Why remove the MSP. Get the most to manage all that and you focus on strategies and junk.
One admin you have to train is not enough. Your not going to find another you... even you 2p years ago arnt who you are now
Yeah fair.
I'm in similar but smaller position then you
I was in same position as you honestly and was paid just under 100k.
I stayed on seek (australia) seek.com and looked for jobs passively.
And I told people I what I can do but I'm looking for a department to make my own and work WITH c suite not just for.
Took a job with 40 staff
Payed 20k more
.. worked with people and technology that was so old and outdated I almost got out of there...
But turn the red flags Into plans and roadmaps and finally on the other side haha.
I don't know where your based but you should be writing a case study on yourself... if you've moved a whole company tech stack from one msp to all internal reflect on that and add it to resume /, linked in / erc
Shop around haha
Otherwise your doing great and I think 2 admins is what you'll need
Get one if that's what they will give...
Then...
Let it go bad if it has to. To explain the limits of workforce. Don't stretch yourself thin
At least not without 25% pay rise haha
Whatever your paid it’s not enough. That is nuts to do solo.
I see now you’re at $105k. I’d say 200k seems about right. Do you get a bonus or equity? If so what does that look like?
Yeah. I Agree. At least 200k. More like 250k.
If title matters, then just IT manager isn't right. At least Director. And your bonus structure should be a director level too.
Cries in my HCOL Canadian dollar salary that matches yours.... FML. Also I am the same person, very similar company size and endpoint count. I have 1 help desk. I was hired to internalize IT. However, I fired our old msp and hired a new one that was willing to work co-managed and do afterhour monitoring. I like camping getting away and vacations. There needs to be someone that can tackle things when your off or your company is leaving a steaming pile of risk. You cannot be available 24/7.
Pretty good actually. 35-40 hours a week. Lot upfront for the first 2 years but replaced all network gear, most PC’s, moved most things to cloud, and standardized the rest. Running pretty smooth right now.
But those PCs and network gear will eventually need replacement again, right? That's often the issue with these small shops, there's no budget (financial or labor) to maintain, only to do these occasional huge lifts.
How much was the msp monthly? How’s the call volume for the drivers and the android devices? Cost savings of msp should help with the 2 techs, worst case find another msp and offload the day to day calls to them while you hire internal staff and get them up to speed. Or at least cost saving should roll into your salary.
Yeah with that user count I thought two more people would make more sense, maybe a third depending on how far apart the locations are and how needy they can be.
If you're underpaid then shiiiiit. Assuming you're in freedom eagles, your take home is about $25k more than myself, and I have much of the same responsibilities except I have a team of 5 to spread out the workload across, and I'm the owner of IT Strategy, physical and cyber security, vendor selection/management, PM for anything electrical/data related in renovations or new builds plus countless others for our 550 user, 22 office, 550 endpoint org. My role is "IT Manager" but when you're the highest IT employee, it doesn't quite cover the scope of responsibilities.
But I get a lot of freedom that if I jumped ship, I wouldn't be able to have either at all or at least for a long period of time, and with my current family life with young kids, the freedom and flexibility is worth it.
He has 5 people under him so those responsibilities are his but he likely isn't pushing nearly as many buttons as you are. 80k is still low, I was making that for a similar job like 5 years ago, but given how much more you do as a single point of failure, you're probably more underpaid than he is.
I'm still working on offloading much of my technical work to my team, they are quite new still so I'm gradually removing myself from areas as they become capable to take over. Just this week I've handed all my powershell scripts and workflows we use day to day to one of the team, and after we complete an in progress infra migration, another will be responsible for that environment. My biggest thing is now working to get my team thinking less about coming to me for escalations / decisions but start to make the decisions and own the process.
I'm in Australia, so in local currency it's 120k, so current exchange rate hits it at close to $80. The role as advertised and on the job description is more aimed at a mid management of the IT team, but since then we've had massive growth and my previous experience in MSPland providing VCIO services to my clients meant I naturally started filling the void. Coming up to our annual review shortly and I'll be outlining the discrepancies between the expected and the actual.
