IT tech support salary in dublin

speedy2007

hey guys,

just wondering what realistic salaries can be expected in dublin with a tech support job, having 1.5yrs work experience and a degree.
ive been trying to research - according to a website the average is 30k, but most jobs ive seen are more the 25k mark.
And then theres a whole heap that are "negotiable" , which i hate cos i dont wanna rule myself out by asking for something to high, but i dont wanna sell myself too cheap and end up being the worst paid in the office

thanks for any advice

Feelgood

I reckon about 30 - 35k, depends on what the job entails....

IBM pay about that for a standard Deskside support role...

rick_fantastic

with a year and a half experience you should be looking at the 30k mark.

you dont say what type of experience you have?

i mean i have experience in ms exchange, server, linux, cisco routing, vpn and voip, project management, user training, citrix administration, payroll systems, php + vb.net/c/c#, java programming, lotus notes etc etc so a good all round knowledge of all aspects of running an IT dept (which i currently do)

i have 1.5 years commercial experience and am currently doing masters in business studies.

at the moment im on the higher end of the 30mark with paid masters and bonus structure.

saying that, i work extreme hours and have lots of responsibility.

i started role as a helpdesk technician and have progress to running the show, now at present i have taken on this role because it will stand to me when i have the masters finished and want to move on to.

it really depends on the level of the role too. 1st level helpdesk i would say 25k, 2nd level starting bout 30k

KTRIC

Contracting is the way to go to make money in IT support.

I'm doing level 2-3 support and getting 28 per hour, might be 30 soon.

seamus

rick_fantastic wrote: »

with a year and a half experience you should be looking at the 30k mark.

you dont say what type of experience you have?

i mean i have experience in ms exchange, server, linux, cisco routing, vpn and voip, project management, user training, citrix administration, payroll systems, php + vb.net/c/c#, java programming, lotus notes etc etc so a good all round knowledge of all aspects of running an IT dept (which i currently do)

It all really depends on experience and what the role involves.
Your standard helpdesk doesn't look at exchange, routers, switches, programming, or any kind of systems admin or management. Your standard helpdesk answers calls of the "Have you tried rebooting it" kind and troubleshoots basic issues. 25k is the maximum you will get at entry level for such a role.
After two years you should be looking at progressing towards team lead or supervisor and up to €30k.

Of course, a lot depends on the size of the team. A large helpdesk in a large company is likely to have a very specific set of things that it looks after. Any of the stuff you list above, would be looked after by teams higher up, who aren't necessarily in help desk roles. To get experience on more technologies, you have to move up the chain. A smaller team in a smaller company will give you more exposure to different technologies.

In the former case, the company will have more money, but a tighter salary scale, in the latter case they want to pay you less but can be flexible on what they give you. You're also much more likely to find yourself running sections of the IT infrastructure more quickly (as rick_fantastic probably did) because you have less competition and politics in getting promoted.

As KTRIC says, contracting is the way to make money doing phone monkey support. You can largely pitch yourself a little higher than a full-time employer would.

AARRRGH

It depends on the role and the company.

Anywhere between 20k - 30k.

Mid 20's I would have thought.

Jumpy

KTRIC wrote: »

Contracting is the way to go to make money in IT support.

I'm doing level 2-3 support and getting 28 per hour, might be 30 soon.

Thats good for level 2, bad for level 3.

Jumpy

dublindude wrote: »

It depends on the role and the company.

Anywhere between 20k - 30k.

Mid 20's I would have thought.

For a purely helpdesk role.
Min a level 2 should accept in Dublin is 40k.

Jumpy

speedy2007 wrote: »

hey guys,

just wondering what realistic salaries can be expected in dublin with a tech support job, having 1.5yrs work experience and a degree.
ive been trying to research - according to a website the average is 30k, but most jobs ive seen are more the 25k mark.
And then theres a whole heap that are "negotiable" , which i hate cos i dont wanna rule myself out by asking for something to high, but i dont wanna sell myself too cheap and end up being the worst paid in the office

thanks for any advice

The degree will mean nothing to pay rates.
1.5 years experience is fairly low, so dont expect anything major. However do not stick with this pay rate when you get experience (4-5 years) some companies may think that because you started on that pay level then you will hang around on it.

speedy2007

thanks guys , thats helped a lot.
yeah my experience has been level 1 helpdesk. I checked a few contracting roles and see i can make more from them, but they dont do any training, and i want a job where i can learn more technologies that will stand to me in the future
ive been offered one for 29k today, where i can learn a lot of new things and they promote a lot from within.
My prev employer was a huge company, and only the people who got on well with the supervisors got promoted. Not that i didnt get on well with them, but not to the extent where i go over and ask em about their weekend:rolleyes:

cheers:)

AARRRGH

Jumpy wrote: »

For a purely helpdesk role.
Min a level 2 should accept in Dublin is 40k.

