IT professionals salary question (employment, contractor, college)

[SHERIKA0126]

What salary range would one be looking at with ccna,ccnp certifications and a bachelors degree not in computer science and associates in computer networking but less than 1yr experience?

Only wanting to know the salary.

[bencronin04]

I would say 50-70k for those certs and a year of experience. You could also look into contracting work and make considerably more money(almost twice), but again it's contract work.

[SHERIKA0126]

Thanks for your input. It's hard now and days to know which agencies are wasting your time and which are not. Hopefully he can thing in the range you listed above.

[mikeh19468]

As long as that experience means actually having touched routers and switches in a decent sized production environment. If not, closer to the $50K level, but you'll have to suck it up and pick a job that will get you that necessary experience...

[bencronin04]

Also a lapse in employment is going to hurt you pretty substantially in IT as well, unless there is a valid explanation(health issues, etc.). We usually receive a decent amount of resumes when posting positions and have a number of qualified candidates when it comes to technical skill sets, so every little mark hurts. We are usually fortunate enough to be-able to choose someone that will best fit our company and client environments, rather than pure technical skill set as it seems fairly saturated with qualified candidates.

Also, good recruiters are going to try and place you with the correct company. They should be asking you a series of questions and you should be able to set expectations with them as well, IE salary range, benefits, non-contract to hire,etc. I know from my friends that began their carriers with CCNA's, a lot of them worked on contract to hire for AT&T, but it was usually through a job placement program with NorthLake. You may check with that college to see if they have any leads or advice as well.

[Robert200]

What are some of the recruiters that have a good reputation in the area?

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by bencronin04

I would say 50-70k for those certs and a year of experience. You could also look into contracting work and make considerably more money(almost twice), but again it's contract work.

I highly recommend going contractor if you are young and just starting out. You will get educated on how big projects work and get to learn a lot.

As for the OP, 50-60K. You have little experience.

[VillageData]

Originally Posted by TX75007

I highly recommend going contractor if you are young and just starting out. You will get educated on how big projects work and get to learn a lot.

As for the OP, 50-60K. You have little experience.

This is solid advice. Once you have more experience then you can try for contracts abroad to get big bucks and global perspective.

[SHERIKA0126]

Thanks this is solid advice!!!

[Robert200]

What do you mean when you say "going contractor"?

I mean I know what a contractor is, somebody who is in business for themselves either as an LLC or sub S etc... and at the end of the year gets a 1099 from from the company they worked at.

But are they employees of a "consulting firm"?.... So to the end customer the worker is a "contractor" for a specified period. But the worker may be an employee to the consulting firm.

If the worker was a "contractor" than they would be responsible for getting and finding their own work. How does a younger less experienced worker get the "work?

I'm not arguing I'm just trying to understand because I'm at the point in my life, not married and no kids where I wouldn't be against traveling to god forsaken places if the price was right... along with a reasonable amount of safety.

I guess my question is: How does a younger less experienced worker meet your definition of a "contractor"? What specific steps would they need to take to be a contractor?

Thanks.