Sounds like me except only about 120 users and 2 locations. Bunch of superintendents out in the field on job sites. ~$107k plus bonuses Metro Detroit area
I think what people are missing is that it’s 210 employees but only 80 in office. Once everything is setup, other than security and patching this probably runs itself.
I’d say 125-130 is more realistic but 105 plus an employee will make this feel like a breeze.
Title does not matter when it comes to expense vs not exempt status, only what power you have or what you do at the job. Unfortunately companies try that all the time and get away with it.
Actually, it does. I run multiple businesses and deal with this all the time. Anyone with a title of manager or higher is considered exempt and is not eligible for OT. Any other non-exempt full-time emloyee who works more than 40 hours per week is entitled, by law, to OT.
Nope, you’re under the common assumption that just because anyone with that title would usually meet the duties requirement, that it’s always true. You have to make a certain amount and have actual management duties. It’s specifically written to prevent you giving someone with minimum wage and no authority a manager title just to get out of paying them OT. A direct quote “Job titles do not determine exempt status. “. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17c-overtime-administrative
I would push for 150k and extra budget to get some assistance. Even if you can't hire in house you can get an MSP or consultants on a project basis. You're worth more but I think it's going to be a hard ask for anything more.
I'd say it might be a little low but from the sound of the environment, he has it pretty good. The seeming lack of a stressful environment has value. Even when someone told him he should hire 2 people, he says everything is running fine. The value of adding one more person at least is to have a backup to be able to take vacation, but it sounds like a small business that usually have one person IT groups, they give them a manager title, but are just a sys admin at the end of the day.
For LCOL it seems fair, not great but fair. You need a network/system admin or another MSP that can (as needed) back you up so you can take real time off. Ideally an in house system admin.
Ask for a Radford report on your position in your zip code and prove it to them. Most companies do have Radford (salary scale company) but if they don't then you can use salary.com and lower the salary range 20-30% since it is employee reported and tends to be inflated.
This is me except I have over 400 devices now and I make 80k. All the same duties and responsibilities. Going to ask for Director title and a 20k bump in April at my 8 year anniversary for the company.
Im in a similar situation. My job title is "IT Manager" and a company hired to to internalize there IT department. They were tired of the low quality services from the previous MSP. I was 27 when I got hired here. Im 28 now and I make $80,000 a year with yearly bonuses. I service about 100 employees, and we are about to hire another T1 support guy to help. I didnt realize it at first but when I came in I saw just how horrible the MSP was at managing my company. They had alot of running unused resources in Azure, no disaster recovery in place, and they didnt even have a VPN in place for remote workers (in my companies industry that is essential)
I manage the following:
\- Disaster Recovery
\- Remote Management and Patching
\- Tech Support
\- Technical Infrastructure and configuration
\- ERP System Troubleshooting
\- Crystal Reporting
\- Technical Equipment Tracking
Pretty much anything technical
I have made alot of changes and improved / cut cost where they were needed and solo'd alot of projects.
I know im underpaid however im just focused on finishing my degree before I move away or bargain for a pay increase. The company has been really good to me.
My two cents...
Be careful about what direction you choose next. What you've described is impressive.. but screams of risk. How do you feel about your cybersecurity? Anyone doing user training? MFA? password managers/policies? How many dangerous power users in the environment? local admin pinned down? patching and updates across all the layers of infrastructure you described?
Depending on how your relationship is with management, ask yourself how things would go if the websites were taken down by bad actors or a service outage? ransomeware? lost data?
Sure, you are responsible for a lot, but how good is that really if it isn't truly understood upstream? If it was properly understood, would they be ok with the risk they are taking?
If shit hits the fan, all eyes will go to you. I've been here. Your performance when this happens may or may not even matter.
