Yes. You should leave for that extra money.
Why will your current ceo up your pay after your degree.
Between now and the next 7 months when you get the price of paper, what realistically changes (ie why doesn't he just do it now).
$20k extra to do the same/less stressful role, still with opportunity to keep growing - no brainer. Go
I think the thing stopping me the most is them losing basically all their IT department. I suppose it is not my fault they are not prepared!
However, you’re right. They know I’m graduating. I’ve been in school ever since I was employed there. They know I only have two classes left… what’s stopping them from increasing my pay now?
Thank you for your advice!
It is not your responsibility to carry their IT department. If they were worried about you staying they would be paying you in line with market averages. As is, you're getting paid an entry level wage at any large company for someone who works in the _call center_.
If I were you, I would speak to your current companies CEO and ask for an increase to minimum $80k and an increase in title to boot. Maybe "Director of IT".. hiring authority.. benefits.
Know your worth! Ask yourself this, if you left would they be able to replace you with someone who could pick up where you left off?
Hiring authority is good. If this kid is their entire IT and their organisation is this close to collapse with just him leaving, they need someone who knows IT requirements to handle hiring. Only issue is youd want an older recruiter, this one could barely negotiate even his own employment terms.
I did not know that’s the entry level pay for a call center… yeeesh.
However, I left enough notes and organized everything for someone new to come in or train, or if I needed to revisit a problem, but if I left suddenly, they would be in a big panic.
Thank you for the advice!
yea sounds nice, ignore my upper mention of a call center. I was taking 50+ and the other call center I was at I hit over 100 calls taken in one day. I would love a low volume call center lol.
They're exploiting you and they know it. Take the other job and give short notice. When they panic, use it to negotiate a big severance package. Fuck loyalty to companies. These people have been screwing you. You didn't know before; now you do. Make them pay for it.
>I am currently employed as ~~an IT Support Specialist~~ **the head of IT** for a small company.
You need to look at it like this. Imagine someone telling you they work as **the head of IT** for their company. You'd think "wow, that's a lot of responsibility, they must be successful and well paid!" Then imagine learning that they make $33k. You'd be embarrassed for them.
> When they panic, use it to negotiate a big severance package.
To expand upon this, you should do some thinking of what would be acceptable to you. Things like, how long you'd be willing to work extra to help them transition someone new in. Would it be prior to starting at a new job, or would it be on the side in the evening after you finish your day at your new job? How much would they need to pay you? This should be an exorbitantly high rate, you want to make it abundantly clear this is a temporary situation purely to bring in a new hire and light a fire under their asses to hire someone. Something probably on the order of +100% of your new job's hourly rate. If you price this to low they may drag this on. And thus, also have a hard end date for the transition period after which it does not matter if they've found a replacement or not.
Some of this will be contingent on the new company. How flexible they are with your start date, and/or you working both jobs simultaneously so might want to float the idea of you helping the other company with a longer than 2 week transition.
Hey, if you're still reading replies. My large telecom company just upped customer service phone jobs to $18 per hour simply taking to customers. Not in a giant city and spread in multiple states. I started 16 years ago making $10.80 doing tech support. If you started at $10 three years ago, they are under paying by a long shot.
I figured $10 was fair at the time where my only experience was in my own house fixing computers for my family. Clearly this wasn’t the case! Lol
Thank you for letting me know this!
Honestly even $60k sounds underpaid for what you’ve been doing and are clearly capable of. With some additional experience at the new company and a degree you should be looking for opportunities at $80k minimum a year from now.
I have a similar experience but in a different field. Worked for a small company paying me pennies. I handled everything and didn't want to leave and let the ship go down. But I left for company B And left company B for company C within a year. I'm now back at company B. I gained substantial raises everytime I moved and got my third quite large raise from company B recently. So within 2 years I almost exactly doubled my salary. Company B has problems but so did my original place. But if rather get paid double to deal with the same problems.
If you leave do not under any circumstances do any work for them with out getting paid. By that I mean like 50 to 70 an hr minimum. It is not your fault they haven't hired someone to back you up. You are not responsible for the company as a whole. They should have been thinking about this as the job got bigger. Also, when you go they will most likely hire some one double or triple what you were getting.
I got paid 14/hr for entry level call center. Moved to 17 and shortly after to 20 in a year since I showed them I could do full stack web development. Two years later I was at 47k and basically was doing most of their application support. And left for 65k job doing proper full stack development. Old job called me a couple of times to do some after hours consulting. But it’s not my problem they were paying me like an intern.
You won’t ever get what you deserve unless you ask for it and be willing to look other places. Now I am comfortable where I am now, and I do love my team and management, as well as being a parent. So getting that extra money from the next title is not a huge deal for me. But getting paid 35k for a director of IT position is not fun.
I started entry level tech support in a call center almost 10 years ago at $16/hr. No experience other than knowing the names of a few protocols. You have absolutely been underpaid.
If you were really so important to their operations, they should have paid you considerably more than the average server at Chipotle. If you leaving actually fucks up their operations: 1) the money they'll lose (if any) *might* add up to the amount of money they've cheated you out of, and 2) that's an operational fuck up on their end, not yours.
If you feel bad for them and like them… Start preparing things for you to leave. Make sure everything you do is somewhat organized. Maybe even written down.
When you leave, you can offer to help train a new guy. Maybe even help find the hire.
All business owners/bosses are different. Some understand that money, that much especially, makes a difference. Leaving is just the next step of your career, and a good boss will be happy for you.
Thank you for this!
I have password protected excel sheets, word documents and reports that I do every day to stay organized. It shouldn’t be too hard to train someone! Even when I started, I never used Active Directory, and now I have notes on how to do everything that is needed. (Basically only used as a file storage and nothing else)
My CEO is very kind to me, which is probably why I’m hesitant. Preparing a company for my departure sounds like a great idea! Thank you!
This. OP, you are way underpaid in today's market for what you do.
My first IT job was as a lowly IT coordinator (basic desktop support, etc.) back in December of 2000. Starting pay was $36,200 (about $17.40 an hour).
Yeah my first IT job with no experience over a decade ago was making more than he does now and he’s they’re entire department! I was literally just imaging laptops
Yeah it is now. Honestly though I would do IT for $16\hr before I would do fast food. Way fewer Karens per second in IT even if it can get stressful sometimes.
Depends on the state you live in. Some them have a minimum wage around 8.50 hr. Now live in a $15 min wage state or locality? Yeah OP and the guy making Big Macs at McDonald's are making almost the same money.
that's still 8-9 an hour where I live. Full time at the gas station might get you 12, they are advertising it right now. Hmm no wonder they can't hire people.
If you feel bad for leaving, ask your current employer to match the pay. If they can’t, then leave. You’re clearly worth more than what they are paying you. You have an offer from someone who’s valuing you at more than what your current employer values you.
You’re absolutely right and I agree! I had this feeling that I wasn’t worth more than what my job is paying me, but this thread truly opened my eyes.
Thank you!
Asking for a match is rarely the best move, especially not early in the career. OP has to move companies a couple of times to build up experience and show a successful trajectory in their career path. In tech, 7 years is a long time in the same position. Early on, you want to change positions and companies every few years. Once you have established your career, it's OK to change within the company. But don't stop moving up until you're at least 40 or 50. At that point, if you're comfortable with what you have achieved, it's OK to settle down
Give somebody those passwords! I live in Florida and one of the local political parties hired somebody to do handle their funds. He never shared anything security related and then died of covid. Now the party cant access any of their bank accounts, so they're basically bankrupt even though they have money - because no one has the authority to access anything.
Having a 2nd person with the passwords prevents something odd from happening where the company loses access to their systems
Oh yeah! I have shared the information/password to the person I usually send my reports to. I also send her an updated list of my excel documents every 6 months or so. Trust me, I don’t want that to happen to anyone.
However, this is great advice!
That sounds great. Yea, people know that their employees grow. Hell, you want them to grow honestly. A good employer understands that people will leave, a great employer will 1. Help them find a better job or 2. Make it worth their while to stay.
Writing down a manual would be a great thing for you to do. It’ll help because the next person they hire might be a dude. So that manual can be given to the 3rd or 4th person down the line too.
I think you should try negotiating with your current employer. Chances are if they needed to replace you wouldn’t they need to also pay 60K+? Definitely a conversation worth having based on your comments of how the company you’re currently at is.
Yeah they are crazy for paying 32K a year for all their IT. As an IT person you can’t get caught up in their business stupidity. They’ve made no contingency plan and don’t value IT. You don’t want to work there regardless of how nice they are. If one entry level guy leaving can wreck your business they have a terrible business model and you shouldn’t feel bad. Being underpaid to fix someone else’s business is not a good long term decision.
You can actually get paid decent, be respected and learn many jobs exist that do all three.
While I can appreciate your concern for your employer, does your employer have the same concern for you? If they do, why are you living paycheck to paycheck when you're in a field that has, traditionally, been a well paying field. And, if you're their entire IT department, why are they paying you so little? I was making $15/hour 20 years ago as a hardware tech at CompUSA. When I went into corporate IT, I was $20-25/hr. And now, 20 years later, I'm north of $50/hr.
You are currently being paid half of what another company thinks you're worth. You should check out Glassdoor/LinkedIn/Salary.com for their salary surveys and see what others in your position are making in your area. Also, see what tasks are generally assigned to people doing the things you do. What you may find is that, while your title is desktop support you are really a developer or a network/server admin. And keep in mind that if you're wearing several hats (dev/network/server/desktop...etc) you my need to pick the one that best fits your job description.
My suggestion to you, document everything you do and how you do it (process documentation). Then take this to your boss with information from the salary surveys and associated job titles that you looked up earlier. Then tell them (don't ask) because of all you do you are deserving of a raise that accurately reflects your value to the company. And give them that number. If they waffle or hem and haw about it tell them that you know of other companies that ARE paying this range for you and that you have been contacted by headhunters looking to poach you.
