At the time of writing this, I’ve spent 20 years in my career in IT and general technology. You could certainly say I’ve had a successful career to date; with plenty of ups and downs, I’ve capitalised on many opportunities in my career. I’ve succeeded and failed in many ways, and used those experiences to progress and constantly grow. The numbers truly speak for themselves if you have the same mentality around career growth and constantly learning.
I started my career in IT straight out of high school (year 12). I decided to get my degree in Information Technology and studied part time throughout my career, finishing some 11 years later! Along the way, I obtained a lot of on the job training, including industry certifications (eg. Microsoft, Cisco, etc). I also started 2x MBA courses and pulled out of both.
| Job Title | Company | Rate/Salary | Time in Role | Education Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT Technician Systems Administrator | ASX listed medical company | $10/hour to $15/hour ($20,000-30,000 +super) $40,000 to $50,000 | 4 years | High school Started University 2x Microsoft certifications |
| Systems Administrator | ISP | $55,000 | 1 year | 1x Microsoft certification |
| IT Support Technician | IT Support company | $60,000 | 1 year | |
| Server & Storage Technician | Government contractor | $57/hour inc super (~$89,000 + super) | 6 months | |
| Systems Engineer | Government contractor | $55/hour inc super (~$98,000 + super) | 6 months | |
| Solution Designer | Government contractor | $71/hour inc super (~$127,000 + super) | 6 months | |
| Consultant Senior Consultant Manager | Consulting company | $90,000 + super + bonuses $105,000 + super + bonuses $132,000 + super + bonuses | 4 years | ~10+ Microsoft certifications Internal training programs Completed Bachelors degree Started Masters of Business Administration (MBA) |
| Support Manager | Software company | $125,000 + super | 1 years | Pulled out of MBA |
| Infrastructure Architect | Software consultancy | $135,000 + super + bonuses | 3 years | 3x Microsoft certifications Security certification(s) |
| Manager | BIG4 consulting | $135,000 + super | 1 years | Security certification(s) Internal training programs |
| Systems Analyst | Insurance company | $858/day inc super (~$202,000 + super) | 6 months | |
| Solutions Architect | Consulting company | $180,000 + super | 18 months | Security certification(s) Internal training programs |
| Chief Operations/Technology Officer | ISP | $235,000 + super + bonuses | 1 year | Cisco certifications + other security certifications |
The below graph shows my salary over time. While I generally moved up with most roles, I occasionally took “backward steps” in salary to chase new opportunities and job security.
All in all:
- I have never been fired
- I have taken one redundancy where the role was re-instated to me after another staff member left
- I have only finished two contract roles and one permanent role without a subsequent role to go to
- Both contract roles finished in market down turns; the GFC and COVID-19
- I left the permanent role with the ambition to start my own company. I had a large payout of annual leave which effectively sustained 3 months of travel and recreation instead.