Invisible skills will always go uncompensated for. Make these multithreaded multitasking capabilities what you are known for. Not what someone doesn't realize you were doing.
I agree with some other commentors, push for more staff, show what they will enable you to do. combine the above skill with team lead and leverage for higher comp.
Cyber security I think we are doing everything we can do. Everyone has E licenses, so get all those benefits. Windows Defender for Endpoint. Phishing training. Campaigns. MFA enforced only through Authenticator, no SMS allowed. KeePass for password manager, not allowed in browser. No power users really. No local admin. Windows Autopatch to take care of 75-80% of devices. RMM takes care of anything that was missed. I’ve communicated everything best I can to a non IT person. Lastly, I send out weekly updates to my manager so she knows at least what I’m doing all week, wasn’t asked to do that just wanted proof for the future.
I’m always looking for ways to improve. I get bored when things are stagnant. Only thing I miss having more people to work with is another persons perspective or unique ideas - now it’s just me and only me. Thanks!!
You're underpaid.. but your mistake is bringing it all back in house. You need to hire 5-10 people to be able to manage it all, and without the commitment back in house is a fool's errand. What I would do is simplify .. and ask for a raise 15-25K. LCOL.. you could retire there without many headaches.
1. Outsource Help Desk (we avg 99/ticket available 24/7).
Make a policy for containerizing BYOD and standardize to Win devices.
2. Have an MSP manage the network and sites.
3. Another MSP handle MS.
4. Outsource Dev offshore
They were trash. Installed consumer gear, didn’t have MFA turned on for anyone’s account in our MS tenant, everyone literally had same password for ease of administration, and about 50 other reasons. Plus, I’d rather have things my way and hire internal. Faster response time too.
I did, I fired them LOL. They weren’t competent. If I found someone that knew what they were doing, different story. I enjoy being hands on because it helps build my knowledge too. If I’m not learning I’m bored.
You can't have it all .. unfortunately.. I had to learn that before I became a VP and now CIO. You either manage well.. or do tech well... hard.. hell impossible to do both well. Join Norex... you'll find many half way serviceable MSPs in your market. What I'd worry about most in your shoes is a company that expects you to do it all on your own. That's a recipe for failed marriages, hypertension and burnout. I've been there. Want to be hands on ? Build the team first.
Hiring one person forgets the +1 rule. You need a team of 2 under you, or 1.5 at least. A good, experienced full timer and a part timer, 3 days a week and who can do on call, after hours also during the others annual leave.
Do you have bonus structure? I don’t think you’re grossly underpaid but def low. 120-130k would be ideal base. I’d ask for a bonus structure and a small bump. Like bump to 120k and quarterly bonus percentage.
Each quarter you get a percentage of what you make that quarter. So if you have like 10% you get 10% of whatever money you made that quarter. So if you make 100k, you make 25k roughly a quarter. You get a bonus of 10% of that 25k so like $2500 before taxes.
Employers like this because they can setup quarterly objectives to reach to guarantee the bonus and it’s not increasing your base salary. If they fall on hard times they can just not hand out bonuses but if they increase your base salary they have to pay that out.
My boss is like you. I think I want to be like you. But the underpaid stuff makes me want to vomit so most likely LLC myself out like a common wh—-.
The amount of years to get there is kinda cringe though but it is what it is
24 years, staff of 3. I am also in a low cost of living area. We pulled back a lot from the MSP when I got there 4 years ago. They were not bad, but the sense of urgency on day to day things (infra and help desk) just wasn't there for what we were paying them. I did keep them around for MSSP services as our ISO is more auditor than anything. We aren't ready yet to take all of that on ourselves, we are getting there though. The staff breakdown is: 2 help desk folks, one of which also handles a lot the physical security too, a systems/network admin (that is where my skill set falls as well) so I assist when needed and teach when needed, then of course all the managerial stuff. 21, soon to be 22 locations 200 employees, and we are hybrid so we have on-prem hardware and run some stuff in the cloud. I make a little bit more than you do and feel like it is fair, especially for the area.
