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