How much should a System Admin make right out of school?

Depends on a lot of factors. Size of company, what sort of demand there is for IT, etc.

IMO 36 is a little low, but once again it depends on a lot of factors - how much do you know?

Rule of thumb, most companies will pay you the absolute minimum unless you ask for more.
 
Salary.com will give you a decent range.

There's a lot that goes into pay for various positions.
 
I am in upstate NY.
Degree is in "Network Administration".
I am good with Cisco stuff (about to get CCNA), certified in Windows 7, good with VMware, etc. There are only 2 of us admins in IT for a global manufacturing company (+1 manager) so I am pretty much responsible for everything... exchange, backups, infrastructure/server upgrades, SQL... you name it.
 
With your experience I wouldn't pay you more than 40k since you don't have any certifications either. Your BA wouldn't mean much to me.

You'll also never make 80k at the company your at since they got you right out of school and got you for cheap. Stay there about 2 or 3 more years, get your CCNA and possibly your CCNP then switch companies. You'll be pretty set after that.
BA + 4 years exp + CCNA/NP = at least 65k in your area.
 
That seems really low to me. Engineers start out at $55-$68k in the western US. I'd expect entry level B.S. for IS&T to be making $40k-$50k
 
I should add that they are willing to pay for whatever certs I want to go for, they pay my internet bill and cell phone bill. I look at it as time to get some experience in the trenches and get all my certs. I giess the question really is when to ask for more money or start lookin for another job. Cyr0n answered that pretty well.
 
shroomiin said:
Hi everyone,
I graduated with a bachelors degree 1 year ago. I did my internship for a company which hired me to come on full time once I graduated. So, I have been working at the same place for 1 year as a System Administrator.

What should I expect to be making? Right now i'm at $36k a year. With only 1 year of experience does this sound about right?
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It all depends. It depends on so many factors that even trying to hazard a guess would be rather fruitless unless you shared more than you'd likely be willing to.

A big factor is region. Where I live, the cost of living is so low that $36k a year is fairly good money. Another factor is employer. Public sector jobs will have different pay characteristics than private sector ones will, and certainly working for an investment company will pay better than working for a small web hosting company. Working for a huge enterprise will also tend to mean a larger salary for someone like you, as well. Size, sector and industry all factor into it.

Finally, it also matters what exactly you do. If you're 'the SAP guy' at your organization, you might be labeled as a system administrator, and so might the 'system administrator' who is really just tier two help desk and account support. Yet it's almost certain that the 'SAP guy' is going to make a larger pile of money than the support guy will at most places.


Other things to consider when looking at your salary is that you shouldn't look at only the raw value. What benefits and other factors do you get? I know of system administrators who might make $10,000 more a year than some of the other system administrators I know. However, the guys making the extra $10,000 are only getting a 3% employer contribution to an IRA as a retirement package, while the people making less are getting a 10% contribution to a 403(b) plan with 50% tuition reimbursement and more vacation time. My employer will pay for a large portion of your children's tuition (if I had any children, that would be pretty rad, wouldn't it?) Some companies have a strong promote-from-within culture, and in 5 years will have you working as a director making double or triple your starting salary if you're good, while others tend to keep you where you are and fill openings from the outside. If you're receiving great benefits, you might be better off with your $36,000 than someone making $46,000 at another company. Maybe when your company reaches sales milestones they give out 15% bonuses. It all depends on the total package, not just the raw 'salary' you're receiving, so don't wander into that pitfall.


shroomiin said:
Other sys admins have any input?
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I haven't been a sys admin for a while (it was a great way to pay for college, but I have since moved both laterally and vertically within IT), so I can't really offer too specific of numbers for you.

cyr0n_k0r said:
With your experience I wouldn't pay you more than 40k since you don't have any certifications either. Your BA wouldn't mean much to me.
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The college degree doesn't mean much to you, and yet for some reason the certifications do? Sounds a little irrational, to me.

cyr0n_k0r said:
You'll also never make 80k at the company your at since they got you right out of school and got you for cheap.
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In general that's not true at all. Maybe there are some crappy companies who think that way, but any good company knows that if they want to keep their good employees, they have to keep progressing them through the pay scale. Spoilt for choice is the last thing an IT department is when it comes to their human capital. Good employees will regularly get offers from headhunters, and can generally apply for and receive offers for a surplus of IT jobs, so if they're not being paid as much as they could be it's easy for them to just find someone else who will pay them what they want to be paid. It doesn't make sense to pay to recruit an employee and pay them to intern at your company, pay for their certifications/continuing education, devote a large amount of money into training them and integrating them into the corporate culture, and then have them leave and have to spend all that money over again on someone else just to save $10-15k/year on salary. Such fast turnover is generally far more costly than just paying your employees a fair salary.
 
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It's so variable, it's hard to say what's a good wage. Really, it's whatever you're willing to be paid without looking for work elsewhere.

My salary has tripled in the past 9 years (as I get experience, certs, connections, etc) - when I started in IT my now-wife was making more working part time than I was full-time.
 
Awesome input thanks everyone. Like I said there are only a few of us so I'm not just the helpdesk guy... I have every password including root domain admin and am expected to take care of all systems.
 
Don't forget, CYA because every bad decision your boss or your company makes is your fault. Like someone else said, get the certs, get the experience, and if they raise your pay........great. If they don't......move on down the road.
I live in Maine, no college, only minor certs, but 22 years exp. 75K, lifetime retirement, and six weeks year off plus sick leave.
Make friends.
 
Base pay for engineers who work for me is $60k-$65k (western US). We don't raise your pay for certs as we aren't an IT VAR.
 
narsbars said:
Don't forget, CYA because every bad decision your boss or your company makes is your fault. Like someone else said, get the certs, get the experience, and if they raise your pay........great. If they don't......move on down the road.
I live in Maine, no college, only minor certs, but 22 years exp. 75K, lifetime retirement, and six weeks year off plus sick leave.
Make friends.
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22yr experience and only 75k? Is the CoL in maine really cheap or something? I'm in LA and am at 65k/year + options + vac/sick + bonus. 5 years out of college, and spend the first 2 of them searching for a job.
 
@shroomiin - You shouldn't think you should get paid more because you watch a bunch of systems and have a bunch of passwords.

I am with @narsbars I have no schooling but I also have no certs and I make close to what narsbars makes, in the Midwest.

shroomiin in upstate NY I would imagine your starting pay should be around 70k if you really can do a System Administration job, and this really depends on what the company wants you to be doing as a System Administration job, sometimes this position really is an IT Director position or you may need to do some of those tasks as well.

70k though I believe is where you should be for your area, since the cost of living out there is ridiculous.
 
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