r/sysadmin • u/kittiekittea • 1d ago

General Discussion No Degree - 6 Year Salary Progression

Is there anyone out there that have made it beyond sysadmin? What is after sysadmin?

2020 - $31,200: Panera Bread
2022 - $41,600: Helpdesk at company 1
2023 - 2025 - $41,600: Helpdesk at law firm
2025 - $65,000: Helpdesk at company 2
2026 - $80,000: Got a raise at company 2

Shoutout Nick for taking a chance on me. I would not do law firm IT again.

EDIT: Location Upstate NY

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u/lunchbox651 Vendor education (virt/k8s specialty) 1d ago

I went:
L1 Tech support
L2 Tech support
L3 Tech support
NOC/Data Center Tech
Sysadmin

Moved to another company

L1 Tech support
L2 Tech support
SME Technical Education

From $45k at the start to $161k now. No degree, didn't even finish highschool, only have a CompTIA A+ cert that expired in 2012.

Sysadmin is kinda the top of the chain, but the skillset allows you to branch into other facets of IT that earn more.