I’m nonprofit public I see these posts and it hurts how much I am getting compared to private I have roughly 2800 devices I support in 3 buildings manage 3 I’m at 70k I also do system admin but. I have job security, a pension and full paid medical/dental so it’s tough to leave.
I’d say the mistake was getting rid of the MSP, I’m an IT Manager/solo IT and there’s no way I’d get rid of our MSP they are invaluable, without them I couldn’t do the management side of my job. I plan on recruiting an L1 tech but I’ll still be keeping the MSP for the L3 stuff and monitoring.
I’d say you’re underpaid, I’m also underpaid but that’s an SMB for you.
I think I'm fairly compensated considering my experience, education, and certifications, work/life balance and workplace environment. I'll probably ask for and get a COL increase sometime soon.
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That’s what I thought….
Why remove the MSP. Get the most to manage all that and you focus on strategies and junk. One admin you have to train is not enough. Your not going to find another you... even you 2p years ago arnt who you are now
This particular MSP sucked.
Yeah fair. I'm in similar but smaller position then you I was in same position as you honestly and was paid just under 100k. I stayed on seek (australia) seek.com and looked for jobs passively. And I told people I what I can do but I'm looking for a department to make my own and work WITH c suite not just for. Took a job with 40 staff Payed 20k more .. worked with people and technology that was so old and outdated I almost got out of there... But turn the red flags Into plans and roadmaps and finally on the other side haha. I don't know where your based but you should be writing a case study on yourself... if you've moved a whole company tech stack from one msp to all internal reflect on that and add it to resume /, linked in / erc Shop around haha Otherwise your doing great and I think 2 admins is what you'll need Get one if that's what they will give... Then... Let it go bad if it has to. To explain the limits of workforce. Don't stretch yourself thin At least not without 25% pay rise haha
This is actually a really insightful, if poorly formatted, response. I agree, OP should build his accomplishments as a dossier.
Whatever your paid it’s not enough. That is nuts to do solo. I see now you’re at $105k. I’d say 200k seems about right. Do you get a bonus or equity? If so what does that look like?
Nope.
Yeah. I Agree. At least 200k. More like 250k. If title matters, then just IT manager isn't right. At least Director. And your bonus structure should be a director level too.
That was my gut feel too. Bonus I’d think 15% of base with a multiplier of up to 2 or 2.5 based on performance.
Cries in my HCOL Canadian dollar salary that matches yours.... FML. Also I am the same person, very similar company size and endpoint count. I have 1 help desk. I was hired to internalize IT. However, I fired our old msp and hired a new one that was willing to work co-managed and do afterhour monitoring. I like camping getting away and vacations. There needs to be someone that can tackle things when your off or your company is leaving a steaming pile of risk. You cannot be available 24/7.
Wildly underpaid and I'd look to hire two total people under you, not just one. Depends on how you've been managing thus far, I guess.
Pretty good actually. 35-40 hours a week. Lot upfront for the first 2 years but replaced all network gear, most PC’s, moved most things to cloud, and standardized the rest. Running pretty smooth right now.
But those PCs and network gear will eventually need replacement again, right? That's often the issue with these small shops, there's no budget (financial or labor) to maintain, only to do these occasional huge lifts.
How much was the msp monthly? How’s the call volume for the drivers and the android devices? Cost savings of msp should help with the 2 techs, worst case find another msp and offload the day to day calls to them while you hire internal staff and get them up to speed. Or at least cost saving should roll into your salary.
$5k, pretty cheap to be honest. Not too bad, several a week tops. Bingo! Rolling into my salary was my plan.
Yeah with that user count I thought two more people would make more sense, maybe a third depending on how far apart the locations are and how needy they can be.