No way, that's totally OTT wages for someone with 1.5 years experience!

The average salary in Ireland is only 33k!

I don't want to sound dramatic but the deluded expectations of new graduates are what's making our economy so uncompetitive.

When I finished college I was happy to spend a few years earning ****ish money getting good experience. After 1.5 years you know very little.

wheres me jumpa

dublindude wrote: »

No way, that's totally OTT wages for someone with 1.5 years experience!

The average salary in Ireland is only 33k!

I don't want to sound dramatic but the deluded expectations of new graduates are what's making our economy so uncompetitive.

When I finished college I was happy to spend a few years earning ****ish money getting good experience. After 1.5 years you know very little.

Have to agree, reality hit me like a brick wall when I came out of college.

MIN2511

Jumpy wrote: »

For a purely helpdesk role.
Min a level 2 should accept in Dublin is 40k.

Jeez that’s way OTT.... No one would pay anyone 40k for 1.5yrs experience. I would have thought 25k-33k would be fine but i stand to be corrected. OP the 29k is reasonable, but you can hold out and might get a better offer. There are loads of IT jobs out there now

Jumpy

Guys please read and understand my post before reacting. There is a full stop there you all missed.
20-30k for purely helpdesk - thats level 1.
Level 2 is above what the OP is.

AARRRGH

I did read your post correctly

40k for 1.5 years experience is still too high.

Even at level three it's still too high.

32k max. 28k reasonable.

kippy

Lads,
Can someone please outline the job functions of what ye determine to be Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 Level 4 etc roles in IT are?
I have to agree with Dublindude and Seamus so far.....

There are some serious misconceptions about wage levels and possibly job level on this thread.
For me:
Level 1. Helpdesk Support. Log and Flog. Answer a call, open ticket, do basic troubleshooting from your desk, close ticket or assign to someone who can fix. Never really leaving your desk and in general doing very basic stuff.
Salary in Dublin 18,000 - 23,000.
Level 2. May include some of the above but also could include actual deskside hardware support of PC's printers, mobile devices etc. Salary 23,000 - 30000
Level 3. Junior Sys Admin. Very little direct contact with users. Mostly works setting up network accounts, mail accounts, file and folder shares, responsible for server backups/patching etc 30000-40000
Level 4. Sys/net admin. As above but responsible for network infrastructure, IP addressing, Security, DNS, DHCP. Design and maintainence of network in general. May also have people reporting to them. 40000 - 110000 - completely dependant on what you "specialise" in or how much responsibilty you have.


These are of course my experience in the private sector and in no way outline all possible roles/responsibilities and salaries. Its very hard to actually get money out of the first few levels unless you either stay in a job and work your way through the ranks, or move jobs fairly regularly when you think you can justify it for the increase in pay. Consulting is the best earner in this sector but it comes with its own (sometimes not so obvious) pitfalls and you do (in general) have to know your stuff to do it.
Public sector scales and models vary widely.

OP, realisticilly, I would think low to mid twenties, but if you see something better that you think you could do, fire ahead and apply for it. A lot will depend on how well you do your interview. Always remember to ask for the upper end of what you believe to be negotiable. The key in may of these type of jobs at the lower levels is to ensure your starting salary is a high as possible. Never under sell yourself. I've always had a very easy going attitude to pay in an interview, basicilly letting the interviewer know that you'd be available if they made the right offer.
My last job involved looking after a software deployment infrastructure (WSUS and Altiris) for a company which had offices on all continents and all timezones. Total PC's 4500. Knoweldge of Server 2003, XP, DNS, Software deployements and of course the two pieces of software were critical.Fairly pressurised job and needed to learn fast and know my stuff when called upon. Salary 28000. Felt I should be on a lot more. Probably would be had I been in Dublin.
Much happier now.
Kippy

Raekwon

kippy wrote: »

Lads,
Can someone please outline the job functions of what ye determine to be Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 Level 4 etc roles in IT are?
I have to agree with Dublindude and Seamus so far.....