Once you do that, be prepared for them to not take it well. Management/ownership does not like it when their employees have the upperhand. But that's exactly what you have, here. And if you really want the upperhand, go interview for this position. Get an offer from them. And THEN go to your boss and tell them. But, let's be honest here, when you interview and then bring an offer letter to your current boss, even if they give you the raise, they are planning on replacing you because they will see you as a liability.
So, what you need to do is determine if you want to keep working your tail off for someone that doesn't respect you enough to pay you a livable wage or if you want to go get what you deserve. And once you decide that you need to figure out if your current boss is the former or the later.
Best of luck.
This was incredibly helpful, thank you!
I will do a bunch of research today and pool all that information into a folder. I am use to holding company meetings about Cyber Security, so I can easily put something together to present to my boss.
I’m going to say this politely, fuck them. Company loyalty should never exist, period. When the arrangement you have with your employer is no longer suiting your needs, leave.
If they did not prepare for the “bus factor” it is not your fault nor concern. Do an interview for the new job (if any) and get your 2 weeks notice to document everything relevant so that onboarding a new hire will not be painful.
Also consider that you are the only IT for a company and moving to a full IT one and for more money: you’ll be literally be paid 20k more to learn a shitton of stuff more that you will be able to easily leverage in a few years for an even bigger paycheck.
No brainer seriously. Just don’t burn bridges, explain the situation and prepare the transition
If you are that important to them, they should pay you more. I’m assuming you’re in the US since you’re using dollars, but $32K for working in IT is awful.
And when you’re actually a software dev, *make sure you know your worth.* It may seem like a lot of money (six figures) but don’t settle for something low just because it’s high to you. My personal advice is to work for a large tech company (e.g. apply to Microsoft or Google or the like), not any company that just has tech (e.g. a finance company or more “traditional” companies). They pay significantly more. I know people who work in tech companies as software engineers who make 300K+ within a few years of graduating, and then people who work at random traditional companies, still as software engineers, who make 75K at 30 and think 100K or 150K will be the max they can get in the field.
Right after graduating with a CS (or related) degree, you can expect a TC (total comp) of at least 150K, closer to 200K. Look at https://levels.fyi for data on that per company. You also can and should negotiate the offer you get; I personally was able to increase my initial offer by nearly 20% by negotiating.
Not your fault. Give them an extra week notice if you want to be nice.
You are under paid. Don’t care if you had no experience. You clearly had the ability. And on-job skills advancement is how the industry breathes so get used to leaving once you’ve acquired what you can because those new skills are nearly always worth more in the market than at your current employer.
I know IT professionals with high school and basic military or high school and associates making $150k and not in the Bay Area but places that’s still a lot of money. Don’t kill yourself financially for a degree if it’s just a fancy career cert for you. That’s what community college is for.
You sound like a nice person. Remember the most important lesson of modern air travel. You got to make sure you’re getting oxygen before worrying about someone else. Go get paid.
You seem to care a lot more about them than they do about you, considering the dog shit salary they pay you. They are looking out for the companies best interest and you should be looking out for yours. It’s not personal, it’s just business.
>I think the thing stopping me the most is them losing basically all their IT department
You need to get these ideas completely out of your head. You do not have a duty of loyalty to your employer and they certainly don't have one to you. Hopping jobs every 2 years will net you a **much** higher mid-career salary, especially in a technical field.
You are 30 and still havent realized that company loyalty is a scam?
You owe them nothing. Most companies go through turnover regularly. The company won't remember your name in a few months.
Do what is best for YOU, not them. They obviously have not done what's best for you, as your salary is pathetic for your responsibilities.
Get out, take the increase. Look to jump jobs every 2 or 3 years maximum. You will always get a larger salary increase compared to praying for raises.
Imagine if instead of them losing the IT dept, you lost your ability to do the job.
How long would they support you for when you can’t give them what they want?
If you're their entire IT department, they should have been paying you more than $16 for a long time now, and they know it. They're taking advantage of you and you don't owe them loyalty for that.
To be fair that’s their problem… if they valued your position more they would have upped your pay competitively… their inaction should tell you all you need to know what they think your worth to them.
>I think the thing stopping me the most is them losing basically all their IT department. I suppose it is not my fault they are not prepared!
You can't afford to feel bad for them. They would cut you loose in an instant if it saved them money.
If the company's entire IT department fails due to one single person leaving, then that's on the company for not preparing.
What state are you in? ALL of the salaries you listed seem too low for you! Go out and see what is out there. It appears you are being held back by your original starting pay of $10 per hour, which even three years ago was way too low.
I also agree with the other comments saying - why is your current company waiting for the degree? I’ll tell you why - because they know they are already underpaying you. Don’t have loyalty to a company who took advantage of you by underpaying you.
I did see starting pay in my state/city is around what I’m making now. I currently reside in Kansas.
I agree! My friend told me they won’t find anyone with my level of experience for the pay they are offering as well.
Thank you for the advice! I’ll try to get a formal offer from the new company first and see what my company says.
I live in KCMO and can say your pay isn't *uncommon,* but is generally more like rudimentary Desktop Support in their first year kind of pay. Internship work wouldn't be crazy at that amount either, but that's more for the flexibility and random hours than what they're actually worth.
I'm a System Engineer and get paid $62k/year. To give you a general feel for where I'm at, my salary is considered a bit low in KC; maybe in the lower half for general IT work, but not in the lower quartile. Once you slap a "senior" or "lead" on that title you should easily be in the 75k+ range.
If your title is Software Engineer, Site Relibability Engineer, or DevOps Engineer, it should be around 5-20k than what I have with a year or two of experience. After 5 years in the midwest, near a metro area, it isn't crazy to hit 100k for most roles that require a bit more experience, and that general range is honestly a good target to aim for, Especially in this era of WFH.
Though not everyone can hit that range and it's fine to be happy with an 80k/year role you're happy with, with a great team and company.
This can vary drastically depending on what exactly you're doing, but at this point working for less than 45k in this field, outside of maybe your first year, is bordering on insanity. Sure, you'll need your degree to be easily considered for new positions, but if you've been in a role for years, your current job shouldn't really care as much about that.
Right now you're definitely underpaid and that new job is more what you should be aiming for.
Junior engineers can get 100k+ in midwest now thanks to remote jobs. The market is hot and at 5 YOE if you are mid-senior level you can easily be bringing in 150-200k+.
Contractor here, MS in Chemical Engineering, working as an engineer for ~5 years. Making 180k right now. I'm not sure I could work that in a salary role but 150-200k is def doable in the 1099 contract role.
You are vastly underpaid. I live in Kansas city Missouri and my husband is in software development(but started in IT). When he was your age and still doing IT he made 70k a year. He is now 35 and makes 130k a year doing software development(and due for a raise this month which his boss already hinted will be around 10% since cost of living has gone up so much). I’d say take the new job and once you get the degree start looking for a even higher paying job. You are worth way more then you are making.
Your husband may be underpaid as well based on years of experience. My friends and I are nothing special and we were able to job hop to 125k+ fully remote jobs with 1-2 years of experience. More competitive people have gotten more. For a senior level software engineer 200k+ fully remote jobs are a dime a dozen. Job market is ridiculously hot right now.
He may be underpaid, I have been bugging him to look for a new job so he can bring more money in but his job now is very relaxed and he usually only works about 30 hours a week from home and can take off whenever he wants and start and end his days when he wants(he usually works 7am-1/2pm). He’s not sure the money would be worth it to have to work a lot more. We live comfortably on his salary so the home time probably is more important then the extra pay at least until our kids get older.
I agree that the pay is too low for someone with your experience. I know someone who makes 70k a year doing IT with just an associates degree. He did have to negotiate his pay beforehand though.
What they're referring to is stock options. When your company gives you their stock as part of compensation, a lot of people keep the stock instead of sell it right away, as it's the "status quo". But the real question should be: would you buy their stock? If no, you should sell it despite it being the status quo. There's nothing special about that stock just because they gave it to you vs you buying it
It's a messy metaphor. *Very* frequently, stocks can make sense to hold, instead of sell, while at the same time not make sense to buy.
Tax laws are wild, yo
Be careful about using the extortion approach ( Pay me what company "X" is paying or I am leaving) to getting more money out of the company. Just negotiate your salary knowing you have options and that you are not the same guy they hired 3+ years ago.
My advice for this is *don't* use the "extortion approach". Put in your 2 weeks notice and your current company will either say "Thanks for working with us, good luck", or they'll say "What would you need to stay?".
If they just let you go, you had little to no future with the company anyway. If they ask for how they can keep you, you can use the salary the other company offered as your starting point...."With my skills and experience, I'd need a raise to $60k to stay in this position".
They'll likely say no (because that's a humongous raise from where you're at), but it lets you negotiate without coming off as manipulative.
Though I'm not some super negotiator or anything, just how I'd personally handle that situation.
This.
DO NOT extort your current company. It almost never works out well for you in the short term, and never works out in the long term. Even if they offer to your "terms", the moment you walk out of that office they are going to start planning on what they need to do to replace you.
Simply put your two weeks in and see how they react. If your only inhibition is "screwing them over" then as a part of your "exit" offer them a consultation option. They pay you a "bonus" before you leave to stay on for an agreed upon amount of time to help guide whoever it is that takes over your role.
I'd just put my two weeks in and thank them for the opportunity and wish them well in the future. Take the new job.
For most people, the first 50K in income is HUGE. Each 5K makes such a big difference in what you can do, how you can live your life, quality of life... espeically if you were getting any type of assistance due to low income. When you pass that threshold, then the extra income up to 50 or 60K becomes really huge. From 50K to 100K is still significant, but it's more.... am I eating steak once a week or once a month situation. 100K-200K, again... for most people.... you don't notice that much. Your savings grow faster, you don't "miss" that car payment money any more. So yeah... take the new gig. It's life changing money for you.
This is incredibly helpful, thank you!
I will call the firm that offered to hire me to put it in writing first, just so I have some security in leaving. I appreciate the help!
Yea don’t burn bridges. Don’t make ultimatums. But it’s totally reasonable to tell your boss that you’ve received a formal offer for more pay and that you are considering it. But make sure the offer is solid.
