by This is not the ONLY or even the BEST way to do it – this is just my way.
I took 10 years to travel this path, and I made many friends along the way.
In a nutshell, I took about 7 years of routinely working 12 hour days, plus 2 years practicing dealing with people and learning about people, and then back to computing again.
Here is the long version:
I started with 2 years of part-time work as a help desk technician at a private university while enrolled as a student (about 15-20 hours per week).
Upon entering the real world in 1995, joined the help desk at a rapidly growing ISP (EarthLink).
For the next 5 years, routinely worked 12 hour days, taking on more and more responsibility. Quickly got promoted to senior help desk technician and then to junior sys admin. Managed sections of the help desk and of the junior sys admin area. Specialized as a Web Hosting sys admin. Learned a lot from my colleagues!! Tried to pass it along as well.
Enter year 2000. I went to a .com start-up where I was the ONLY sys admin for a while – then a 2nd one was hired – we’re still good mates – exit after about a year, a month after regular salary stopped. Practiced my Russian heritage of making do with what you’ve got (such as building a Web server farm out of scrounged up old desktops). Routinely worked 14+ hour days. Self-confidence went way up, now I new I could make it alone as well as on a team.
Went back to Earthlink for about year and a half – again routinely working 12 hour days – this time on the Generalist Team night shift – maintenance work and special projects (new technology rollouts and integrations). Learned what it’s like to cut your colleagues some slack when needed and still work as a tight elite team.
Needed a breather – took 2 years off, beefed up my people skills: went into public service (and heavy public contact) at the City of LA public library; and into street sales (handprints in cement at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd and selling books with my church). Took a course in recognizing people’s emotions and predicting human behavior.
Came back to system administration with part-time consulting which in about 3 months resulted in a full time job offer with a salary over 6 figures. After a couple of years transferred to Sr. Sys Admin / System Architect at their subsidiary.
In sum, it took me 10 years to get to 6 figures – starting at $5.75 an hour at the Help Desk at the University.
It was never a goal for me to get to 6 figures; yet I felt the milestone when I did. I realize now there is virtue in prosperity.
If you are making over quarter million a year in this field, I’d love to hear from you and to learn how you are doing it.
If you’re just getting started, or anywhere in between, I am glad to help you any way I can, feel free to comment or email me.
Best wishes for your success,
Aleksey Tsalolikhin