So I recently went through some interviews and in the end was not made an offer from one place and made an offer from another but I ended up turning it down. For details see this thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/desired-salary-what-to-say/I figured I would start a new thread since although this is a continuation of that it is still very different.
First question is what pay range/total compensation package should I be looking for/expecting? All the usual places for research (glassdoor.com, salary.com, payscale.com) seemed to have widely different numbers. As low as $45k and as high as $135k with the usual recommendation based on my skillset and experience being around 92k that I should be getting. Based on past experience it seems all my offers have been on the low side. Many for less than I am making at a non-profit healthcare network in the middle of nowhere. For reference I pay $580 a month for a ranch style house and most markets I have looked at the cheapo apartments in crappy areas are at least $950 and for a similar living experience it would cost me closer to $1200-1400 a month and sometimes even a little more. Trying to figure out if I am just overreaching or have just had bad luck with places trying to low ball me and everyone else. I have 7+ years experience as a sys admin, 9+ in IT. Skillset is VMware, AD, Windows, Scripting, Exchange, Citrix, SCCM, some linux, some SAN, some networking for the short summary. VCP 4 certified. So for any who might work in the field, or even better be a hiring manager or HR person what would that skill set be worth?
Second would be does anyone have some advice on some skills I should work on to potentially get better offers? I am hoping to get my VCP 5 cert sometime in the next few months. Not sure what I would want to work on after that. Most likely some Microsoft certs. But I am open to suggestions.