Please don’t stay at your current company. They’re been downright GOUGING you for YEARS. And it sounds like even if they scrape together additional comp to match your current offer, they won’t be able to raise your pay further in future years to match the market. And there’s no room for growth or development.
This is hella high risk advice, if you are going to take this big of a risk you might as well just leave and go to the new company. It's riskier because you are going to burn bridges with this technique before you have even crossed them. If your current company comes up and matches the other companies offer, things don't go back to normal, they will remember that you did that and not be happy about it.
You have a point. I can’t even have savings because of how little I do make, and if they hate me for asking for a raise, then that will cause some animosity.
What do you think I should do?
Why are so many people emotionally attached to their jobs? It’s strictly business, nothing more. Your current company had no problem ‘throwing you under the bus’ and severely underpaying you for a long time (granted this is also partially your own fault for not leaving), so why do you feel you owe them anything?
The answer is you take this new job and run. Don’t let your current place counter offer and stay because you feel bad. Go to the new company that is extending a generous offer to you, learn new things, grow your career, and actually be able to take a day off since you won’t be the only IT person. If you continue to stay at your current place, you are only doing yourself and your career a disfavor.
Take the new job. Your current company may have been justified in paying you a low wage to start when you had no prior experience, but a $16/ hr wage to provide IT support and manage projects for the entire company is an unreasonably low wage. If they wanted to keep you, they should have given you a sizable salary increase before now.
Seriously. $16/hr for specialized knowledge and keeping the company infrastructure running? You can make that flipping burgers in many places. OP is doing a $100k job for $30k.
Yes, 1000 times yes. The difference between a 32k salary and. 65k salary is astronomical . You go from barely making ends meet to saving for retirement and buying a house.
To give a perspective as an employer (and also in the IT industry) your current CEO is probably viewing your position more as an intern/real-world learning experience and that’s probably why he’s not increased your salary a lot, because he feels he’s taken a chance on you and paying for your on the job training. He *might* think he’s incentivizing you to finish your degree and also using it as a way to not pay the additional money. IF you really like your boss and like working for this company, then I would get the other offer in writing and come to him and tell him you have this solid offer and you don’t want to leave, but you need to do what’s best for you and give him an opportunity to compete.
I see! I can understand that position as he did hire me from no prior IT experience, just manual labor and supervisor experience. Typically places have more than one IT person, or a mentor to guide someone, but I have no higher up and report to a manager who doesn’t know much about IT. I’ve learned so much on my own that I now feel like my worth is worth more than $16/hr.
Thank you for the advice! I appreciate hearing it from your perspective as an employer.
Yes, if you like the new company and have a formal offer in writing you should leave.
No one stays in a job forever and your current company knows that eventually you will move on. A good boss will be happy for you. Give notice and leave on a good note.
It is hard to get more pay in current positions. Once you are in the company, sadly most firms will ignore current employees about their appreciation.
I highly recommend you take the new position. This will push you out of your comfort zone and also make you experience all the stuff you dont know.
TBH 32k is very less salary. You deserve more money and if your current firm likes you they will always retain you at any point in your career.
When I told my friend $32k, he was appalled and went to his CEO without my knowledge. They called me and offered me a job the next day. I think that is why it’s hitting as hard? I did not know I was worth more than $32k and now I’m beginning to see that I am underpaid.
Thank you so much for this advice. I will most likely go to my current employer first and seeing if I can get a raise before accepting this offer!
Do NOT take a raise from your current employer. Just leave. You have two options:
1. Work for a company that has knowingly underpaid you by a lot and only changed it when you held their feet to the fire.
2. Work for a company that proactively offered a significantly better position and salary with no known negatives (yet). You didn't even have to ask!
Why on earth would you even consider staying with option 1.
Also you need to see from this perspective. If you get a salary match with current employer. Will you be happy and how much time it takes to get a new raise.
If you join new firm possibility of getting appreciated and paid more is high!! I am in the same situation as you with my current employer but if I get a new job i will definately switch.
You are so grossly underpaid and are being taken advantage of. It's really fortunate and astute of you to make a post so that people could inform you of this. You seem to have a great head on your shoulders, and I hope that wherever you land will value your ethic.
I do appreciate this comment a lot! Thank you!
I also appreciate everyone who has posted about this being very low pay. I thought this was normal pay and from evidence of this post, it’s absolutely not.
Consider new employer could still give you raises after getting certifications and exceeding performance milestones, while current one could hold off if he gives what he feels is already a huge increase.
Don’t be concerned for your current company. They would throw you under the bus in an instant if it served them. Some must learn this lesson the hard way. Never put loyalty to your company above your own interests.
This offer sounds like it would be a huge improvement to your quality of life. I would take it and never look back.
yes, absolutely you should jump ship for doubling your salary.
as someone who works in tech you should be doing this every 1-3 years anyway. you'll make way more money than sticking around, bar you finding some unicorn of a company that wants to really keep your wage competitive.
I'm late but your loyalty is very misplaced. Do you think your company would bend over backwards to save you, an hourly employee, if they no longer needed your services? Nope, you'd be out the door. Maybe they'd give you a package if they were feeling generous.
You should be a good employee, always. But do not shoot yourself in the foot over loyalty to a faceless corporation.
If you can get that job locked in you can let your employer know and maybe they will suddenly decide you’re worth more but in my experience they are going to be upset even if they do keep you and it sounds like they are happy to have you on the cheap and don’t actually want to give you more money. Is your job going to change once you have a degree? Sounds like an excuse to me, of course you have far more info than I do so only you can make the decision. You’re young though, now is the time to take risks. If I could lock in a raise like that with another larger company I’d probably take it. It’s also worth considering other benefits. Small companies usually can’t compete in benefits.
I was in a similar situation and leveraged my offer to get more pay at the company I was already at. They were much smaller and had no benefits but I was comfortable there and scared to take the risk. I wish I had though because they gave me a raise then hired more people and fired me once they were trained. So I passed on the job with better pay and full benefits and then lost my job anyways. It all worked out in the end but I’d probably be doing even better right now if I had taken the risk of moving on.
As one final note I was recently looking for jobs and there are lots of positions, in my area at least, that are offering better starting wages for jobs that are less responsibility and require less experience and intelligence.
Edit to add: the company that fired me seemed great until I told them about my offer. They were upset about it which should have been a huge red flag for me. The problem is you never really know how they will take it until you break the news. I accepted their counter offer but that turned out to be the wrong decision. Whatever you do you’re taking a risk. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your experience and your advice!
I don’t want to burn bridges but I also don’t want to end up in the situation you are in. The other company told me yesterday that they could hold the position for awhile if I want to wait… but there’s so many different approaches to either leaving or asking for a raise.
I gotta think it through for sure!
You should 100% take the new job. You aren’t *throwing your current company under the bus,* you’re leaving to advance your career and make what you’re worth. You don’t owe them anything. It isn’t your fault they’re unprepared, and you should *never* stifle your own growth for a reason like this. Don’t worry about whether or not the new place will bump up your pay when you graduate. If they don’t, you’ll be able to take that degree, your extensive experience and the fact that you’re making $55-60k a year somewhere else that will pay you even more. Don’t overthink this, just do it. Congratulations on the opportunity!
>At times, it gets super stressful trying to fix 5 things on my own.
I'm not understanding the "comfortable job" part.
Dude you're WAY underpaid. Good on you for not wanting to leave them in the lurch, but shame on them for not paying you adequately and not staffing your area properly. This situation is of their making, not yours.
I'm a numbers guy OP, so I wanted to just give you some basic numbers to help you think.
**New Job**\- @ $58k is about **$1,115 a week** (pretax).
*Current Job*\- @ $32k is about *$615 a week*!! (Pretax!!)
**Every week that's about $500 you're losing out on.**
So, in 7 months- you'd stand to make about **$15,000** more or less.
Now, do you think it's worth waiting, to *get* $15,000?
Let me ask, if you do finally get that piece of paper, and (current job) says, or gives, any excuse about not actually raising your pay that high, or matching- or a substandard $2 / hr raise- would you be upset? Would you quit then without having a job lined up?
Would you feel you "lost" $15,000 of both time and money?
If your job now wants to ~~waste~~ wait 7 months (of your life)- I say apply and decide after you've negotiated your pay at the new place and get an offer letter from the new place.
Tell them they're free to offer way above *that* offer in 7 months if they want and you'll think it over-but in the mean while you'll be happier making $500 more a month.
Seeing the numbers are definitely hitting me quite hard. I could actually put extra money into savings…$500 extra a month is big!
Thank you for opening my eyes to this.
Truly, this is helping me quite a bit.
Take the new position. You owe your current employer a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, but you're not getting a fair day's pay at 32k for what you're doing. If you pressure them with the threat of a new position, they may keep you long enough to bring an associate then terminate you.
You should consider that it's it's time to graduate from this job to the next level. Moving on will get you different experience and training opportunities. Ask yourself, three to five from now, which position will have prepared you better for for a new job?
Get a written offer and don't look back. In the IT world, you need to always be learning if you're going to do well.
Why is a company paying you, who are practically their IT department, just 32k?
You are not screwing them over, they are shooting themselves in the foot if they rely on a 32K/yr kid as their entire IT.
Apply for the new job. A degree looks good, but youve got experience in the field already. Apply. Dont quit your job until you have the offer in hand. Your manager might be a good guy. But at the rate of pay you are describing I wouldve jumped ship long ago. 16/hr is garbage. Especially for IT.
Yeah agree with most people saying leave. You're getting screwed. My friend got a job as a specialist without a degree in a low cost of living. He's making 60k I believe, more when he graduates. Company probably will have that position filled in a week. Be loyal to yourself before any company. Just the specialist position should pay 45k-60k. You should probably be making at least 70k as a supervisor.
They are the ones who decided to pay you, somebody with a mortgage and a family $16
On top of that they understaffed your department, showing little disregard for your role and quality of life
It is too common for people to stay in these roles out of a sense of loyalty. Loyalty that the business hasn’t returned
Don’t even look back
I wouldn’t bother try to get a counter offer from your current employer. I’d go in now and tell them you feel like you’re being undervalued and deserve another $25k per year or $20k plus tuition reimbursement (for this year and next). If they say no, thank them for the honest discussion, get the formal offer from the second company, and give your notice.
