IT BS thread

Salary with hourly overtime FTMFW!!!

 

I guess I'm struggling to find a time when salary is a good thing - perhaps if there were weeks I worked only 20 hours to make up for the 70 hour weeks, and still got paid the same that would be amazing.

But if I work a 70 hour week, I usually have to work another 55 hr or 45 hr week after it. Then another 70 hour week. Just depends... But regardless, salary sucks! I'd much rather get paid for the time I work - because I never work less than 40 hours.

I need a new job.

That's.. hourly then, lol. I've never heard of such a thing... How the hell does that even work? My company put me on salary specifically so they don't have to pay OT anymore...

 

I'm a contractor/FTE of the contracting firm. If i bill a client more than 40 hours in a week i get paid for the hours over 40 plus my 40. If i don't bill a client more that 40 get paid for 40. I get the best of both worlds.

 

Damn you. That is all.

 

you're in denver, i know there is a shit ton of companies that are very similar to mine. Denver is a huge Town for IT. Take a look and see what is out there. We have a branch out there but all they do is contract work, no one with a position like mine.

 

This is where I was about 10 years ago. I put my foot down and left IT for a year to decompress.

When I came back into IT, I had a conversation with the boss regarding this very thing. He was a good guy about it...essentially, if I worked an extra 10 hours last week, he'd make it up the next week with paid time off.

60-70 hours weeks are a young mans' game. I don't have to play that any more. I've been doing this for so damn long that I'm not worried about it.

 

There's a lot of IT shops here sure. I doubt any will hire me, but hey. Maybe one day...

I wish I didn't have to play that game. At some point, I'll have to quit. This can't continue.... not at this pay rate at least.

 

why not?

Mine hired me straight out of college.

 

I never finished my degree. Long retarded story, but in the end I only have a high school diploma...

 

Ur support now right?

 

Degrees aren't necessarily required in IT like in many other fields.

I know several guys without any 'degrees' but they are GREAT techs and make a good bit of cash for their services.

Hell, I won't even come see you for under 50k, and I don't have any degrees. But, I have almost two decades of real-world high end troubleshooting and fixing ability that you pretty much can't teach.

*shrug*

To each their own I guess.

 

If you have experience, a degree isn't necessary.

 

Not really. I started at this job in PC Support resetting passwords and the like, but about 2 years ago I moved "up" to the Data/Voice department. Now I work on the VoIP phone systems, call recording, call center, Cisco routers, switches, voicemail, etc.

So I still kinda do support, but it's far from the desktop kind. Most of my work now is project oriented, although I still do perform break/fix stuff from time to time... Almost always thru an escalation tho, I hardly ever deal with the front lines...

That's my issue tho - how do I start in this field without a degree? One company gave me a shot, but they're WAY underpaying me for what I do. I know a lot of other people around here are underpaid as well (and have degrees) so maybe it's just my company.

Maybe time to look for a new job more aggressively. I'm always looking, but I haven't really looked aggressively. Just hope my boss doesn't happen onto my resume, lol.

I've had a ton of experience, but none of it was enterprise until this job. I'm hoping I put in 5 years here (which means another year+...) and that will be looked upon just like I had a bachelor's...

Still considering going back to school...

 

You can be aggressive in looking for a job, but don't put your resume out to recruiting companies. That is how your Boss ends up with your resume on his desk. Also companies don't want to pay the headhunting fee that they charge.

Do you have any companies you bring in to do projects that are either above your head or you don't have time to do? Those would be good companies to start looking at. You can also look for Cisco partners in the area and look there too.

 

Only look at finishing your degree if you are told by someone that a degree is why they didn't hire you. Look at some certs to go with your experience and I think that will get you further right now.

 

Get your CCNA, it will at least set you apart from other people without a degree.

 

Yea, I actually applied for a great job thru a vendor we work with. He said I was more than a perfect fit, but he was worried about souring the relationship with my company, so didn't hire me... My company is basically his biggest call center account, and he didn't want to risk losing it...

I'll keep my ear to the ground. Hopefully something promising turns up! Thanks for the help guys, still not sure what I want to do for the rest of my life - which is probably part of the problem. People tell me to just go get "some" degree, which that proposition doesn't really thrill me.

Not sure Cisco certs are my path either. Something that expires after 3 years... meh. I guess if it gets my foot in the door...

 

Anyone have a suggestion for a inventory/helpdesk software like Spiceworks that is free or flat fee based? Spiceworks is nice, but just keeping my options open.

 

I'm in that same boat as you, didn't finish my degree, got a job instead, right now I'm 7 credits away from an associates and planning on adding a Cisco cert to that, I'm really hoping that combination with get me a healthy raise in my current position, and if it doesn't I'll be looking elsewhere.

 

We use GLPI/OCS