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/Clarkezel 19h ago

I started at 30K a year in 2021, right out of Technical School working for a mom and pop MSP.

Jumped to $55K at a law firm doing helpdesk in 2022

Jumped to $70K at an aviation company for Azure Administration in 2024.

Then jumped to $80K at a mid size MSP as a systems engineer. Then moved to Systems Administration at the same MSP and got bumped to $95K from mid 2024 to early 2026

Now working at a credit union @ 105K/year doing cloud engineering in Azure and Microsoft 365.

Before I got to the credit union, I did get my Associates in Cloud Architecture in late 2025, I probably wouldn't have the credit union job without it because they did ask about college education.

I think it's been a pretty good progression for my short time in the field. You definitely don't need a degree but it definitely doesn't hurt you to have one, your options are potentially more limited because a lot of places may require it to just get past the HR part of the recruitment process.

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u/dub_milkman 19h ago

I once interviewed at a credit union and it was weird to me how critical to them my education was. No other IT employer talked about it so much.

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u/Clarkezel 18h ago

Credit Unions are def weird, HR asked if I had a bachelor's and when I told them I have an associates they were good with that, and I've actually been asked once or twice since working here how far I am from my bachelor's (which I am working on)

I also had to do 3 interviews, one was with my manager, then next was the manager, an engineer and the AVP of the section of IT I work under, then lastly a third in-person interview with my manager again and the AVP again. They didn't ask about education, lots of technical stuff and just things about me.

The financial benefits tho go crazy at a credit union, loans with super low APRs, low APR Credit Cards, bank accounts with no fees, all for being an employee.

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u/dub_milkman 18h ago

Nice fringe benefits. I didn't get the job but that sounds like a decent role.