There are some serious misconceptions about wage levels and possibly job level on this thread.
For me:
Level 1. Helpdesk Support. Log and Flog. Answer a call, open ticket, do basic troubleshooting from your desk, close ticket or assign to someone who can fix. Never really leaving your desk and in general doing very basic stuff.
Salary in Dublin 18,000 - 23,000.
Level 2. May include some of the above but also could include actual deskside hardware support of PC's printers, mobile devices etc. Salary 23,000 - 30000
Level 3. Junior Sys Admin. Very little direct contact with users. Mostly works setting up network accounts, mail accounts, file and folder shares, responsible for server backups/patching etc 30000-40000
Level 4. Sys/net admin. As above but responsible for network infrastructure, IP addressing, Security, DNS, DHCP. Design and maintainence of network in general. May also have people reporting to them. 40000 - 110000 - completely dependant on what you "specialise" in or how much responsibilty you have.

+1

Seems like quite an accurate pay scale that you have there.

I think anybody looking for more than €30k with less than 2 years experience would need to take a reality check (not aimed at you OP). But in saying that I think alot of IT staff are under valued, if you consider how much other staff, for example office administration (ie: secretaries/receptionists) and HR are getting paid in comparison.

AARRRGH

Raekwon wrote: »

I think alot of IT staff are under valued, if you consider how much other staff, for example office administration (ie: secretaries/receptionists) and HR are getting paid in comparison.

Spot on. It amazes me when I meet receptionists on 40k.

youcancallmeal

kippy wrote: »

Lads,
Can someone please outline the job functions of what ye determine to be Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 Level 4 etc roles in IT are?
I have to agree with Dublindude and Seamus so far.....

There are some serious misconceptions about wage levels and possibly job level on this thread.
For me:
Level 1. Helpdesk Support. Log and Flog. Answer a call, open ticket, do basic troubleshooting from your desk, close ticket or assign to someone who can fix. Never really leaving your desk and in general doing very basic stuff.
Salary in Dublin 18,000 - 23,000.
Level 2. May include some of the above but also could include actual deskside hardware support of PC's printers, mobile devices etc. Salary 23,000 - 30000
Level 3. Junior Sys Admin. Very little direct contact with users. Mostly works setting up network accounts, mail accounts, file and folder shares, responsible for server backups/patching etc 30000-40000
Level 4. Sys/net admin. As above but responsible for network infrastructure, IP addressing, Security, DNS, DHCP. Design and maintainence of network in general. May also have people reporting to them. 40000 - 110000 - completely dependant on what you "specialise" in or how much responsibilty you have.

This is very true with regards larger setups, maybe 1000 employees and more.
But I'm working for a small company of 100 employees doing deskside support and I pretty much doing everything from level 1 to 4 listed above. I could one minute be resetting an ad pw then next doing maintenance on one of our servers.

My first IT job was in a large corporation doing level 1 support for over a year then I came to this small company and difference is unreal. Much more healthy place to work than being stuck in ITIL type setup. If I was to go looking for another job anytime soon I would definitely be looking for a smaller company.

azezil

Jumpy wrote: »

For a purely helpdesk role.
Min a level 2 should accept in Dublin is 40k.

LOL!

kippy wrote: »

Lads,
Can someone please outline the job functions of what ye determine to be Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 Level 4 etc roles in IT are?
I have to agree with Dublindude and Seamus so far.....

There are some serious misconceptions about wage levels and possibly job level on this thread.
For me:
Level 1. Helpdesk Support. Log and Flog. Answer a call, open ticket, do basic troubleshooting from your desk, close ticket or assign to someone who can fix. Never really leaving your desk and in general doing very basic stuff.
Salary in Dublin 18,000 - 23,000.
Level 2. May include some of the above but also could include actual deskside hardware support of PC's printers, mobile devices etc. Salary 23,000 - 30000
Level 3. Junior Sys Admin. Very little direct contact with users. Mostly works setting up network accounts, mail accounts, file and folder shares, responsible for server backups/patching etc 30000-40000
Level 4. Sys/net admin. As above but responsible for network infrastructure, IP addressing, Security, DNS, DHCP. Design and maintainence of network in general. May also have people reporting to them. 40000 - 110000 - completely dependant on what you "specialise" in or how much responsibilty you have.

Kippy

Now that's more realistic. I'm doing level 2 support and am on just over 30k, I started 2 years ago on 26k.

So OP a starting point of 29k is very decent indeed.

Saruman

I guess im level 4 and earn the lower end of kippy's Pay scale. I work for an IT maintenance company so visit various sites we have contracts with.

Jumpy

dublindude wrote: »

I did read your post correctly

40k for 1.5 years experience is still too high.

Even at level three it's still too high.

32k max. 28k reasonable.

Its not for 1.5 years experience! Read my other posts! its for 4-5 years.

