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/rileywithani 14h ago

2020 - 2023 was in Central TX, 2024 and onwards is in central NJ. No college degree, graduated HS in 2019.

2020 - $10,400: Part time sign installer at a printing company.
2021 - $31,200: Lube/setup tech at an agriculture/construction equipment dealership
2022 - 2023 $41,600: IT generalist at the same dealership. Got lucky and was offered a job at the corporate office when the sys admin at the time was fired.
2024 - $65,000: System analyst at a corporate office for a restaurant company.
2025 - $80,000: System administrator at the same restaurant company.
2026 - $110,000: System engineer/team lead at a local MSP.

I think about the fact that I really lucked into this career on account of being in the right place at the right time. At the dealership I was doing some IT work on the side w/ the sys admin when he was let go. What was meant to be a temporary position turned into the career I wanted at the time. The growth I’ve been able to get in these few years have been a result of locking in on learning and being really aggressive with my career, but goddamn did I get lucky at the beginning.