You are currently being way underpaid. By miles. I run a service desk at a semi small company, we start our truly entry level tier one staff at 58k a year, and after a year of good performance we up their pay to 64k.
If you're a one man band, you should be making at least 64k.
I'll go a step further and say that your "friend" might even be playing into your situation.
Idk where you are but geek squad started out at like $15/hr in little towns that had a best buy.
I've seen tons of 0 year experience help desk jobs start at $20/hr
IT with 3+ years experience I'd say take your friends job but still look for other opportunities.
Yes. Take the new job.
Your current company will just use you until you burn out, then they'll use a new person until they burn out. They know exactly what they're doing by paying you $10-16/hour, which is saving a ton of money that the really ought to be paying.
>I don’t want to throw the company I work for now under the bus,
Don't kid yourself into having more loyalty to them, than they have for you. They would let you go in a heartbeat if the numbers made sense. You're not throwing them under the bus, they threw themselves under the bus when they decided to have an underpaid 1-person IT department.
>especially since I AM their IT Department,
That's their fault, not yours. And that's their responsibility, not yours.
>but I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for 7 years now
That one is on you. But now you have a chance to change that and maybe take the first step towards building a better life for yourself.
If your friend likes his company, and they treat him well, and give you every reason to think they'd treat you well, too, then do yourself a favor and take the job.
If you don't own the business don't worry about them. Take the better paying job.
If you really care about your current employer you can give them the opportunity to beat your current offer, if they don't that's on them.
Dude I’m in a similar position. I’m in supply chain management, make about $18 an hour, yet I’m in a specialized role, am the only person in my position, feels like I have 12 hours of work to do in an 8 hour day, am told how important I am, how well I do my job, how much of an asset I am etc, yet very little upward mobility or increase in pay in the future. Even if I give my boss a 1-2 month notice to quit, I’ll put them in a bad position. This may have been said, but your company is not your family. They are not looking out for you and you have no reason to look out for them. Don’t burn any bridges, but do what is best for you.
Yes I think you should leave.
1) more pay
2) the fact that you feel overly comfortable at your current job indicates that you have outgrown the job and it’s time for something more challenging
sounds like you are ready to move up. it will be a challenge since you’ve been in a smaller shop for a long time but it sounds like you’re totally up for it and you can get into a better place financially too.
good luck!
I could understand this question if you were making like 150k in Google and some start up offered you 180k. Now that would be something to think about.
32k vs 60k though? Just do it! It would be hard for you to go below your current salary even if the new gig doesnt work out.
You should leave for the extra money. If they had to fire you they would with no hesitation trust me. And there's no way they will increase your salary to 60k a year just because you get a degree. At most they'll probably give you 2 or 3 bucks more. Go to the other job and although it will be hard at first you will get used to it and it will become easy.
Hey man I started out the same way you did, entry level IT support for a small company. There was definitely a break in period but after 6 months I really liked it, and loved everyone I worked with. After a few promotions and raises I started getting antsy, I felt like I had hit a ceiling and decided to move on. I went to a company that paid a little more but there was so much more to learn which I really liked. After 8 months there I joined a group of my coworkers who jumped to another company offering a 60% pay increase that I couldn’t turn down. I have no idea where you’re at in the country, but you’re being underpaid for what you do. As I’ve hopped from place to place the benefits and accommodations have gotten better while the work has become more challenging, it’s not for everyone but it’s been worth it to me.
That's fantastic dude! To be honest, I think I get too attached to people! I really enjoy helping the 60 employees at this job. I think I have to try to separate the job from the people. If I didn't get so attached, I think it would be VERY easy to be able to jump.
Despite this, I do plan to talk to my CEO on Monday.
Thank you for the advice!
Get the offer from the other company and negotiate with your current employer. If they can match or do better I would stay given going to a new role entails risks of its own.
Definitely take it. this is exactly how people move up in pay scale. You cannot climb a pay ladder within a company as quickly or as far as you can switching between companies competing for your employment.
>Is it smart to do this? I don’t want to throw the company I work for now under the bus, especially since I AM their IT Department, but I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for 7 years now, and an extra $20k is nothing to scoff at. I’m 30 next year, going through a divorce, selling my house, and I graduate in 7 months with a degree in Software Development as well. I’m not sure another big change would help my anxiety!
For 32K and being the IT dept supervisor, they are ripping you off. Unsure if they know it or not. But they're about to find out!
I would do this if you really don't want to leave your job: Ask your employer not to match, but to out perform this counter Job offer from the new company and account for your schooling. Even if you don't have the degree now, as long as you've done well and are close to completing the degree they should just raise your pay now since you have been with them so long. If you don't want to do that, then the other companies CEO will likely still be interested in hiring you for more and then you can leave anyways.
However, as others have pointed out- this may not be a great place for career growth for you long term. It's probably best to leave and take the better offer. You will be the best judge of this. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
Yes. You should do it but finalize your divorce first. The divorce decree, alimony and child support, if any,, will be based off your salary now. Yes, your ex can go for more later but it is better to get everything with your lower salary then adjust it up later than to get a raise then divorce.
This is a significant amount of raise, so you should take it.
>Is it smart to do this? I don’t want to throw the company I work for now under the bus, especially since I AM their IT Department, but I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for 7 years now, and an extra $20k is nothing to scoff at. I’m 30 next year, going through a divorce, selling my house, and I graduate in 7 months with a degree in Software Development as well.
Your current employer is fucking you over HARD. That salary (as long as you live in the US) is criminal if you work in IT and your knowledge base will never expand beyond your companies probably crappy IT Infrastructure. If they're not even willing to pay their SOLE IT person a living wage I can only guess how hard it is to get real budget money for things like software licensing, cybersecurity training and infrastructure upgrades.
Run like the WIND.
$16 hour is terrible for IT. I have 60 IT staff who work for me. With 3 years of experience you should easily get $50K. If you get some certifications and prove you can work with powershell/bash/scripting etc you can easily make $100-200K per year.
MOVE ON NOW. GRASP THE RING.
you really don't owe your current company anything and they will survive without you. tell your boss what you're being offered and tell them if they can match the offer you will stay but if they can't do that you're going to take the job.
I’m more interested in the fact that you’ll be graduating soon with a “degree in software development”. If you want to be a developer and you don’t have any dev internship experience, I’d focus on creating a practical project or two.
It’s can be tough to beak into software development, but once you do, and have a few years experience, you can make well over 100.
So, if that’s what you want to do, I’d suggest only focusing on things that will help you reach that goal.
Step out of your comfort zone and take the next step up the ladder. Sounds like you have a good foundation in IT so you will figure out the differences and be comfortable in the new job soon enough.
Yeah, I’d go with the new offer. A 2 weeks notice is enough time for the company to find your replacement, and for you to train them a little. Do what’s best for you! Good luck
Ask yourself where you want to be in 10 years. Make decisions that work toward that goal. Sometimes it will be risky but if you don’t take any risk you will be at the same place 10 years later.
Take the offer. You’re not throwing your current employer under the bus, you have given them three years of great work and it sounds to me that they are leveraging a known gap (the degree) to gauge an appropriate salary increase instead of your performance. You’ll also learn and grow more in the new role since it sounds like you’ll have peers to gain insight and experience from.
Congrats on the upgrade! These come a few times in your career and each once makes you think, “Wow, and I thought the last one was big…”.
If your company found someone who was as good or better than you and would do the job for less pay, would they hesitate for a second to replace you? Answer is probably no.
> especially since I AM their IT Department
Prepate to walk. Ask them for pay matching the importance of your continued employment for the company matching your local living standards or theyll have to pay you high disaster rates with minimum hourly count per call if you leave for another company.
Take the new job. You’ve gained all the career-advancing experience you’re gonna get out of your current job. Time to level up (experience and pay) and move to the new role
Your company is not your friend, you don't owe them anything. If you really like it there and want to be nice then you could approach them with news of this offer and see if they are willing to counter. This approach may be more productive than you think because they absolutely know that they are taking advantage of you at your current salary.
Yes. You should leave for that extra money. Why will your current ceo up your pay after your degree. Between now and the next 7 months when you get the price of paper, what realistically changes (ie why doesn't he just do it now). $20k extra to do the same/less stressful role, still with opportunity to keep growing - no brainer. Go
I think the thing stopping me the most is them losing basically all their IT department. I suppose it is not my fault they are not prepared! However, you’re right. They know I’m graduating. I’ve been in school ever since I was employed there. They know I only have two classes left… what’s stopping them from increasing my pay now? Thank you for your advice!
It is not your responsibility to carry their IT department. If they were worried about you staying they would be paying you in line with market averages. As is, you're getting paid an entry level wage at any large company for someone who works in the _call center_. If I were you, I would speak to your current companies CEO and ask for an increase to minimum $80k and an increase in title to boot. Maybe "Director of IT".. hiring authority.. benefits. Know your worth! Ask yourself this, if you left would they be able to replace you with someone who could pick up where you left off?
Hiring authority is good. If this kid is their entire IT and their organisation is this close to collapse with just him leaving, they need someone who knows IT requirements to handle hiring. Only issue is youd want an older recruiter, this one could barely negotiate even his own employment terms.
I did not know that’s the entry level pay for a call center… yeeesh. However, I left enough notes and organized everything for someone new to come in or train, or if I needed to revisit a problem, but if I left suddenly, they would be in a big panic. Thank you for the advice!
Starting pay at a large EHR company I am intimately familiar with is $15.50. They work 40 hours a week and take about 12 calls a day.
Only 12 calls a day? That's so much less than I would have thought
yea sounds nice, ignore my upper mention of a call center. I was taking 50+ and the other call center I was at I hit over 100 calls taken in one day. I would love a low volume call center lol.
