What should I be paid.?

Question

I've been in the I.T. industry as support for over 15 years, and this may or may not be justified but I need to know that.

I'm currently a level 2 tech at a hotel and casino, which requires I know and support / troubleshoot and in some situations write for IBM as/400(and all of the hotel, entertainment, payroll, ordering and credit card processing that runs on two of those 400's.)

I am also support for the guests wireless system, from the physical implementation to helping the guests fix numerous problems with their personal computers.

I am unofficially the webmaster and web developer and have integrated entertainment ticket sales online along with a custom geo tracking system with complete database of 3 million IP ranges to compare to target marketing for zip code radius. Develop flash advertising for the website and provide support for the cms system and its database.
I've had to develop and support a webcam that watches and pans the building 24/7.

I have to provide support to the casino's player tracking and slot tracking systems and their sql backends.
I have been given the task of integrating a new cinema content delivery server and setting that up along with all the network for 6 projectors and the server, from pulling cable to instructing the theater staff on how to use the frontend and being made the first response support for that system.

I am now being asked to integrate airline packages into the website that will allow for reservations to be booked online.

For all this I'm having to use sql, flash, vb.net, as400 cl, unix, networking, low voltage wiring, all the windows server applications, domain control and user administration for all the casino and countless other skills that I feel any other company would hire 5 people to do the jobs I'm doing.

I've been working here for 3 years and am the last person hired in the department but I find myself training the rest of the department on how to do their jobs, and I make about 1/4 what the rest of the people in the department do, yet I have more experience, and I give 100% all the time. I'm expected to work doubles and overnights and be on call 24/7 with my hours to adjusted so that overtime isn't incurred, where the rest of the department is not expected to have to do this.

I have been the company's employee of the year my first year working here.

I also do all this without gripe, until today.
I make 14 dollars an hour. I support my wife who cannot work and I'm tired of just barley making it.
What do you think I should be making? Is the grass greener anywhere else?

Flame on if you think I'm just crying, but I feel like what I'm doing is worth considerable more, even in the present state of the economy, and especially since I'm generating revenue.

Answer 1

You are what is commonly referred to as an IT Generalist, and based on my experience, you are very much underpaid. Part of the reason may be because you do not have a college degree or any IT certifications, or at least you do not mention having one. My suggestion would be to get a certification in a current technology (Microsoft or Cisco), then combined with your experience, you should be eligible for 60K+, but this depends on lot on your region.



Do you really still use servers branded as an AS/400. IBM stopped branding that system with that name over 10 years ago, and its gone through 3 more iterations since then. If so, then it may be that your employer dosen't value current technology very much, or the people who manage their systems.

Answer 2

Your job duties sound pretty similar to mine with a few minor differences (I don't have to deal with networking of any kind and our as400 is only there for historical reasons so no one has to support it). I make roughly $40k a year for it. My research has shown that, given my experience, I could potentially make up to double that, but more likely around $60k for just my web developement duties. That is based of my experience with ColdFusion though. I'm not sure if vb.net carries the same pay and from what you're saying I doubt that's your primary focus.



You're right that you seem to be doing a lot of different jobs. That's somewhat common in places with small to medium IT departments. The only place you really see all the jobs split up as they should be is on places with IT departments of several dozen people.

Answer 3

I am sorry this may disappoint you. As we grow older, we gain more experience but we lose our imagination. IMAGINATION, this is utmost required in today's I.T. industry. As you ae still working on the AS400, your experience is almost in a dinosaur technology.



Frankly, hotel jobs are never known to be high-pay. Worst still, those who work in hotels are not known to be highly qualified though you are very exceptional. Industries are not interested in those who have hotel experience. However, $14/hr. is very low. In industry, your responsibility probably gives you a range of $40K-$45K per year.

Answer 4

That's worth at least the tip of a unicorn's horn, your boss's first born son and three quarters your own weight in hamburger meat.

Spend it wisely