otherwise bus drivers would be making 100k a year and people would get paid for jacking off. Basically anyone can do 1st line support to a varying degree.

Find a skill that people are willing to pay for and acquire it.

 

Cant really argue with the logic from DM there to be fair.

I am now looking at a role which is classed as learning technologies, the majority of the role I have some experience of or a lot of experience of, there are a few points where I am lacking but I am going to speak with someone today about that as I know that this is the second posting for the role so why not go for it. Its still IT but its more defined, its not IT technician specific, the wage difference is 6k, about £200 extra per month after tax. I have also looked at similar postings regarding learning technolgies in the HE near me, as our place seems to pay less for each role, ie the difference between the 1st and 2nd line roles is 3-5k, I am seeing a 4k difference, so I will be keeping an eye out for the future.

The money is rubbish for what I do but its not all bad, I have a job a nice office and im not going home at the end of the day covered in fibreglass or covered in oil from the car game

 

You have the same attitude as the end users who complain about things not working I assure you these jobs involve more than “pushing a mouse around a screen” If you think these jobs are paid accordingly (which was the original question so not sure why you have gone of on a tangent listing other jobs) then fair enough, say that then as that is what I was asking nothing else; but going off subject and trying to be insulting is uncalled for.

 

I assume you work in 1st/2nd line support..? So getting back to my original question do you think for the knowledge you need to do the job and the work you have to do, that these types of jobs pay reasonably?

DM seems to think I am unaware of the concept of higher position meaning more money.. I am specifically talking about the type of job role described in my original post.

 

So if we applied what you say here to people in factories in Indonesia working 50hr weeks for 5p I guess that would make it ok because thats the market value of their labour. My statement is I dont think the jobs described are paid very well if others think the pay is reasonable then thats fine as I respect others opinions, its a discussion.

 

The intrinsic value in any job is understanding how easily it can be replicated.

For instance, if I decided I wanted to be a lecturer at a university teaching quantum physics - and get paid 60K a year for doing 3 lectures a week, it would take me literally 10+ years of studying and work to get to that point.

If on the other hand, a professor at a university was asked to make a configuration change on a server, it might take him between a few hours and a few days to figure out the solution.

That is the difference in valuations. You need to accumulate enough knowledge so that your skills can't be easily replicated.

And in regards to your question, whether or not we morally agree with people being lowly paid - they're the conditions of the job market, it doesn't matter if we agree or not. We just have to play the game to the best of our ability. The only way to change that, ironically is make a lot of money. Make a business, and then pay people what you think is fair.

 

no one asked if it matters whether you agree or not, the question was “do you agree?”