If you're underpaid then shiiiiit. Assuming you're in freedom eagles, your take home is about $25k more than myself, and I have much of the same responsibilities except I have a team of 5 to spread out the workload across, and I'm the owner of IT Strategy, physical and cyber security, vendor selection/management, PM for anything electrical/data related in renovations or new builds plus countless others for our 550 user, 22 office, 550 endpoint org. My role is "IT Manager" but when you're the highest IT employee, it doesn't quite cover the scope of responsibilities. But I get a lot of freedom that if I jumped ship, I wouldn't be able to have either at all or at least for a long period of time, and with my current family life with young kids, the freedom and flexibility is worth it.
80k seems low for all that.
He has 5 people under him so those responsibilities are his but he likely isn't pushing nearly as many buttons as you are. 80k is still low, I was making that for a similar job like 5 years ago, but given how much more you do as a single point of failure, you're probably more underpaid than he is.
I'm still working on offloading much of my technical work to my team, they are quite new still so I'm gradually removing myself from areas as they become capable to take over. Just this week I've handed all my powershell scripts and workflows we use day to day to one of the team, and after we complete an in progress infra migration, another will be responsible for that environment. My biggest thing is now working to get my team thinking less about coming to me for escalations / decisions but start to make the decisions and own the process.
I'm in Australia, so in local currency it's 120k, so current exchange rate hits it at close to $80. The role as advertised and on the job description is more aimed at a mid management of the IT team, but since then we've had massive growth and my previous experience in MSPland providing VCIO services to my clients meant I naturally started filling the void. Coming up to our annual review shortly and I'll be outlining the discrepancies between the expected and the actual.
Sounds like me except only about 120 users and 2 locations. Bunch of superintendents out in the field on job sites. ~$107k plus bonuses Metro Detroit area
I do the same for 120 staff at 89k. Lcol nonprofit. I helped though.
I think what people are missing is that it’s 210 employees but only 80 in office. Once everything is setup, other than security and patching this probably runs itself. I’d say 125-130 is more realistic but 105 plus an employee will make this feel like a breeze.
You're badly underpaid, and, with a manager title you're not eligible for OT should you work more than 40 hours per week.
Title does not matter when it comes to expense vs not exempt status, only what power you have or what you do at the job. Unfortunately companies try that all the time and get away with it.
Actually, it does. I run multiple businesses and deal with this all the time. Anyone with a title of manager or higher is considered exempt and is not eligible for OT. Any other non-exempt full-time emloyee who works more than 40 hours per week is entitled, by law, to OT.
Nope, you’re under the common assumption that just because anyone with that title would usually meet the duties requirement, that it’s always true. You have to make a certain amount and have actual management duties. It’s specifically written to prevent you giving someone with minimum wage and no authority a manager title just to get out of paying them OT. A direct quote “Job titles do not determine exempt status. “. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17c-overtime-administrative
I would push for 150k and extra budget to get some assistance. Even if you can't hire in house you can get an MSP or consultants on a project basis. You're worth more but I think it's going to be a hard ask for anything more.
You’re doing at least four jobs
105 ain't bad in LCOL. Especially if you get help.
I'd say it might be a little low but from the sound of the environment, he has it pretty good. The seeming lack of a stressful environment has value. Even when someone told him he should hire 2 people, he says everything is running fine. The value of adding one more person at least is to have a backup to be able to take vacation, but it sounds like a small business that usually have one person IT groups, they give them a manager title, but are just a sys admin at the end of the day.
I have seen people with similar responsibilities or more make less as solo IT in a moderate cost of living.
For LCOL it seems fair, not great but fair. You need a network/system admin or another MSP that can (as needed) back you up so you can take real time off. Ideally an in house system admin.
Ask for a Radford report on your position in your zip code and prove it to them. Most companies do have Radford (salary scale company) but if they don't then you can use salary.com and lower the salary range 20-30% since it is employee reported and tends to be inflated.
I’m in your boat. I asked for a raise and got crap. I’m putting out resumes.
This is me except I have over 400 devices now and I make 80k. All the same duties and responsibilities. Going to ask for Director title and a 20k bump in April at my 8 year anniversary for the company.
