How can you tell how much you're worth?

[stanav]

As IT professionals, how do you evaluate your skill levels and thus how much you should be paid?

I'm on the outlook for another job. It's not that I don't like my current employer, but I strongly think that I'm being under paid... way under paid in comparison to my skills and job responsibilities. Let me first describe my job and my pay range, and you let me know if I should look for another job. Basically, I'm a do-it-all IT guy in a mid-size, multi-state, multi-location manufacturing company. I manage (9) Win2003 servers and the company's intranet. I also provide technical support to over 200 local and remote corporate users. On top of that, I have to develop software for company's internal use as needed. I also build and maintain about a dozen of company websites. And my current pay is under $50K/year.

So, my question is, should I stay with this job or should I start looking for another one? What's the pay range should I look for in New England area?
All inputs are greatly appreciated.

[techgnome]

Research it.... usethings like CareerBuilder.com and dice and monster.com to see what comparable jobs are going for in the area. Look for Annual Salary Surveys, they show the high/low/avg/mean ranges are.

Talk to others in similar lines of work in the area.... see if there are any User Groups around.

=tg

[Foxer]

I've tried using websites and market research but they are often too generic or their definitions of job titles are not the same as yours. A "business analyst" can mean so many different things it's hard to take that salary band and apply it to your role/experience.

The best way I've found is to talk to other IT professionals outside your workspace. The more senior the better. If you no any IT managers these are the best people to talk to. You can let them know your skills and experience and since they do a big part of hiring and firing they will know the market rates pretty well. If you don't know any managers then talk to your geeky friends. Don't ask them how much they get paid but ask in broad terms "Would you do this job for $50k -> $60k"?

If that fails then talk to recruitment agencies. Tell them you think you're underpaid and you're looking for somewhere that pays more. You won't have to commit to anything (in Australia there are no contracts until you're ready) and they will tell you over the phone how much they think they can get for you. Have some answers ready for them like if you want permanent or contract work and how far you're prepared to travel for a job. They may ask you for your current salary or ask you how much you want. A valid answer is "more than I get now".

It's an age old question and after 12 years in the industry I'm still not 100% certain what my market worth is either! Good luck.

[RhinoBull]

... And my current pay is under $50K/year.

So, my question is, should I stay with this job....

It's not only about how much you make but rather how much is left after all your bills are paid.
If your weekly pay check covers your monthly expenses then you're doing quite alright.
However the more you make the more you spend - that's the law of life you can't avoid.

Shall you stay at your current place? If you like where you are, people like you and you get lots of respect then perhaps why not?

Good luck.

[timeshifter]

Given that I'm 20, I figure I'm worth as much as a good employer will pay.. right now, that's about $38k a year. Probably not what my skills in and of themselves are worth, but taking my age, lack of formal education, and relative lack of professional experience into account, I'm satisfied with it.

[bigMeUp]

A related question which has been bugging me recently: how do I get an objective measurement of my skills? I don't rate MS Certification much, ever since my sister-in-law got an MSCD a few years back, entirely from reading books and cribs. I remain firmly convinced she could not write

Dim S As String

on her own!

[Hack]

Research it.... usethings like CareerBuilder.com and dice and monster.com to see what comparable jobs are going for in the area.

Bingo! This is it right here. It is irrelevant beyond definition of irrelevant what an IT professional makes in Tuscon if you live in Seattle.

[DirtyHowi]

finally an easy question to answer,

your worth exactly the amount that exists at the intersection of what they are willing to pay and what your willing to accept.

[techgnome]

finally an easy question to answer,

your worth exactly the amount that exists at the intersection of what they are willing to pay and what your willing to accept.

Unfortunately.... that's not entirely true. I believe I'm worth more than I'm being paid. I look at those annual surveys... I look to see what others in my field are making, I'm making a bit less than I would like or am capable of. BUT... the environment, the perks, and the people I work with make up for that.... even when things are at its worst.

-tg

[stanav]

I've tried searching on monster.com, careerbuilder.com... and run into the same problem as Foxer stated in post#2, that is their job titles or job descriptions don't or just partly match what I'm doing. For example, they categorize IT jobs into software, hardware, and support... but there's no job that does all three fields as I'm doing. They also assign "levels" for each job and those descriptions for the levels are just too generic and overlap one another. Take myself for example, I have a bachelor degree in computer science, been working on the field for over 3 years... Should I consider myself at level 2 or level 3? More importantly, it doesn't matter what I consider myself is but what the prospective employers are seeing that really counts.

Although talking to other IT professionals in the same area is an excellent idea, I'm new to the area and hardly have any friends besides my co-workers. It doesn't do any good talking to them for obvious reason: they work for the same company as I do. Talking to recruitment agencies is also a good idea. I'll try this and see what they think.

I'm still open for your inputs on this subject.
And thank you all who have contributed your thoughts, suggestions and ideas to this thread.

[DirtyHowi]

TG, that's predicated on the assumption that someone else would find your skills worth more than the current payor. they may or they may very will find your skills to be worth less than you are currently compensated.

this axiom holds true anywhere my time is traded for someone elses money.

[Kasracer]

I just recently went through this when I was looking for a new position. My previous employer, according to multiple recruiters, were paying me very low which I thought was shocking since, at the time, I was 21 and making what I thought was decent money. At the time I was doing quite a bit of interactive development with Flash, Flash remoting and Ajax with some site design mixed in. Though I can't say I was totally surprised since, at the time, my boss told me that I was being paid low but it was okay since I made more than him when he was my age .

Anyway, it was very difficult for me to figure out how much I was worth since I was only 21 and had a 2 year degree (still working on my 4 year degree). I didn't want to go looking for a position thinking I was worth $60k+ due to my lack of professional experience and my age but I also didn't want to sell myself short. I found the best way to figure out how much I would be able to get from an employer was to go through recruiters. After showing the recruiters what I was capable of, most of them found good positions for me (I turned down one offer for a lower one but it was a better position) and they were all in the same price range.

I would say go to a recruiter (they usually go to you when you post your resume, heh) as they are typically very good at gauging what an employer is willing to pay you. Naturally this doesn't tell you how much you're worth but it at least will show you how much companies are willing to pay you at this point in time.