Asking for raise

Or would going for Master's be a better option? I have a BA in Computer Science.
 
So I made the choice to get a Masters vs. additional certs at this point. Certs are important, but they have a shelf life.

You have a BA? Not a BS? CS or CIS?
 
Laurence said:
So I made the choice to get a Masters vs. additional certs at this point. Certs are important, but they have a shelf life.

You have a BA? Not a BS? CS or CIS?
Click to expand...

yes BA in Computer Science. I don't know if I want to go for Master's yet
 
As your employer will pay for your masters, take it and don't think twice. A lot of people forget the opportunity cost of getting a master's, so when a company will support you in a way that your only opportunity cost is time, it's a golden ticket. Sure beats trying to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

If you decide that you're not ready to jump into a master's, take the Unix class as it's much more marketable long-term. It'll pave the way for more advanced Unix sysadmin courses, which ultimately will make your resume significantly stronger.

maggieddd said:
yes BA in Computer Science. I don't know if I want to go for Master's yet
Click to expand...
 
I agree. In fact I'm taking three UNIX courses in March (yes while working on the Masters, because I'm sick in the head!).
 
One word --> Outsource. I would do a Masters degree first and foremost.

My niche is implementing and supporting large scale Oracle ERP applications on UNIX platforms. I will tell you this, mega corps are always looking for "opportunity" to trim costs. One big cost hog is infrastructure. My former employer didn't bat an eyelash signing a multimillion dollar deal with IBM to outsource most of it's infrastructure to a remote location in Brazil.

Back to my niche, a very lucrative living can be made doing implementation consulting on large scale ERP applications. I get inquires once a month from IBM and Oracle to do just this with a caveat: 100% travel which I will not do. The pay can run >150K per year.
 
You have a work schedule to die for, but you owe it to yourself to keep your skills state of the art. And do not overlook the possibility that your school may outsource some or all of your job, or that leadership changes and you are out the door.

I like the weekly report. It will serve you well.
 
Brat said:
You have a work schedule to die for, but you owe it to yourself to keep your skills state of the art. And do not overlook the possibility that your school may outsource some or all of your job, or that leadership changes and you are out the door.

I like the weekly report. It will serve you well.
Click to expand...
what makes you think I work for a school?
 
cube_rat said:
One word --> Outsource. I would do a Masters degree first and foremost.

My niche is implementing and supporting large scale Oracle ERP applications on UNIX platforms. I will tell you this, mega corps are always looking for "opportunity" to trim costs. One big cost hog is infrastructure. My former employer didn't bat an eyelash signing a multimillion dollar deal with IBM to outsource most of it's infrastructure to a remote location in Brazil.

Back to my niche, a very lucrative living can be made doing implementation consulting on large scale ERP applications. I get inquires once a month from IBM and Oracle to do just this with a caveat: 100% travel which I will not do. The pay can run >150K per year.
Click to expand...
hmmm, how do I get into implementation consulting on large scale ERP application? Where do you learn Oracle?
 
403b plans are retirement plan for Universities, civil government, and not-for-profit employees. Free tuition for employees and family members at affiliated schools is common in higher education.

Could be wrong, of course, but most persons with your benefits structure work in higher ed (tho could be non-profit private primary/secondary school affiliated with a faith-based education system).

Well, was I wrong:confused:
 
maggieddd said:
hmmm, how do I get into implementation consulting on large scale ERP application? Where do you learn Oracle?
Click to expand...

You'll need to start from the bottom, which isn't bad pay by the way. You need to look for opportunities either within your organization or other companies that may be hiring Jr. System Analysts (or other entry level positions of that ilk). Having a business background coupled with the technical knowledge is quite helpful as well. Understanding business functionality in one breath and speaking with your peers about CBO on Oracle 10g, or knowing how and why you need to grep unix at the command line (lol) will make you valuable.

You can't become a subject matter expert in the ERP implementation space overnight, but you could certainly work towards that goal. Also, it's key to build up your career network along the way.
 