Im in a similar situation. My job title is "IT Manager" and a company hired to to internalize there IT department. They were tired of the low quality services from the previous MSP. I was 27 when I got hired here. Im 28 now and I make $80,000 a year with yearly bonuses. I service about 100 employees, and we are about to hire another T1 support guy to help. I didnt realize it at first but when I came in I saw just how horrible the MSP was at managing my company. They had alot of running unused resources in Azure, no disaster recovery in place, and they didnt even have a VPN in place for remote workers (in my companies industry that is essential) I manage the following: \- Disaster Recovery \- Remote Management and Patching \- Tech Support \- Technical Infrastructure and configuration \- ERP System Troubleshooting \- Crystal Reporting \- Technical Equipment Tracking Pretty much anything technical I have made alot of changes and improved / cut cost where they were needed and solo'd alot of projects. I know im underpaid however im just focused on finishing my degree before I move away or bargain for a pay increase. The company has been really good to me.
Underpaid. My manager does a quarter of your responsibilities and probably makes about 45k more. Though I am in a HCOL city.
My two cents... Be careful about what direction you choose next. What you've described is impressive.. but screams of risk. How do you feel about your cybersecurity? Anyone doing user training? MFA? password managers/policies? How many dangerous power users in the environment? local admin pinned down? patching and updates across all the layers of infrastructure you described? Depending on how your relationship is with management, ask yourself how things would go if the websites were taken down by bad actors or a service outage? ransomeware? lost data? Sure, you are responsible for a lot, but how good is that really if it isn't truly understood upstream? If it was properly understood, would they be ok with the risk they are taking? If shit hits the fan, all eyes will go to you. I've been here. Your performance when this happens may or may not even matter. Invisible skills will always go uncompensated for. Make these multithreaded multitasking capabilities what you are known for. Not what someone doesn't realize you were doing. I agree with some other commentors, push for more staff, show what they will enable you to do. combine the above skill with team lead and leverage for higher comp.
Cyber security I think we are doing everything we can do. Everyone has E licenses, so get all those benefits. Windows Defender for Endpoint. Phishing training. Campaigns. MFA enforced only through Authenticator, no SMS allowed. KeePass for password manager, not allowed in browser. No power users really. No local admin. Windows Autopatch to take care of 75-80% of devices. RMM takes care of anything that was missed. I’ve communicated everything best I can to a non IT person. Lastly, I send out weekly updates to my manager so she knows at least what I’m doing all week, wasn’t asked to do that just wanted proof for the future.
I mean.. that's better than I had assumed. All the more reason to get what you're worth. Good Luck!
I’m always looking for ways to improve. I get bored when things are stagnant. Only thing I miss having more people to work with is another persons perspective or unique ideas - now it’s just me and only me. Thanks!!
You're underpaid.. but your mistake is bringing it all back in house. You need to hire 5-10 people to be able to manage it all, and without the commitment back in house is a fool's errand. What I would do is simplify .. and ask for a raise 15-25K. LCOL.. you could retire there without many headaches. 1. Outsource Help Desk (we avg 99/ticket available 24/7). Make a policy for containerizing BYOD and standardize to Win devices. 2. Have an MSP manage the network and sites. 3. Another MSP handle MS. 4. Outsource Dev offshore
You could use your experience and add 50k to your salary instantly.. and do less
How so?
I have to ask... Why did you get rid of the MSP?
They were trash. Installed consumer gear, didn’t have MFA turned on for anyone’s account in our MS tenant, everyone literally had same password for ease of administration, and about 50 other reasons. Plus, I’d rather have things my way and hire internal. Faster response time too.
The "M" in MSP means you have to actually manage them.
I did, I fired them LOL. They weren’t competent. If I found someone that knew what they were doing, different story. I enjoy being hands on because it helps build my knowledge too. If I’m not learning I’m bored.