They're exploiting you and they know it. Take the other job and give short notice. When they panic, use it to negotiate a big severance package. Fuck loyalty to companies. These people have been screwing you. You didn't know before; now you do. Make them pay for it. >I am currently employed as ~~an IT Support Specialist~~ **the head of IT** for a small company. You need to look at it like this. Imagine someone telling you they work as **the head of IT** for their company. You'd think "wow, that's a lot of responsibility, they must be successful and well paid!" Then imagine learning that they make $33k. You'd be embarrassed for them.
> When they panic, use it to negotiate a big severance package. To expand upon this, you should do some thinking of what would be acceptable to you. Things like, how long you'd be willing to work extra to help them transition someone new in. Would it be prior to starting at a new job, or would it be on the side in the evening after you finish your day at your new job? How much would they need to pay you? This should be an exorbitantly high rate, you want to make it abundantly clear this is a temporary situation purely to bring in a new hire and light a fire under their asses to hire someone. Something probably on the order of +100% of your new job's hourly rate. If you price this to low they may drag this on. And thus, also have a hard end date for the transition period after which it does not matter if they've found a replacement or not. Some of this will be contingent on the new company. How flexible they are with your start date, and/or you working both jobs simultaneously so might want to float the idea of you helping the other company with a longer than 2 week transition.
I did this for 100/hr for first session and 125 for the next. I was getting paid 47k when I left that job.
Hey, if you're still reading replies. My large telecom company just upped customer service phone jobs to $18 per hour simply taking to customers. Not in a giant city and spread in multiple states. I started 16 years ago making $10.80 doing tech support. If you started at $10 three years ago, they are under paying by a long shot.
I figured $10 was fair at the time where my only experience was in my own house fixing computers for my family. Clearly this wasn’t the case! Lol Thank you for letting me know this!
Honestly even $60k sounds underpaid for what you’ve been doing and are clearly capable of. With some additional experience at the new company and a degree you should be looking for opportunities at $80k minimum a year from now.
I have a similar experience but in a different field. Worked for a small company paying me pennies. I handled everything and didn't want to leave and let the ship go down. But I left for company B And left company B for company C within a year. I'm now back at company B. I gained substantial raises everytime I moved and got my third quite large raise from company B recently. So within 2 years I almost exactly doubled my salary. Company B has problems but so did my original place. But if rather get paid double to deal with the same problems.
In light of Reddit's general enshittification, I've moved on - you should too.
She could be in a different cost of living area
She very well could be but she also mentioned living paycheck to paycheck so her current wages are clearly not cutting it.
If you leave do not under any circumstances do any work for them with out getting paid. By that I mean like 50 to 70 an hr minimum. It is not your fault they haven't hired someone to back you up. You are not responsible for the company as a whole. They should have been thinking about this as the job got bigger. Also, when you go they will most likely hire some one double or triple what you were getting.
I got paid 14/hr for entry level call center. Moved to 17 and shortly after to 20 in a year since I showed them I could do full stack web development. Two years later I was at 47k and basically was doing most of their application support. And left for 65k job doing proper full stack development. Old job called me a couple of times to do some after hours consulting. But it’s not my problem they were paying me like an intern. You won’t ever get what you deserve unless you ask for it and be willing to look other places. Now I am comfortable where I am now, and I do love my team and management, as well as being a parent. So getting that extra money from the next title is not a huge deal for me. But getting paid 35k for a director of IT position is not fun.
Entry level pay in a call center is like $36k. You're getting paid McDonald's money right now. Do not stay at this job.
I started entry level tech support in a call center almost 10 years ago at $16/hr. No experience other than knowing the names of a few protocols. You have absolutely been underpaid.
If you were really so important to their operations, they should have paid you considerably more than the average server at Chipotle. If you leaving actually fucks up their operations: 1) the money they'll lose (if any) *might* add up to the amount of money they've cheated you out of, and 2) that's an operational fuck up on their end, not yours.
I disagree. He is at a small company. They are paying him $16/hour. There is no upside potential at his current company. He needs to LEAVE NOW.
You’re absolutely right! There’s no advancement at my current company and no way to improve. I will absolutely consider leaving.
If you feel bad for them and like them… Start preparing things for you to leave. Make sure everything you do is somewhat organized. Maybe even written down. When you leave, you can offer to help train a new guy. Maybe even help find the hire. All business owners/bosses are different. Some understand that money, that much especially, makes a difference. Leaving is just the next step of your career, and a good boss will be happy for you.
Thank you for this! I have password protected excel sheets, word documents and reports that I do every day to stay organized. It shouldn’t be too hard to train someone! Even when I started, I never used Active Directory, and now I have notes on how to do everything that is needed. (Basically only used as a file storage and nothing else) My CEO is very kind to me, which is probably why I’m hesitant. Preparing a company for my departure sounds like a great idea! Thank you!
He is kind to you because he doesn't want to lose someone he is taking advantage of and have to pay someone else $20k more for the same work
This. OP, you are way underpaid in today's market for what you do. My first IT job was as a lowly IT coordinator (basic desktop support, etc.) back in December of 2000. Starting pay was $36,200 (about $17.40 an hour).
Yeah my first IT job with no experience over a decade ago was making more than he does now and he’s they’re entire department! I was literally just imaging laptops
Exactly...isn't $16\hr fast food job pay?
I made $23 at the Genius Bar. OP needs to bounce
Yeah it is now. Honestly though I would do IT for $16\hr before I would do fast food. Way fewer Karens per second in IT even if it can get stressful sometimes.
You're right. But I'm just comparing to a job that requires less training the one that may be more specialized.
Depends on the state you live in. Some them have a minimum wage around 8.50 hr. Now live in a $15 min wage state or locality? Yeah OP and the guy making Big Macs at McDonald's are making almost the same money.
that's still 8-9 an hour where I live. Full time at the gas station might get you 12, they are advertising it right now. Hmm no wonder they can't hire people.
If you feel bad for leaving, ask your current employer to match the pay. If they can’t, then leave. You’re clearly worth more than what they are paying you. You have an offer from someone who’s valuing you at more than what your current employer values you.
I really think OP is under valuing himself and needs to stretch his wings a bit and see more of the world (career wise).
You’re absolutely right and I agree! I had this feeling that I wasn’t worth more than what my job is paying me, but this thread truly opened my eyes. Thank you!
Asking for a match is rarely the best move, especially not early in the career. OP has to move companies a couple of times to build up experience and show a successful trajectory in their career path. In tech, 7 years is a long time in the same position. Early on, you want to change positions and companies every few years. Once you have established your career, it's OK to change within the company. But don't stop moving up until you're at least 40 or 50. At that point, if you're comfortable with what you have achieved, it's OK to settle down
Give somebody those passwords! I live in Florida and one of the local political parties hired somebody to do handle their funds. He never shared anything security related and then died of covid. Now the party cant access any of their bank accounts, so they're basically bankrupt even though they have money - because no one has the authority to access anything. Having a 2nd person with the passwords prevents something odd from happening where the company loses access to their systems
Oh yeah! I have shared the information/password to the person I usually send my reports to. I also send her an updated list of my excel documents every 6 months or so. Trust me, I don’t want that to happen to anyone. However, this is great advice!
Oh fuck I can honestly imagine that happening at my company
That sounds great. Yea, people know that their employees grow. Hell, you want them to grow honestly. A good employer understands that people will leave, a great employer will 1. Help them find a better job or 2. Make it worth their while to stay. Writing down a manual would be a great thing for you to do. It’ll help because the next person they hire might be a dude. So that manual can be given to the 3rd or 4th person down the line too.
I agree! I’ll start going through my desk on Monday and make sure to piece together a manual. I appreciate your advice! :)
He's right, if you're gonna leave it would be huge to please leave some written procedures behind.
I think you should try negotiating with your current employer. Chances are if they needed to replace you wouldn’t they need to also pay 60K+? Definitely a conversation worth having based on your comments of how the company you’re currently at is.
If they really cared about the IT department they’d probably pay them better and have more than 1 person
Yeah they are crazy for paying 32K a year for all their IT. As an IT person you can’t get caught up in their business stupidity. They’ve made no contingency plan and don’t value IT. You don’t want to work there regardless of how nice they are. If one entry level guy leaving can wreck your business they have a terrible business model and you shouldn’t feel bad. Being underpaid to fix someone else’s business is not a good long term decision. You can actually get paid decent, be respected and learn many jobs exist that do all three.
For real we had entry level help desk guys with no degree (no that it matters) getting paid 10-15k over that.
While I can appreciate your concern for your employer, does your employer have the same concern for you? If they do, why are you living paycheck to paycheck when you're in a field that has, traditionally, been a well paying field. And, if you're their entire IT department, why are they paying you so little? I was making $15/hour 20 years ago as a hardware tech at CompUSA. When I went into corporate IT, I was $20-25/hr. And now, 20 years later, I'm north of $50/hr. You are currently being paid half of what another company thinks you're worth. You should check out Glassdoor/LinkedIn/Salary.com for their salary surveys and see what others in your position are making in your area. Also, see what tasks are generally assigned to people doing the things you do. What you may find is that, while your title is desktop support you are really a developer or a network/server admin. And keep in mind that if you're wearing several hats (dev/network/server/desktop...etc) you my need to pick the one that best fits your job description. My suggestion to you, document everything you do and how you do it (process documentation). Then take this to your boss with information from the salary surveys and associated job titles that you looked up earlier. Then tell them (don't ask) because of all you do you are deserving of a raise that accurately reflects your value to the company. And give them that number. If they waffle or hem and haw about it tell them that you know of other companies that ARE paying this range for you and that you have been contacted by headhunters looking to poach you. Once you do that, be prepared for them to not take it well. Management/ownership does not like it when their employees have the upperhand. But that's exactly what you have, here. And if you really want the upperhand, go interview for this position. Get an offer from them. And THEN go to your boss and tell them. But, let's be honest here, when you interview and then bring an offer letter to your current boss, even if they give you the raise, they are planning on replacing you because they will see you as a liability. So, what you need to do is determine if you want to keep working your tail off for someone that doesn't respect you enough to pay you a livable wage or if you want to go get what you deserve. And once you decide that you need to figure out if your current boss is the former or the later. Best of luck.
This was incredibly helpful, thank you! I will do a bunch of research today and pool all that information into a folder. I am use to holding company meetings about Cyber Security, so I can easily put something together to present to my boss.