Kippys explanation of the levels is accurate enough in description except for the pay rates, Plus there generally is no 'Level 4' as industry standard. Your Network Administrator would be listed under a level 3.

My view on industry standard Support levels.

Level 1 - Helpdesk Phone, Basic Phone support, minimal training. Some desktop work under supervision, basic account management (passwords, phone numbers etc) - Exp 0-3 years. - Salary 25-35k

Level 2 - Desktop Support, Basic server hardware support, creation of user accounts, management of permissions, patching, general training in company operating systems. Face to Face customer interaction. Investigation and resolution of problems handed to them by level 1. Exp 3-5 years - Salary 35-45k

Level 3 - Network Administration, Advanced server software support, troubleshooting of P1 issues, firewall and security issues, Active Directory/UNIX design and implementation, overall full responsibility of Backoffice systems. Little customer interaction (management only) high level of training, final resolution of problems escalated by Level 2 - Exp 5 - 10 years - Salary 45-80k


Consultancy - Self Employed or Reseller affiliated, Pre Sales conferences, Post-Sales configuration (this level varies so wildly that it would take pages to list possible duties) Exp 10+ years Salary 60k-150k

All this is based on whether you are any good and have drive to get further. If you are a lazy git prone to procrastination you could still be a level 2 after 15 years.

I am 14 years in support now, starting as the lowest of the low. This is my view on what I have experienced. Its an "average" so to speak, the levels are not set in stone at all. Some companies dont have levels, some only have two and outsource their higher functions. Some have level 3 only and outsource their lower functions.
One thing I will say though, if you know you are good, and you can prove it, then dont accept people paying you minimum wages.
After seeing the thread on what a support tech does though... I dont know how many people in IT actually work. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055230822

MIN2511

Jumpy wrote: »

One thing I will say though, if you know you are good, and you can prove it, then dont accept people paying you minimum wages.
After seeing the thread on what a support tech does though... I dont know how many people in IT actually work. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055230822

Meaning? Those of us that are not support tech are not working:eek:

Start another thread for debate

AARRRGH

Jumpy wrote: »

Its not for 1.5 years experience! Read my other posts! its for 4-5 years.

OK. Well the OP only has 1.5 years experience, so I assumed your 40k comment was referring to that amount of experience. You didn't mention the 4-5 years bit until a couple of posts later.

Jumpy

MIN2511 wrote: »

Meaning? Those of us that are not support tech are not working:eek:

Start another thread for debate

Not many in that thread anyway

kippy

Jumpy wrote: »

Its not for 1.5 years experience! Read my other posts! its for 4-5 years.

Kippys explanation of the levels is accurate enough in description except for the pay rates, Plus there generally is no 'Level 4' as industry standard. Your Network Administrator would be listed under a level 3.

My view on industry standard Support levels.

Level 1 - Helpdesk Phone, Basic Phone support, minimal training. Some desktop work under supervision, basic account management (passwords, phone numbers etc) - Exp 0-3 years. - Salary 25-35k

Level 2 - Desktop Support, Basic server hardware support, creation of user accounts, management of permissions, patching, general training in company operating systems. Face to Face customer interaction. Investigation and resolution of problems handed to them by level 1. Exp 3-5 years - Salary 35-45k

Level 3 - Network Administration, Advanced server software support, troubleshooting of P1 issues, firewall and security issues, Active Directory/UNIX design and implementation, overall full responsibility of Backoffice systems. Little customer interaction (management only) high level of training, final resolution of problems escalated by Level 2 - Exp 5 - 10 years - Salary 45-80k


Consultancy - Self Employed or Reseller affiliated, Pre Sales conferences, Post-Sales configuration (this level varies so wildly that it would take pages to list possible duties) Exp 10+ years Salary 60k-150k

All this is based on whether you are any good and have drive to get further. If you are a lazy git prone to procrastination you could still be a level 2 after 15 years.

I am 14 years in support now, starting as the lowest of the low. This is my view on what I have experienced. Its an "average" so to speak, the levels are not set in stone at all. Some companies dont have levels, some only have two and outsource their higher functions. Some have level 3 only and outsource their lower functions.
One thing I will say though, if you know you are good, and you can prove it, then dont accept people paying you minimum wages.
After seeing the thread on what a support tech does though... I dont know how many people in IT actually work. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055230822

As I said, the scales/levels were a rough approximation and in reality levels dont exist at all in most places however in the majority I have been in the job descriptions and pay levels would fall into those four.
I would agree that the smaller the company, in general the better the chances of you getting more money and being exposed to more experience however this isnt always a good thing for a lot of people and can sometimes lead to a very stressful job.
I was far more stressed in my first job in IT on 17,000 PA than I am now, but back then I was learning and almost everything was "new".
There are plenty opportunities for IT in Dublin nowadays and theres plenty options for people who arent happy with their jobs.

