I’m an 8 year data center network engineer who recently broke 100k for the first time. When I got asked my salary requirements I actually only asked for 90k as my highest previous salary was 80k with lots of travel, then I found out they gave me 100k because it was the minimum they could pay someone in my position. I’ve read before about people making crazy salary increases (150%-300%) and am wondering if I played it incorrectly and how I could play it in the future. I plan to stay with my company for the next few years and upskilling heavily and am eyeing a promotion in my first year as I’ve already delivered big projects by contributing very early. I’ve progressed from call center/help desk/engineer etc (no degree, just certs) so my progression has been pretty linear, are people who are seeing massive jumps in pay just overselling their competency and failing forward? Or are there other fields in IT like programming/etc that are more likely to have higher progression scales?
That is correct. It’s really always been like that.
There’s far fewer IT organizations that can safely hire rookies than there are rookies in the field. The correct solution for employers is to get better at their setup so that they can hire rookies, but that’s a genuinely difficult challenge that many organizations simply don’t have the leadership will or savy to solve.
I’m still incredibly thankful to my first boss for taking a risk giving me a chance to break into the field.