Dear What Am I Worth,
I have been working as an IT operations technician for a large cooperative farming company in Rotorua for nearly four years, with a diverse range of duties, including maintenance, analysis and development of the IT systems across 10 farms (soon to be extended to 70); development and support of databases and software; and support and training of farm managers and staff.
With the work that I am doing I find it hard to compare myself to others in the IT world, and don't know what I am worth. I have a BTEC National Diploma in Computer Studies, a British qualification and in recent years have attended private courses for Microsoft Access and Excel, Visual Basic for Applications, and Corel Paradox Object PAL.
I have experience with numerous operating systems, languages, databases and applications, and spent one year in the UK as a programmer. My goals are to get involved with web design (I will be doing a FrontPage course, then developing the company's website) and to sit the Microsoft Office User Specialist ("MOUS") certificate.
Dairy king
Aacorn International replies: It would appear that your role is highly varied and that your salary may be disadvantaged in an industry where premiums are paid to specialists. A graduate with five years' experience can look towards a salary range of $50,000 to $55,000 — this maybe higher if there is a significant staff supervision or management team content, or slightly less when undertaking such roles in a provincial location.
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