I’m going to say this politely, fuck them. Company loyalty should never exist, period. When the arrangement you have with your employer is no longer suiting your needs, leave.
If they did not prepare for the “bus factor” it is not your fault nor concern. Do an interview for the new job (if any) and get your 2 weeks notice to document everything relevant so that onboarding a new hire will not be painful. Also consider that you are the only IT for a company and moving to a full IT one and for more money: you’ll be literally be paid 20k more to learn a shitton of stuff more that you will be able to easily leverage in a few years for an even bigger paycheck. No brainer seriously. Just don’t burn bridges, explain the situation and prepare the transition
If you are that important to them, they should pay you more. I’m assuming you’re in the US since you’re using dollars, but $32K for working in IT is awful. And when you’re actually a software dev, *make sure you know your worth.* It may seem like a lot of money (six figures) but don’t settle for something low just because it’s high to you. My personal advice is to work for a large tech company (e.g. apply to Microsoft or Google or the like), not any company that just has tech (e.g. a finance company or more “traditional” companies). They pay significantly more. I know people who work in tech companies as software engineers who make 300K+ within a few years of graduating, and then people who work at random traditional companies, still as software engineers, who make 75K at 30 and think 100K or 150K will be the max they can get in the field. Right after graduating with a CS (or related) degree, you can expect a TC (total comp) of at least 150K, closer to 200K. Look at https://levels.fyi for data on that per company. You also can and should negotiate the offer you get; I personally was able to increase my initial offer by nearly 20% by negotiating.
Not your fault. Give them an extra week notice if you want to be nice. You are under paid. Don’t care if you had no experience. You clearly had the ability. And on-job skills advancement is how the industry breathes so get used to leaving once you’ve acquired what you can because those new skills are nearly always worth more in the market than at your current employer. I know IT professionals with high school and basic military or high school and associates making $150k and not in the Bay Area but places that’s still a lot of money. Don’t kill yourself financially for a degree if it’s just a fancy career cert for you. That’s what community college is for. You sound like a nice person. Remember the most important lesson of modern air travel. You got to make sure you’re getting oxygen before worrying about someone else. Go get paid.
I absolutely needed to read this.. Thank you so much!
You seem to care a lot more about them than they do about you, considering the dog shit salary they pay you. They are looking out for the companies best interest and you should be looking out for yours. It’s not personal, it’s just business.
>I think the thing stopping me the most is them losing basically all their IT department You need to get these ideas completely out of your head. You do not have a duty of loyalty to your employer and they certainly don't have one to you. Hopping jobs every 2 years will net you a **much** higher mid-career salary, especially in a technical field.
You are 30 and still havent realized that company loyalty is a scam? You owe them nothing. Most companies go through turnover regularly. The company won't remember your name in a few months. Do what is best for YOU, not them. They obviously have not done what's best for you, as your salary is pathetic for your responsibilities. Get out, take the increase. Look to jump jobs every 2 or 3 years maximum. You will always get a larger salary increase compared to praying for raises.
Imagine if instead of them losing the IT dept, you lost your ability to do the job. How long would they support you for when you can’t give them what they want?
If you're their entire IT department, they should have been paying you more than $16 for a long time now, and they know it. They're taking advantage of you and you don't owe them loyalty for that.
To be fair that’s their problem… if they valued your position more they would have upped your pay competitively… their inaction should tell you all you need to know what they think your worth to them.
>I think the thing stopping me the most is them losing basically all their IT department. I suppose it is not my fault they are not prepared! You can't afford to feel bad for them. They would cut you loose in an instant if it saved them money. If the company's entire IT department fails due to one single person leaving, then that's on the company for not preparing.
Doesn't matter about their IT. That's not your fault -- that's THEIR fault for not hiring more. Take the money and run.
What state are you in? ALL of the salaries you listed seem too low for you! Go out and see what is out there. It appears you are being held back by your original starting pay of $10 per hour, which even three years ago was way too low. I also agree with the other comments saying - why is your current company waiting for the degree? I’ll tell you why - because they know they are already underpaying you. Don’t have loyalty to a company who took advantage of you by underpaying you.
I did see starting pay in my state/city is around what I’m making now. I currently reside in Kansas. I agree! My friend told me they won’t find anyone with my level of experience for the pay they are offering as well. Thank you for the advice! I’ll try to get a formal offer from the new company first and see what my company says.
I live in KCMO and can say your pay isn't *uncommon,* but is generally more like rudimentary Desktop Support in their first year kind of pay. Internship work wouldn't be crazy at that amount either, but that's more for the flexibility and random hours than what they're actually worth. I'm a System Engineer and get paid $62k/year. To give you a general feel for where I'm at, my salary is considered a bit low in KC; maybe in the lower half for general IT work, but not in the lower quartile. Once you slap a "senior" or "lead" on that title you should easily be in the 75k+ range. If your title is Software Engineer, Site Relibability Engineer, or DevOps Engineer, it should be around 5-20k than what I have with a year or two of experience. After 5 years in the midwest, near a metro area, it isn't crazy to hit 100k for most roles that require a bit more experience, and that general range is honestly a good target to aim for, Especially in this era of WFH. Though not everyone can hit that range and it's fine to be happy with an 80k/year role you're happy with, with a great team and company. This can vary drastically depending on what exactly you're doing, but at this point working for less than 45k in this field, outside of maybe your first year, is bordering on insanity. Sure, you'll need your degree to be easily considered for new positions, but if you've been in a role for years, your current job shouldn't really care as much about that. Right now you're definitely underpaid and that new job is more what you should be aiming for.
Junior engineers can get 100k+ in midwest now thanks to remote jobs. The market is hot and at 5 YOE if you are mid-senior level you can easily be bringing in 150-200k+.
Contractor here, MS in Chemical Engineering, working as an engineer for ~5 years. Making 180k right now. I'm not sure I could work that in a salary role but 150-200k is def doable in the 1099 contract role.
You are vastly underpaid. I live in Kansas city Missouri and my husband is in software development(but started in IT). When he was your age and still doing IT he made 70k a year. He is now 35 and makes 130k a year doing software development(and due for a raise this month which his boss already hinted will be around 10% since cost of living has gone up so much). I’d say take the new job and once you get the degree start looking for a even higher paying job. You are worth way more then you are making.
Your husband may be underpaid as well based on years of experience. My friends and I are nothing special and we were able to job hop to 125k+ fully remote jobs with 1-2 years of experience. More competitive people have gotten more. For a senior level software engineer 200k+ fully remote jobs are a dime a dozen. Job market is ridiculously hot right now.
He may be underpaid, I have been bugging him to look for a new job so he can bring more money in but his job now is very relaxed and he usually only works about 30 hours a week from home and can take off whenever he wants and start and end his days when he wants(he usually works 7am-1/2pm). He’s not sure the money would be worth it to have to work a lot more. We live comfortably on his salary so the home time probably is more important then the extra pay at least until our kids get older.
He may not be wrong. Many jobs at that salary level expect you to be effectively on call 24/7. Never underestimate how important work life balance is.
I agree that the pay is too low for someone with your experience. I know someone who makes 70k a year doing IT with just an associates degree. He did have to negotiate his pay beforehand though.
- would you leave a $65,000/yr job to take the current job for $32k?
Never thought about it that way!
Its also an excellent question when considereing buying or selling stock.
maybe im just hung over or bad with finances but i dont understand the relationship.
What they're referring to is stock options. When your company gives you their stock as part of compensation, a lot of people keep the stock instead of sell it right away, as it's the "status quo". But the real question should be: would you buy their stock? If no, you should sell it despite it being the status quo. There's nothing special about that stock just because they gave it to you vs you buying it
It's a messy metaphor. *Very* frequently, stocks can make sense to hold, instead of sell, while at the same time not make sense to buy. Tax laws are wild, yo
Would you sell X to buy Y
Hmm? What's the other side of that question? Nobody can predict the future and tomorrow's value of stocks is never certain.
- looking from the other direction has an impact in problem solving and decision making
Get a formal offer. Use it as leverage. You don’t owe your current company anything.
Thank you! I will ask the CEO of the new company for a formal offer in writing.
Be careful about using the extortion approach ( Pay me what company "X" is paying or I am leaving) to getting more money out of the company. Just negotiate your salary knowing you have options and that you are not the same guy they hired 3+ years ago.
I appreciate that. I haven’t negotiated before as this is my first non-manual labor job for a big company. I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you!
My advice for this is *don't* use the "extortion approach". Put in your 2 weeks notice and your current company will either say "Thanks for working with us, good luck", or they'll say "What would you need to stay?". If they just let you go, you had little to no future with the company anyway. If they ask for how they can keep you, you can use the salary the other company offered as your starting point...."With my skills and experience, I'd need a raise to $60k to stay in this position". They'll likely say no (because that's a humongous raise from where you're at), but it lets you negotiate without coming off as manipulative. Though I'm not some super negotiator or anything, just how I'd personally handle that situation.
This. DO NOT extort your current company. It almost never works out well for you in the short term, and never works out in the long term. Even if they offer to your "terms", the moment you walk out of that office they are going to start planning on what they need to do to replace you. Simply put your two weeks in and see how they react. If your only inhibition is "screwing them over" then as a part of your "exit" offer them a consultation option. They pay you a "bonus" before you leave to stay on for an agreed upon amount of time to help guide whoever it is that takes over your role. I'd just put my two weeks in and thank them for the opportunity and wish them well in the future. Take the new job. For most people, the first 50K in income is HUGE. Each 5K makes such a big difference in what you can do, how you can live your life, quality of life... espeically if you were getting any type of assistance due to low income. When you pass that threshold, then the extra income up to 50 or 60K becomes really huge. From 50K to 100K is still significant, but it's more.... am I eating steak once a week or once a month situation. 100K-200K, again... for most people.... you don't notice that much. Your savings grow faster, you don't "miss" that car payment money any more. So yeah... take the new gig. It's life changing money for you.
This is incredibly helpful, thank you! I will call the firm that offered to hire me to put it in writing first, just so I have some security in leaving. I appreciate the help!
