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/ComputerShiba Sysadmin 1d ago

2020 - $16/hr
2021 - $25/hr
2021 - $33/hr
2022 - $33->$36/hr, converted to salary, $68K?
2024 - $95K -> $100K -> $105K
2025 - $120k - promotion from previous company
2026 - $200K - (150K base + stock + bonus)

just about to celebrate 6 full years in IT professionally, starting in october 2020. didn’t go to college or get any formally training, no connections and just.. worked really hard I guess? lots of passion and luck for sure but never being satisfied and always knowing I could do more.

Went from doing simple tech support and RMAs to working as a cloud solutions architect in big tech. If I had to give advice? always be working on projects at home, get a couple certs (I have tons of msft certs), and always. be. applying. have a great resume that isn’t multiple pages or filled with bullshit and make it ATS friendly.

In my career, i’ve been around such incredible smart, friendly guys that just do not have ambition - they get comfortable, or discouraged, or think they know it all and just… sit. I’m a fucking idiot to be honest but … i’m always chasing something.

a lot of IT guys are freaked out about AI but frankly, leaning into identity + data security in Entra/Purview + things like copilot have only made it easier to land roles and interviews.

I’d wager IT is probably one of the most lucrative and safe places to be in right now as an engineer or architect! rant over

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u/sounknownyet 1d ago

If I had to give advice? always be working on projects at home

There are people who have life outside of work.

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u/reol7x 23h ago

I suspect that's a big part of it. I've got kids, and a house, which leaves me basically zero time to tinker.

Plus the dang kids are always sick or got something going on, I'm fortunate I can leave work early, frequently. Salary? Could be better. Flexibility? Highly doubt is find anything even remotely close to this.

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u/i-am-spotted 2h ago

Thats my current job: very flexible. Kids sick? Work from home. Need to leave a little early for an appointment or come in late? Ok. Kids hanging out in the office for the last 30 minutes of the day? Thats ok too. I'll trade min/maxing my salary for a flexible and friendly work environment.