Moonbeam

Jumpy wrote: »

I

Level 1 - Helpdesk Phone, Basic Phone support, minimal training. Some desktop work under supervision, basic account management (passwords, phone numbers etc) - Exp 0-3 years. - Salary 25-35k

Level 2 - Desktop Support, Basic server hardware support, creation of user accounts, management of permissions, patching, general training in company operating systems. Face to Face customer interaction. Investigation and resolution of problems handed to them by level 1. Exp 3-5 years - Salary 35-45k

Level 3 - Network Administration, Advanced server software support, troubleshooting of P1 issues, firewall and security issues, Active Directory/UNIX design and implementation, overall full responsibility of Backoffice systems. Little customer interaction (management only) high level of training, final resolution of problems escalated by Level 2 - Exp 5 - 10 years - Salary 45-80k


I personally think they are very optimistic salaries.
I have been in the industry only a few years but from my experiences it is more -

1st level support -

19-25k

2nd level support -

Either internal support or taking 1st level escalations etc.

25-30k

Network Administrators -

Anything from 20k for year 1 to 50k for someone who is good with lots of experience.

Network Engineers -

30k +

Jumpy

Moonbeam wrote: »

I personally think they are very optimistic salaries.
I have been in the industry only a few years but from my experiences it is more -

1st level support -

19-25k

2nd level support -

Either internal support or taking 1st level escalations etc.

25-30k

Network Administrators -

Anything from 20k for year 1 to 50k for someone who is good with lots of experience.

Network Engineers -

30k +

Monkeys/Peanuts etc.

Accept those salaries if you like, but they are extremely low and way below what you should be getting. Again, its based on how good you are.

Raskolnikov

Moonbeam is right about the salaries for Level 1 support being rubbish. Most companies just contract out this support, hence salaries are terrible.

the_syco

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Moonbeam is right about the salaries for Level 1 support being rubbish. Most companies just contract out this support, hence salaries are terrible.

Agreed. Last place, and current place are both 20k jobs, and both level 1. Meh. Moving forward isn't always up, but sometimes to another company that offers you more to do.

AARRRGH

Would those of you on poor level 1 or level 2 wages consider a move to QA?

MIN2511

It's not the same thing, i suppose they can get retrained e.t.c but most people choose tech roles because they want to be more technical and QA isn't that technical but the money is better
I suppose it all depends on where you want to end up QA means Business Analyst/Project management and Tech consultant means basically tech consultant! (i stand to be corrected)

speedy2007

azezil wrote: »

LOL!



Now that's more realistic. I'm doing level 2 support and am on just over 30k, I started 2 years ago on 26k.

So OP a starting point of 29k is very decent indeed.

ive accepted the offer for 29k. Its involves a lot of training so i think itll be great experience and stand to me in the future

dublindude wrote: »

Would those of you on poor level 1 or level 2 wages consider a move to QA?

QA is the area i want to try get into, but most positions seems to look for at least 2yrs experience in QA. I even applied for a role that said it didnt require any experience, but the agency still told me i wasnt experienced enough lol.
Anyway the role ive taken now can give me experience of testing so in couple of years i can make the move to QA. The wages do seem a lot better from what ive seen too.


thanks for everyones replies by the way:)

fret_wimp

It really depends on the company. My first company offered me 25K right out of college ( which was great 2.5 years ago.) that was upped twice and ended up being 36k at the end of 2 years. I then moved companies and for an almost identical job I am getting something thats not too short of 50K.

Remember though the term "support" means many things, depending on the company.

Currently im in Tier 2 app support. This involves a heavy amount of sql server 2005. Lots of debugging problems and informing the developers (Tier 3) of the issue, what are the repro steps, and potential fixes. It can also include the setting up of envrionments for testing and developing new releases of the applications. Its a real "learn on your feet" kind of job.

It also involves some SQL server administration ( job creation and monitoring, granting access, sql performance managment and tweaking etc etc). Im by no means an expert in SQL Server, but i have learned a lot.

just keep this in mind in this thread. there is no generic "Support" role.

kippy

fret_wimp wrote: »

just keep this in mind in this thread. there is no generic "Support" role.

Agreed.
OP, Best of luck with your new role.
Kippy