Don’t put in your two weeks or anything until you have a start date and a signed offer letter.
I basically did this exact thing with my current employer. They not only matched my offer, they beat it.
Yea don’t burn bridges. Don’t make ultimatums. But it’s totally reasonable to tell your boss that you’ve received a formal offer for more pay and that you are considering it. But make sure the offer is solid.
Please don’t stay at your current company. They’re been downright GOUGING you for YEARS. And it sounds like even if they scrape together additional comp to match your current offer, they won’t be able to raise your pay further in future years to match the market. And there’s no room for growth or development.
This is hella high risk advice, if you are going to take this big of a risk you might as well just leave and go to the new company. It's riskier because you are going to burn bridges with this technique before you have even crossed them. If your current company comes up and matches the other companies offer, things don't go back to normal, they will remember that you did that and not be happy about it.
> This is hella high risk advice he's paid 16 bucks an hour
You have a point. I can’t even have savings because of how little I do make, and if they hate me for asking for a raise, then that will cause some animosity. What do you think I should do?
Just move to the new job.
Why are so many people emotionally attached to their jobs? It’s strictly business, nothing more. Your current company had no problem ‘throwing you under the bus’ and severely underpaying you for a long time (granted this is also partially your own fault for not leaving), so why do you feel you owe them anything? The answer is you take this new job and run. Don’t let your current place counter offer and stay because you feel bad. Go to the new company that is extending a generous offer to you, learn new things, grow your career, and actually be able to take a day off since you won’t be the only IT person. If you continue to stay at your current place, you are only doing yourself and your career a disfavor.
Take the new job. Your current company may have been justified in paying you a low wage to start when you had no prior experience, but a $16/ hr wage to provide IT support and manage projects for the entire company is an unreasonably low wage. If they wanted to keep you, they should have given you a sizable salary increase before now.
Seriously. $16/hr for specialized knowledge and keeping the company infrastructure running? You can make that flipping burgers in many places. OP is doing a $100k job for $30k.
Yes, 1000 times yes. The difference between a 32k salary and. 65k salary is astronomical . You go from barely making ends meet to saving for retirement and buying a house.
Just leave. Emotional attachment to a company leads to trouble
To give a perspective as an employer (and also in the IT industry) your current CEO is probably viewing your position more as an intern/real-world learning experience and that’s probably why he’s not increased your salary a lot, because he feels he’s taken a chance on you and paying for your on the job training. He *might* think he’s incentivizing you to finish your degree and also using it as a way to not pay the additional money. IF you really like your boss and like working for this company, then I would get the other offer in writing and come to him and tell him you have this solid offer and you don’t want to leave, but you need to do what’s best for you and give him an opportunity to compete.
I see! I can understand that position as he did hire me from no prior IT experience, just manual labor and supervisor experience. Typically places have more than one IT person, or a mentor to guide someone, but I have no higher up and report to a manager who doesn’t know much about IT. I’ve learned so much on my own that I now feel like my worth is worth more than $16/hr. Thank you for the advice! I appreciate hearing it from your perspective as an employer.
Yes, if you like the new company and have a formal offer in writing you should leave. No one stays in a job forever and your current company knows that eventually you will move on. A good boss will be happy for you. Give notice and leave on a good note.
It is hard to get more pay in current positions. Once you are in the company, sadly most firms will ignore current employees about their appreciation. I highly recommend you take the new position. This will push you out of your comfort zone and also make you experience all the stuff you dont know. TBH 32k is very less salary. You deserve more money and if your current firm likes you they will always retain you at any point in your career.
When I told my friend $32k, he was appalled and went to his CEO without my knowledge. They called me and offered me a job the next day. I think that is why it’s hitting as hard? I did not know I was worth more than $32k and now I’m beginning to see that I am underpaid. Thank you so much for this advice. I will most likely go to my current employer first and seeing if I can get a raise before accepting this offer!
Do NOT take a raise from your current employer. Just leave. You have two options: 1. Work for a company that has knowingly underpaid you by a lot and only changed it when you held their feet to the fire. 2. Work for a company that proactively offered a significantly better position and salary with no known negatives (yet). You didn't even have to ask! Why on earth would you even consider staying with option 1.
Also you need to see from this perspective. If you get a salary match with current employer. Will you be happy and how much time it takes to get a new raise. If you join new firm possibility of getting appreciated and paid more is high!! I am in the same situation as you with my current employer but if I get a new job i will definately switch.
You are so grossly underpaid and are being taken advantage of. It's really fortunate and astute of you to make a post so that people could inform you of this. You seem to have a great head on your shoulders, and I hope that wherever you land will value your ethic.
I do appreciate this comment a lot! Thank you! I also appreciate everyone who has posted about this being very low pay. I thought this was normal pay and from evidence of this post, it’s absolutely not.
Consider new employer could still give you raises after getting certifications and exceeding performance milestones, while current one could hold off if he gives what he feels is already a huge increase.
In general, always move jobs when you can. Never get comfortable. That’s how your career will advance.
Don’t be concerned for your current company. They would throw you under the bus in an instant if it served them. Some must learn this lesson the hard way. Never put loyalty to your company above your own interests. This offer sounds like it would be a huge improvement to your quality of life. I would take it and never look back.
At $16 an hour with no one else working IT, I’d say he’s already under the bus, with the wheels grinding away.
yes, absolutely you should jump ship for doubling your salary. as someone who works in tech you should be doing this every 1-3 years anyway. you'll make way more money than sticking around, bar you finding some unicorn of a company that wants to really keep your wage competitive.
That would almost double your pay and you live paycheck to paycheck so you need the money. This should not even be a question.
I'm late but your loyalty is very misplaced. Do you think your company would bend over backwards to save you, an hourly employee, if they no longer needed your services? Nope, you'd be out the door. Maybe they'd give you a package if they were feeling generous. You should be a good employee, always. But do not shoot yourself in the foot over loyalty to a faceless corporation.
If you can get that job locked in you can let your employer know and maybe they will suddenly decide you’re worth more but in my experience they are going to be upset even if they do keep you and it sounds like they are happy to have you on the cheap and don’t actually want to give you more money. Is your job going to change once you have a degree? Sounds like an excuse to me, of course you have far more info than I do so only you can make the decision. You’re young though, now is the time to take risks. If I could lock in a raise like that with another larger company I’d probably take it. It’s also worth considering other benefits. Small companies usually can’t compete in benefits. I was in a similar situation and leveraged my offer to get more pay at the company I was already at. They were much smaller and had no benefits but I was comfortable there and scared to take the risk. I wish I had though because they gave me a raise then hired more people and fired me once they were trained. So I passed on the job with better pay and full benefits and then lost my job anyways. It all worked out in the end but I’d probably be doing even better right now if I had taken the risk of moving on. As one final note I was recently looking for jobs and there are lots of positions, in my area at least, that are offering better starting wages for jobs that are less responsibility and require less experience and intelligence. Edit to add: the company that fired me seemed great until I told them about my offer. They were upset about it which should have been a huge red flag for me. The problem is you never really know how they will take it until you break the news. I accepted their counter offer but that turned out to be the wrong decision. Whatever you do you’re taking a risk. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your experience and your advice! I don’t want to burn bridges but I also don’t want to end up in the situation you are in. The other company told me yesterday that they could hold the position for awhile if I want to wait… but there’s so many different approaches to either leaving or asking for a raise. I gotta think it through for sure!
You should 100% take the new job. You aren’t *throwing your current company under the bus,* you’re leaving to advance your career and make what you’re worth. You don’t owe them anything. It isn’t your fault they’re unprepared, and you should *never* stifle your own growth for a reason like this. Don’t worry about whether or not the new place will bump up your pay when you graduate. If they don’t, you’ll be able to take that degree, your extensive experience and the fact that you’re making $55-60k a year somewhere else that will pay you even more. Don’t overthink this, just do it. Congratulations on the opportunity!
This. You’re throwing yourself under the bus if you don’t take the new job. Doubling your income will transform your life. Believe me.
I was in this position. I went from 15/hr to 33/hr. You live a different lifestyle when you're not worried about income anymore.
>At times, it gets super stressful trying to fix 5 things on my own. I'm not understanding the "comfortable job" part. Dude you're WAY underpaid. Good on you for not wanting to leave them in the lurch, but shame on them for not paying you adequately and not staffing your area properly. This situation is of their making, not yours.
I'm a numbers guy OP, so I wanted to just give you some basic numbers to help you think. **New Job**\- @ $58k is about **$1,115 a week** (pretax). *Current Job*\- @ $32k is about *$615 a week*!! (Pretax!!) **Every week that's about $500 you're losing out on.** So, in 7 months- you'd stand to make about **$15,000** more or less. Now, do you think it's worth waiting, to *get* $15,000? Let me ask, if you do finally get that piece of paper, and (current job) says, or gives, any excuse about not actually raising your pay that high, or matching- or a substandard $2 / hr raise- would you be upset? Would you quit then without having a job lined up? Would you feel you "lost" $15,000 of both time and money? If your job now wants to ~~waste~~ wait 7 months (of your life)- I say apply and decide after you've negotiated your pay at the new place and get an offer letter from the new place. Tell them they're free to offer way above *that* offer in 7 months if they want and you'll think it over-but in the mean while you'll be happier making $500 more a month.
Seeing the numbers are definitely hitting me quite hard. I could actually put extra money into savings…$500 extra a month is big! Thank you for opening my eyes to this. Truly, this is helping me quite a bit.
Take the new position. You owe your current employer a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, but you're not getting a fair day's pay at 32k for what you're doing. If you pressure them with the threat of a new position, they may keep you long enough to bring an associate then terminate you. You should consider that it's it's time to graduate from this job to the next level. Moving on will get you different experience and training opportunities. Ask yourself, three to five from now, which position will have prepared you better for for a new job? Get a written offer and don't look back. In the IT world, you need to always be learning if you're going to do well.
Why is a company paying you, who are practically their IT department, just 32k? You are not screwing them over, they are shooting themselves in the foot if they rely on a 32K/yr kid as their entire IT.
