I ran across this LinkedIn discussion in the VMware Certified Professionals group the past week and thought this was something worthy to get out to anyone else who hasn't read the thread.
The title of the thread is "Recruiters that offer a low rate for VMware/VCP engineers.... What to do?". I'm sure all of us have seen short-term and long-term contracts that are considered well below the pay grade that the certification deserves. The only way a VCP can get what he/she deserves is by figuring out your own self worth..
Heath explains:
Fellow VMwarers... I believe it's important, and in our best interest, not to blow-off opportunities where recruiters present a contract rate or salary that is too low. This is an opportunity to help the recruiter, and for the recruiter to help the employer, to understand the value of being a VMware Engineer and the VCP certification, and at the same time help to maintain good rates for us as VMware Engineers. I feel if we all start making this effort, we'll all benefit. Think of this as an eUnion group effort. Ha ha! But seriously, I keep this statement as a draft email in my Outlook. Please feel free to use it in your correspondence with recruiters. It's important to be polite. Here's how I responded to a recent offer....
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"Thanks for your consideration. Although it's a kind offer, the rate is very low for VMware/VCP engineer. You may wish to revisit this rate with your colleagues and client. Here's a link for USA average salary for VMware/VCP engineer http://www.indeed.com/salary/Vcp.html . Obviously, salaries for VMware/VCP engineers working in higher cost of living areas like New York, DC/Virginia, California would demand higher salaries, by at least 10+% of that average, and all-inclusive contract over salary rates would further increase that amount by approximately 20%.
My current rate is 50% higher than your offer of $45/hr. Standard calls I receive for NYC area are in the range of $62-75/hr. I hope this is helpful to you."
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Remember.... we're a highly specialized group of individuals. Let's keep the rates up!!! (-:
The thread has a lot of comments and even some by Rick Scherer (@rick_vmwaertips) from vmwaretips.com that talks about his going contract rate, just remember Rick is a very talented individual w/ a VCDX cert.
Here are a few comments that stuck out:
- Even though the economy is tight, we need to push the recruiters, and the recruiters need to push the client. There's only 15,000 VCP4s worldwide. Limited supply and strong demand is more valuable than gold. We are in limited supply. Even VCP3'ers. Every nickle helps!
- Very interesting....I'm a VCP (3 and 4) and the Virtualization Lead for a VAR where we're looking at potential hires in the near future to continue building out our VMware practice. While this potentially impacts my salary (of course), I'm also mulling how much we can pay someone based on what we can charge customers...I'm curious.....for VMware service work, what kind of rates do you see quoted for projects/days/hourly? (quoted to a customer that is)
- That is a tough question. It will vary by Geography, Overall Skill Set, and VMware competence. Some of the VAR's in my area are billing between 190 and 225/hr for the "Heavy Hitters". These are gentlemen with both tech Savvy (VMware, MS, Cisco, and SAN tech skills) and high-end soft skills (presentation and explanation skills).
- Be wary about the services pricing. I have seen "average VMware" skills go for as low as 145/hr. This skill set would be specific to VMware and not very deep in other areas.
- There sure is differences between countries here...I live in Norway, and current rates for a senior engineer is in the $160-220 p/H range. This applies for Microsoft IT Pros / Citrix experts etc. as well. It's quite expensive living in Norway, so this isn't rocket pay considered to other occupations, but decent. There aren't many international companies situated in Norway, but my suggestion is to find one of those who are, get hired and payed Norwegian salaries, and have a nice time in this country.
- To help level set, here in California I wouldn't accept anything less than $175/hr on a T&M consulting opportunity (VAR or Recruiter would charge ~$300/hr). Keep in mind that I consider myself a senior level expert having VCP2,3,4 and VCDX certifications.
- Experience, Certifications and Personality go a long way. Often too many people simply focus on a specific technology but now we're thinking of IT and enterprise computing in a different light. We're breaking down the barriers of separate silos (Compute, Storage, Network, Applications, etc). We now need to know the 10k foot view of these multiple pieces. To really shine you really need to dig deep into the trenches of each, that's what will make you valuable to an organization. In my current role what sets me apart is my in depth knowledge of not only virtualization but also networking, storage, compute as well as how applications interact and operate in this new cloud environment.