Dear What Am I Worth,
I am currently working as a Windows 2000/Citrix specialist for a major telco in the UK, where I have been for the past 18 months. The main responsibility of my current role is the design and implementation of a Citrix Metaframe XPe server farm running on Windows 2000 including approximately 100 servers. This has involved the use of Citrix NFuse, Citrix Secure Gateway, Citrix Installation Management Services and Citrix Resource Management Services. In addition to this, I have also been involved in VB development in this role, particularly in the areas of ADSI for active directory manipulation and also ADO for logging information to, and retrieving information from, a SQL database.
Prior to this I was working on another contract for the same telco in the UK. This role was a mixture of implementation and third line support.
During my time in this role, my main responsibility was for the pan-European thin client network for a major customer which included approx 150 servers servicing 4000 users, including a project to rebuild all the servers in the farm as part of a migration to a VPN solution. The main skills used in this role were Citrix Metaframe 1.8, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, IIS, Exchange Server and SQL Server.
Before that, I worked for an outsourcing company in NZ performing a system administration/third-level support function for a wide range of customers.
I have five years' experience and have Microsoft, Citrix, Novell, Cisco and Comptia qualifications. These include MCSE+I, CCA, CNE, CCNA and A+, and I am currently completing my Windows 2000 MCSE and also my CCEA.
I am looking at returning to New Zealand soon but after working in the UK it is difficult to estimate what sort of salary or contract rate I should be asking for. I would very much appreciate it if you could suggest a figure for both permanent and contract work.
Returning home
Elan IT replies: You will probably be looking at around $70,000 for permanent or $60 per hour for contract work, for a support role but you may attract a higher salary if you were to gain higher Cisco qualifications. You will also find that although Citrix is in reasonable demand, the scale of installations in New Zealand is likely to be smaller than what you have been working with. The market in New Zealand is also very much smaller and it may help you to broaden your horizons by looking at pre-sales support or design.
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