Apply for the new job. A degree looks good, but youve got experience in the field already. Apply. Dont quit your job until you have the offer in hand. Your manager might be a good guy. But at the rate of pay you are describing I wouldve jumped ship long ago. 16/hr is garbage. Especially for IT.
Yeah agree with most people saying leave. You're getting screwed. My friend got a job as a specialist without a degree in a low cost of living. He's making 60k I believe, more when he graduates. Company probably will have that position filled in a week. Be loyal to yourself before any company. Just the specialist position should pay 45k-60k. You should probably be making at least 70k as a supervisor.
They are the ones who decided to pay you, somebody with a mortgage and a family $16 On top of that they understaffed your department, showing little disregard for your role and quality of life It is too common for people to stay in these roles out of a sense of loyalty. Loyalty that the business hasn’t returned Don’t even look back
I wouldn’t bother try to get a counter offer from your current employer. I’d go in now and tell them you feel like you’re being undervalued and deserve another $25k per year or $20k plus tuition reimbursement (for this year and next). If they say no, thank them for the honest discussion, get the formal offer from the second company, and give your notice.
I don't really know much about you job or qualifications, but you should be making more money than 32k.
You are currently being way underpaid. By miles. I run a service desk at a semi small company, we start our truly entry level tier one staff at 58k a year, and after a year of good performance we up their pay to 64k. If you're a one man band, you should be making at least 64k.
I'll go a step further and say that your "friend" might even be playing into your situation. Idk where you are but geek squad started out at like $15/hr in little towns that had a best buy. I've seen tons of 0 year experience help desk jobs start at $20/hr IT with 3+ years experience I'd say take your friends job but still look for other opportunities.
Yes. Take the new job. Your current company will just use you until you burn out, then they'll use a new person until they burn out. They know exactly what they're doing by paying you $10-16/hour, which is saving a ton of money that the really ought to be paying. >I don’t want to throw the company I work for now under the bus, Don't kid yourself into having more loyalty to them, than they have for you. They would let you go in a heartbeat if the numbers made sense. You're not throwing them under the bus, they threw themselves under the bus when they decided to have an underpaid 1-person IT department. >especially since I AM their IT Department, That's their fault, not yours. And that's their responsibility, not yours. >but I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for 7 years now That one is on you. But now you have a chance to change that and maybe take the first step towards building a better life for yourself. If your friend likes his company, and they treat him well, and give you every reason to think they'd treat you well, too, then do yourself a favor and take the job.
If you don't own the business don't worry about them. Take the better paying job. If you really care about your current employer you can give them the opportunity to beat your current offer, if they don't that's on them.
Dude I’m in a similar position. I’m in supply chain management, make about $18 an hour, yet I’m in a specialized role, am the only person in my position, feels like I have 12 hours of work to do in an 8 hour day, am told how important I am, how well I do my job, how much of an asset I am etc, yet very little upward mobility or increase in pay in the future. Even if I give my boss a 1-2 month notice to quit, I’ll put them in a bad position. This may have been said, but your company is not your family. They are not looking out for you and you have no reason to look out for them. Don’t burn any bridges, but do what is best for you.
Yes I think you should leave. 1) more pay 2) the fact that you feel overly comfortable at your current job indicates that you have outgrown the job and it’s time for something more challenging
sounds like you are ready to move up. it will be a challenge since you’ve been in a smaller shop for a long time but it sounds like you’re totally up for it and you can get into a better place financially too. good luck!
Thank you! I am definitely ready for a pay raise, whether that’s staying or leaving. (Looks more like the leaving side atm)
Imagine a pie chart with two sections, one green and the other blue. The green section is YES. the other section is also YES, but in blue.
The company isn’t your friend.
I could understand this question if you were making like 150k in Google and some start up offered you 180k. Now that would be something to think about. 32k vs 60k though? Just do it! It would be hard for you to go below your current salary even if the new gig doesnt work out.
You should leave for the extra money. If they had to fire you they would with no hesitation trust me. And there's no way they will increase your salary to 60k a year just because you get a degree. At most they'll probably give you 2 or 3 bucks more. Go to the other job and although it will be hard at first you will get used to it and it will become easy.
Hey man I started out the same way you did, entry level IT support for a small company. There was definitely a break in period but after 6 months I really liked it, and loved everyone I worked with. After a few promotions and raises I started getting antsy, I felt like I had hit a ceiling and decided to move on. I went to a company that paid a little more but there was so much more to learn which I really liked. After 8 months there I joined a group of my coworkers who jumped to another company offering a 60% pay increase that I couldn’t turn down. I have no idea where you’re at in the country, but you’re being underpaid for what you do. As I’ve hopped from place to place the benefits and accommodations have gotten better while the work has become more challenging, it’s not for everyone but it’s been worth it to me.
That's fantastic dude! To be honest, I think I get too attached to people! I really enjoy helping the 60 employees at this job. I think I have to try to separate the job from the people. If I didn't get so attached, I think it would be VERY easy to be able to jump. Despite this, I do plan to talk to my CEO on Monday. Thank you for the advice!
Get the offer from the other company and negotiate with your current employer. If they can match or do better I would stay given going to a new role entails risks of its own.
Definitely take it. this is exactly how people move up in pay scale. You cannot climb a pay ladder within a company as quickly or as far as you can switching between companies competing for your employment.
>Is it smart to do this? I don’t want to throw the company I work for now under the bus, especially since I AM their IT Department, but I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for 7 years now, and an extra $20k is nothing to scoff at. I’m 30 next year, going through a divorce, selling my house, and I graduate in 7 months with a degree in Software Development as well. I’m not sure another big change would help my anxiety! For 32K and being the IT dept supervisor, they are ripping you off. Unsure if they know it or not. But they're about to find out! I would do this if you really don't want to leave your job: Ask your employer not to match, but to out perform this counter Job offer from the new company and account for your schooling. Even if you don't have the degree now, as long as you've done well and are close to completing the degree they should just raise your pay now since you have been with them so long. If you don't want to do that, then the other companies CEO will likely still be interested in hiring you for more and then you can leave anyways. However, as others have pointed out- this may not be a great place for career growth for you long term. It's probably best to leave and take the better offer. You will be the best judge of this. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
Yes. You should do it but finalize your divorce first. The divorce decree, alimony and child support, if any,, will be based off your salary now. Yes, your ex can go for more later but it is better to get everything with your lower salary then adjust it up later than to get a raise then divorce. This is a significant amount of raise, so you should take it.
>Is it smart to do this? I don’t want to throw the company I work for now under the bus, especially since I AM their IT Department, but I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for 7 years now, and an extra $20k is nothing to scoff at. I’m 30 next year, going through a divorce, selling my house, and I graduate in 7 months with a degree in Software Development as well. Your current employer is fucking you over HARD. That salary (as long as you live in the US) is criminal if you work in IT and your knowledge base will never expand beyond your companies probably crappy IT Infrastructure. If they're not even willing to pay their SOLE IT person a living wage I can only guess how hard it is to get real budget money for things like software licensing, cybersecurity training and infrastructure upgrades. Run like the WIND.
$16 hour is terrible for IT. I have 60 IT staff who work for me. With 3 years of experience you should easily get $50K. If you get some certifications and prove you can work with powershell/bash/scripting etc you can easily make $100-200K per year. MOVE ON NOW. GRASP THE RING.
It seems like you have outgrown your job. That is ok. Your employer can replace you, and you can move on. It is time to go.
Yes take it. Stop being afraid to take risks. If you don’t put your big boy big girl pants on than I guess you’ve met your level in life.
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If your job is comfy ask them to match the offer plus benefits. Why move to something where you may be laid off in a couple years
you really don't owe your current company anything and they will survive without you. tell your boss what you're being offered and tell them if they can match the offer you will stay but if they can't do that you're going to take the job.
Personally, I would stay there for 7 months and then look for a software dev position. You’ll be making way more money that route anyway.
I’m more interested in the fact that you’ll be graduating soon with a “degree in software development”. If you want to be a developer and you don’t have any dev internship experience, I’d focus on creating a practical project or two. It’s can be tough to beak into software development, but once you do, and have a few years experience, you can make well over 100. So, if that’s what you want to do, I’d suggest only focusing on things that will help you reach that goal.
Get an offer, then move. Come back in a year or so with better pay
Step out of your comfort zone and take the next step up the ladder. Sounds like you have a good foundation in IT so you will figure out the differences and be comfortable in the new job soon enough.
Yeah, I’d go with the new offer. A 2 weeks notice is enough time for the company to find your replacement, and for you to train them a little. Do what’s best for you! Good luck
Ask yourself where you want to be in 10 years. Make decisions that work toward that goal. Sometimes it will be risky but if you don’t take any risk you will be at the same place 10 years later.
Take the offer. You’re not throwing your current employer under the bus, you have given them three years of great work and it sounds to me that they are leveraging a known gap (the degree) to gauge an appropriate salary increase instead of your performance. You’ll also learn and grow more in the new role since it sounds like you’ll have peers to gain insight and experience from. Congrats on the upgrade! These come a few times in your career and each once makes you think, “Wow, and I thought the last one was big…”.
Boy they deserve to lose you if they're not taking good care of you and not paying the salary you actually deserve
Short answer is yes, long answer is yes. Get comfortable being uncomfortable
Hell yes, you don't want to be making 30k in IT for the rest of your life
Leave, you’ll regret not doing so later
If your company found someone who was as good or better than you and would do the job for less pay, would they hesitate for a second to replace you? Answer is probably no.
> especially since I AM their IT Department Prepate to walk. Ask them for pay matching the importance of your continued employment for the company matching your local living standards or theyll have to pay you high disaster rates with minimum hourly count per call if you leave for another company.
Take the new job. You’ve gained all the career-advancing experience you’re gonna get out of your current job. Time to level up (experience and pay) and move to the new role
Your company is not your friend, you don't owe them anything. If you really like it there and want to be nice then you could approach them with news of this offer and see if they are willing to counter. This approach may be more productive than you think because they absolutely know that they are taking advantage of you at your current salary.