Interesting thread. Then there are those of us who have indeed accepted the "lower-paying" sysprog jobs in hopes/expectations that the lower salary would be rectified to a higher one as a result of hard work. Ooops. Welcome to state government where merit raises are a thing of the past. I was a contractor in 2002 at 80/hr, contract ended and this fulltime state job came open at mid-50s. What was I to do? In five years, I've received one merit increase, while every year receiving "excellent" reviews -- there is no cause and effect. COLAs are the only help we get.
In the past several years, I've seen positions here paying 70k retire to be replaced (if replaced at all) by positions paying 50k -- and not by sysprog newbies. Sysprogs here have been de-valued, and I hope that trend doesn't catch on. In the very small market I'm in (Columbia, SC), I'm fortunate to have this job in that nobody is hiring (hence my recent inquiries to the list asking for potential markets up north). From my research, starting salaries for zOS sysprogs in the South are in the 80k-100k range, while up north maybe 90k-110k. I'm not complaining, though. While I would certainly like to be compensated more equitably to my peers in corporate, commensurate to what I bring to the table, and am troubled by the watering-down of salaries, the 37.5 hour Monday - Friday workweek with very little oncall is nice. I could handle a few more bucks and a few more hours, but I no longer have to "live" my career, I actually have a life outside of work. I get to spend more time with my new family, and personally I have to trust that God will provide sufficient for our needs. If you're fortunate to be making in the 90s and 100s, hey that's great! And if you work somewhere that actually gives merit increases and bonuses based on your hard work, appreciate what you've got. Joel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