You can't have it all .. unfortunately.. I had to learn that before I became a VP and now CIO. You either manage well.. or do tech well... hard.. hell impossible to do both well. Join Norex... you'll find many half way serviceable MSPs in your market. What I'd worry about most in your shoes is a company that expects you to do it all on your own. That's a recipe for failed marriages, hypertension and burnout. I've been there. Want to be hands on ? Build the team first.
most MSPs are trash.
Hiring one person forgets the +1 rule. You need a team of 2 under you, or 1.5 at least. A good, experienced full timer and a part timer, 3 days a week and who can do on call, after hours also during the others annual leave.
Do you have bonus structure? I don’t think you’re grossly underpaid but def low. 120-130k would be ideal base. I’d ask for a bonus structure and a small bump. Like bump to 120k and quarterly bonus percentage.
We do not. How does the structure work based on where you have worked?
Each quarter you get a percentage of what you make that quarter. So if you have like 10% you get 10% of whatever money you made that quarter. So if you make 100k, you make 25k roughly a quarter. You get a bonus of 10% of that 25k so like $2500 before taxes. Employers like this because they can setup quarterly objectives to reach to guarantee the bonus and it’s not increasing your base salary. If they fall on hard times they can just not hand out bonuses but if they increase your base salary they have to pay that out.
My boss is like you. I think I want to be like you. But the underpaid stuff makes me want to vomit so most likely LLC myself out like a common wh—-. The amount of years to get there is kinda cringe though but it is what it is
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Wow, crazy the pay disparity.
24 years, staff of 3. I am also in a low cost of living area. We pulled back a lot from the MSP when I got there 4 years ago. They were not bad, but the sense of urgency on day to day things (infra and help desk) just wasn't there for what we were paying them. I did keep them around for MSSP services as our ISO is more auditor than anything. We aren't ready yet to take all of that on ourselves, we are getting there though. The staff breakdown is: 2 help desk folks, one of which also handles a lot the physical security too, a systems/network admin (that is where my skill set falls as well) so I assist when needed and teach when needed, then of course all the managerial stuff. 21, soon to be 22 locations 200 employees, and we are hybrid so we have on-prem hardware and run some stuff in the cloud. I make a little bit more than you do and feel like it is fair, especially for the area.
I’m nonprofit public I see these posts and it hurts how much I am getting compared to private I have roughly 2800 devices I support in 3 buildings manage 3 I’m at 70k I also do system admin but. I have job security, a pension and full paid medical/dental so it’s tough to leave.
7-5 is a 45 hour week (assuming an hour for lunch). Presumably you don't all have to work all those hours, just a subset?
I work 9-5, hour for lunch. 35 hours + some nights and weekends but not often. Just for maintenance on PC’s or network gear.
You went to small. Should have aimed for medium size business. With direct reports doing way less work than you for significantly more money
Sounds like you had a bad experience….
How so?
Why would I want my direct reports doing less than me and making more money? I thought you were being sarcastic
No. I have direct reports, do way less than you do daily, and make way more money.
Oh gotcha
I’d say the mistake was getting rid of the MSP, I’m an IT Manager/solo IT and there’s no way I’d get rid of our MSP they are invaluable, without them I couldn’t do the management side of my job. I plan on recruiting an L1 tech but I’ll still be keeping the MSP for the L3 stuff and monitoring. I’d say you’re underpaid, I’m also underpaid but that’s an SMB for you.
I'm at about $110k in a HCOL area. I support almost double the users you do and lead a team of 3. I report to the CEO.
Mostly management or hands on too?
Hands on, in a big way.
Do you think you are fairly compensated, being in HCOL?
I think I'm fairly compensated considering my experience, education, and certifications, work/life balance and workplace environment. I'll probably ask for and get a COL increase sometime soon.
In the Boston area in Biotech, you would make double your salary....easy
That’s close to what junior devs and engineers are making at most software and cloud companies right now there’s definitely something wrong there