"But if you ask for a rise, it's no surprise, that they're giving none away..."

Pink Floyd
 
Maggie, Wow! You have great benefits. USE THEM!!!! as the Board members are advising. You will make yourself more fulfilled AND more marketable at the same time.

This is ALL up to you!
 
Brat said:
403b plans are retirement plan for Universities, civil government, and not-for-profit employees. Free tuition for employees and family members at affiliated schools is common in higher education.

Could be wrong, of course, but most persons with your benefits structure work in higher ed (tho could be non-profit private primary/secondary school affiliated with a faith-based education system).

Well, was I wrong:confused:
Click to expand...
You were very close ;)
 
cube_rat said:
You'll need to start from the bottom, which isn't bad pay by the way. You need to look for opportunities either within your organization or other companies that may be hiring Jr. System Analysts (or other entry level positions of that ilk). Having a business background coupled with the technical knowledge is quite helpful as well. Understanding business functionality in one breath and speaking with your peers about CBO on Oracle 10g, or knowing how and why you need to grep unix at the command line (lol) will make you valuable.

You can't become a subject matter expert in the ERP implementation space overnight, but you could certainly work towards that goal. Also, it's key to build up your career network along the way.
Click to expand...
Thanks. There are no opportunites of such nature in my organization and I would hate to just quit and find another job without such benefits as I have now, so I think I will start with taking a UNIX class. Just have to figure out where I can practic all of the UNIX stuff I will learn at school.
 
Meadbh said:
Maggie, Wow! You have great benefits. USE THEM!!!! as the Board members are advising. You will make yourself more fulfilled AND more marketable at the same time.

This is ALL up to you!
Click to expand...
Yes, I am going to use my current employer to gain more knowledge at a local school
 
Another question. There is a web class offered on Windows Server. I don't have too much knowledge on that. I know some basics, but wouldn't mind learning more about Active Directory and such.
Do you think that's valuable? No need for this in my job but maybe worth knowing. What do you think?
 
If you aren't using it , or won't be in the near future, you'll probably lose what you learn in the Active Directory class. In addition, I was thrown into Active Directory when we upgraded our servers and managed just fine without any training. If you have nothing better to do, but otherwise not a high priority. Are you looking to not do programming/software engineering?
 
Laurence said:
If you aren't using it , or won't be in the near future, you'll probably lose what you learn in the Active Directory class. In addition, I was thrown into Active Directory when we upgraded our servers and managed just fine without any training. If you have nothing better to do, but otherwise not a high priority. Are you looking to not do programming/software engineering?
Click to expand...
shoot, I don't know what I am looking for. I guess, I would try anything that is worth having on my resume. That's why I am asking you guys what is worth knowing. I don't seem to know which direction to go.
 
maggieddd said:
Thanks. There are no opportunites of such nature in my organization and I would hate to just quit and find another job without such benefits as I have now, so I think I will start with taking a UNIX class. Just have to figure out where I can practic all of the UNIX stuff I will learn at school.
Click to expand...
If you have a spare computer you can install a free Linux OS, which is nowadays most common Unix platform.
For example from http://www.centos.org/
Even if you don't have a spare computer, you could run Linux OS in a virtual machine on your Windows computer.
If you don't have a dedicated computer available, you could practice at any of the servers offering free Unix shell accounts ( http://www.ductape.net/~mitja/freeunix.shtml )

Good luck,
sailor
 
Linux is a free operating system that can run on a UNIX platform. IBM's O/S version for UNIX is AIX. You should learn command line procedures (powerful stuff!) and teach yourself shell scripting. If you know your way around the command line (who needs stinkin GUI?) and can develop scripts, you'll bump up your resume a notch.
 
Plus when you are in a meeting and you spew out things like "the path isn't set" and " oh, just ls -ltr" or " read the man page, geez!" you get street cred. ;)
 
cube_rat said:
Linux is a free operating system that can run on a UNIX platform.
Click to expand...

Linux runs on various hardware platforms (not on a Unix platform).
 
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