Shit there’s one more reason for moving to Canada. Something to consider I guess if I lose my job.
Just popping back in here with info on the douchenozzle commentor on the OP’s link that was complaining losing $374 from his $9000/mo pay…
The dude is a state lawyer…yeah…makes sense what he’s making haha.
Unions exist to drive wages up, wages that are currently beyond fundamental value. Unions also keep hungry or more productive workers down and keep entitled slackers at the top because of seniority. They also fight for workers “rights”, rights that shouldn’t exist. This isn’t the factory era where they practically enslaved workers. Workers have it far too good and just like the government needs cycles of liberal and conservative eras…it’s time the unions got the fuck out of the picture. Time to let free market flush the toilet, somethings been in the bowl too long and it reeks.
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LOL at RIMM playing with it’s rim in public. If I ever get laid off here I’ll be bugging you for help getting citizenship up there. 
We are, and have been, part of a global economy. I don’t think Americans know what hard work is like anymore…at least the majority. There are those who come home exhausted at the end of the day and have to do it all over again, 5, 6, and 7 days a week.
AHEM…IT/computers? I plan on continuing to get while the getting is good. While I know the internet/computers aren’t a fad, the pay is insane in general and IMO out of line. I always try to work smart over hard where possible. 
I’m thinking of going to a trade school or something…for electrical. They can’t hire someone in India to pull electric through a wall here in the US. Plumbing interests me as well but not as much as electric. Doing something that can’t be outsourced and isn’t glamorous should give me a nice backup plan if the SHTF.
It’s comical the shit that Focus is complaining about “losing” with the new contracts. Basically they are asking you to work as much as a normal person, and not get off on holidays like “talk like a pirate day”, and cut lunch down to enough time to eat and skip the nap time. No offense to him at all, it’s just the sense of entitlement union employees get. Also, pay 15% of your healthcare? Ohh boy.
X…
Why do you think IT pay is insane?
IT pay in this area is actually very low and most consulting company’s still charge the same hourly rate the companies in other markets charge.
I have nothing but great things to say about IT work however everyone who thinks they will make good money with out putting in a lot of effort studying and continuing their education is kidding themselves.
If someone wants to put in the time, effort, and has some decent people skills you could make a really good career in a short period of time(3-5 years).
I don’t intend to discredit IT though I can see why it might come off that way. It’s tough to come up with a fundamental number considering much of what we in IT do is in-tangible. I guess what I’m saying is if you’re a carpenter or plumber it’s alot easier for the brass to “justify” your pay. This isn’t a clear cut discussion because you have unions and what not driving skilled trade wages up and what not. LOL
I would love to have the higher end skills you do, just no chance to learn them at either of my recent jobs. I need to find a mentor or different path on that front and I still want to learn a “skilled trade” as a backup plan.
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Reminds me of when I was in college taking the early CIS courses and there were tons of people in it “because that’s where the money is”.
Not many of them graduated with CIS degrees, and several that did by struggling through it (and copying off people) weren’t in the field for long. It’s one of those things that you’re either going to pick up easily or you’re never going to get it.
I think I know our disconnect
You DON’T want to be in house IT at small/medium companies in Buffalo they usually don’t do shit for the most part and pay is meh, room to grow and learn is limited, and you usually get no respect.
However consulting for SMBs in Buffalo pays pretty well 40-80k or more depending on skill level however when you you’re billing time at 75-150 an hour its easy to justify the pay.
If you want to make a traditional career IE get hired somewhere and move up aim for a larger company Rich Products, Sodexo, Moog, and M&T would be some ok examples since Buffalo isn’t really home to many companies with larger IT departments.
Anywhere else in the country its extremely easy to trip fall and end up making good money in IT.
I have worked with people who didn’t enjoy IT and just did it for a job and that is severely career limiting since technology is rapidly changing and it takes a lot of learning and studying outside of work.
I’m bored with my skillset. I wish I had growth opportunity but in general you need the certs before you can get in somewhere with a chance to learn more and I learn hands on best. So it’s a catch 22.
I love technology, so it’s not like I just do this for the money. I do well and just haven’t found the right opportunity to make me want to move and learn more networking/security yet. 8/
The billing time at $xxx is what people will pay and for that it’s really a “fair price” in the free market. It’s not manipulated by union monkeys etc…so that is a true market value so to speak. I just think tech is still riding the bubble valuations in many cases though. I understand your point…you are worth what others will pay for your services at the end of the day. I could make 6 figures (or damn near) within a year or two in the VA/DC area. The pay ceiling is way higher there but I cannot justify the pay after I look at commute time and cost of housing. I assume that’s why you moved back here?
I will be moving back in a few years came back up here because of family stuff.
If you want to build an IT career in Buffalo you need to accept the fact you will most likely be changing jobs every 1-2 years learn as much as you can and move on/get paid more.
Buffalo local IT community is very small and once you start getting into higher level technologies there are very few people who are any good.
IT seems undervalued in Buffalo its funny when someones company revolves around a servers/digital billing system/VoIP a couple days of those things not working is a huge loss for most companies.
People throw around VA/DC there are a number of places in the country to work California, Colorado, Texas, NC all with huge tech sectors.
VA/DC is great if you happen to be ex military with clearance or have a company that will sponsor it for you since even shitty jobs that require a sc/ts pays out good money.
If you’re getting into IT stuff to make huge money and that is your only motivation then its probably not for you.
If you’re extremely motivated and a great learner go CCNA -> CCNP -> CCIE and go apply at Cisco they will hire you and you can easily clear 90k a year.
fucking roffled my waffle
i see IT in small to medium companies as a big opportunity honestly, but it depends if the guys driving the business are aggressive or just coasting.
maybe you guys are in IT from a service and maintenance perspective, but i see IT from a business development perspective and as a way to create products or value-add for clients that out-positions vs competitors. All things being relatively equal a hyper-strong IT dept. that is working on biz-dev stuff should clobber in the market.
shit, we’ve got projects that have IT components that are lagging months behind objectives because of IT capacity. This forum is a perfect example of something that is under-leveraged due to limitations on IT cap… that’s right Mike
If i could program i’d be bonking people over the head with new shit every week just to prove a point.
Well, welcome to the union life lol.
I’m going to school for Hvac, I hope I can find a job quickly when I finish. Either way I’ll have a skill that I could use for side work if needed.
what you don’t understand when you make a comment like that, is that for my EXACT job in the private sector someone with the same skills/education/job duties is making at least 20% more salary than I am…the benefits are what become the enticing factor to obtain/maintain a county job. If you take away the very benefits that were initially created as a means to even the playing feild to the private sector, it puts my pay under the mean for my job. This is the only reason it becomes a complaint. and FYI, additionally…someone doing the same job as me for the STATE rather than the COUNTY (I work county) they make roughly double my pay…(the person mentioned in the OP is STATE)
I guess i still dont understand the issue.
Don’t like where you’re at or how much you’re making? Change positions/jobs/careers/companys/location
I already explained previously…the job market for professionals with less than 5yrs experience is nil. I am already barely using my degree in my position as is, and this is the closest field I could obtain a job in with a degree in architecture (I design infrastucture for the Department of Environment and Planning- which is a civil engineering job)