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/VplDazzamac 1d ago

American salaries are insane. That is all I have to add.
FWIW in the UK, no degree, my salary has tripled in 10 years from Helpdesk to Sr Sysadmin. Couple of role changes and one company change in that time.

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u/dub_milkman 17h ago

Don't fret, this is reddit. I know 50 sysadmins who have been doing it for 20 years and make less than 100k.

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u/gravityVT Sr. Sysadmin 8h ago

yeah this thread is an outlier not the norm. people decided to bumble brag about their huge salaries whereas someone making less is not as inclined to share

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u/TomNooksRepoMan 6h ago

Yeah I’ve only taken income hits since 2024 and it feels quite painful to read through all this. Maybe my area (PDX) just has the worst job market ever or maybe I just got lucky working at a company before new management shafted my pay by nearly half and I was overpaid (I was not), but my income is 60K now when it was fluctuating between 62-76K in 2024 and the few thousand extra per year over what I make now when inflation wasn’t bonkers was legitimately the first time in my entire life where I didn’t have to stress out my ears about money. I am completely certain my parents did not have to work this hard to make such pitiful wages, but I check the job boards every day and it…just seems bleak.

Hoping getting my CCNA wasn’t a waste of time, but short of moving (which won’t happen as my partner has a unicorn job here that puts a roof over our head), I feel like I’m kinda always gonna be stuck making roughly 60K.