While the prospects of finding or switching jobs in this economy --
no less getting a raise -- may seem dismal, network operations professionals should have a glint of hope.
David Foote, president and chief research officer of Foote Partners,
LLC, (www.footepartners.com) said that some industries are still
hiring networking operations directors, and that compared with IT
professionals as a whole, network operations professionals are still
earning more than most.
Foote said that the top industries now seeking networking pros are
banking and finance, health care and medical, insurance and software
development.
Show me the money
For the first half of 2002, the base salaries for all IT
professionals were down 5.5% compared with the same period in 2001;
however, base salaries for network operations directors were up 2.1%,
Foote said. Note, however, that total compensation for those
directors was down 3.9%, because bonus premiums were down 37.5%.
Foote said that in the first quarter of 2001, network operations
directors nationwide earned an average base salary of $101,167, plus
about $21,751 in bonuses. That compares with a total compensation
decline for the first quarter of this year to $103,282 average base
salary, with only $11,361 in bonuses.
But Foote says take heart; preliminary research results for April
through July of this year shows that annual base salaries appear to
be approaching an average of about $111,000.
Dan Kusnetsky, vice president of system software at IDC, said his
research firm's demand-side data shows that almost every industry
uses networks for some portion of their work. He also echoed Foote's
take on which businesses are now hiring.
While perhaps it's the more complex operations looking for networking
IT folks, Kusnetsky added, "Networking touches on many other areas of
IT, including things like operating environments, security systems,
identity management software, applicatio
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n development and deployment
tools, applications, etc. The broader an individual's knowledge is,
the more valuable he/she can be to an organization."
Don't cause trouble, and do your homework
IDC's Kusnetsky also suggests that folks "consider how to present
themselves as a solution, rather than another problem. Hiring
managers are looking for someone to come and take problems on and
solve them, not a person who's going to be another problem."
"The more research a candidate does on the company, its problems, its
technology, what others in that company's community are doing, the
more likely the candidate can sound well-rounded and knowledgeable
and solve problems for the hiring manager," he said.
In the trenches
Veteran IT professional Chuck Yoke, who is a networking manager in
the travel and hospitality industry, started in networking 18 years
ago. He knows the ins and outs, what general training one needs and
also some things to watch out for.
"At the time [I started my career] there was no formal training," he
said. "It was more 'seat-of-the-pants' experience gained by reading
manuals and then doing the work. At this point, if anyone wants to
try to get into networking IT management, my advice is to first make
sure this is something you want to do. With the recent market,
competition is much tougher. Understand that a certification such as
CCNA is only an entry-level certification, basically certifying that
you have passed a test. This only verifies that you know the basics
of IP networks and Cisco router configuration. To advance, you'll
need to gain practical hands-on experience."
School "daze"
In the higher-education vertical market, Horace Greeley, network
specialist at Stanford University, acknowledges that the rate of
growth in opportunity and salary for network administrators and
specialists is "growing."
"Slower, yes," he said, "but it?s definitely still alive."
At Stanford, Greeley manages everything from the local access point
to the campus backbone. This includes the user's desktop as to NOS,
switching, VPN, firewall, SQL DBA, some management-specific Web
services and their associated hardware and software, local
workstation OS configuration, and a small degree of end-user support.
Does his salary stack up versus commercial networking pros? "I am
well paid by Stanford standards, but I would increase my salary by a
factor of 1.5 to 2.5 times if I were to take the plunge into the
locally-present maelstrom."
Michelle Graziose Webb (mgrazwebb@yahoo.com) is an IT freelance writer based near Boulder, CO.
