Casper Administrator Certifications and Salary

[bwiessner]

Does anyone know a ball park figure for what an average Certified Casper Administror should make? Would this be similar to a Systems Administrator or level 2-3 help desk? I need to hire one already certified and with prior experience but have no idea because specific position is so new in the industry.

Thanks.

[danny33c]

1 miiiilllion dollllars :-)

[NealIV]

I would say between 70k and 100k a year depending on how many devices to manage, if they will have staff and how detailed is the engineering as there are only a select few in the work force that can manage a Mac JAMF environment correctly.

[calumhunter]

.

[dpertschi]

This should be no surprise, but, the answer will always be 'it depends', largely hinging on volume and degree of responsibility. The ball park in the U.S. is probably $40-100K +.

I'd imagine you have a school board approved budget you have to work with, as well as a (limited) local market you to draw from. For an experienced admin; take the absolute max the board approved and make it sure the position is real attractive in all other aspects.

Time frame and urgency might insist that you pay whatever available candidates are willing to start at.

[damienbarrett]

Like almost all other jobs, the salary will also vary based on location. Salaries are higher here in the Metro NYC area and in places like San Francisco because of the significantly higher cost of living. It can also depend on the type of industry you're in. A CCA for Goldman-Sachs might make significantly more than a CCA for a public school in Des Moines.

[donmontalvo]

@danny33c][/url

1 miiiilllion dollllars :-)

Note to self, buy Lotto ticket. :)

What range to offer, yea, location, budget, supply/demand, etc.

What to offer the person you want to hire, that depends on how effectively they enable the team around them. If the person has a history of implementing hacks, not documenting things effectively, and not enabling the rest of the team, well, who needs another Michael Jordan? In business it's not just about today...it's about tomorrow too. It's not just about what's good for you...it's about what's good for the company, and your team. It's not about being the SME that just raises the bar...it's about the SME who gives his/her team mates that leg up that gets them to the next level. It's not about building a silo for yourself...it's about building the team up around you. Enablers are worth more than others...and they deserve it. Hot shots with attitude aren't worth considering...unless you're trying to make a short term splash. ;)

Good luck in your search, hopefully you'll draw from the pool here in JAMF Nation.

Don

[franton]

I used to support 2000+ desktops and 300+ iOS devices in London for approx $50k per annum. Which is not good for London costs and is also public sector.

[#9]

You might also want to refer to the usually informative (if occasionally depressing) RHT Technology Salary Guide: http://www.roberthalf.com/technology/it-salary-center

In my agency we generally consider Chicago positions to be 1/3 to 1/4 cheaper than NYC, for example.

[corbinmharris]

Checked http://www.roberthalf.com/technology/it-salary-center and now very depressed...thanks ;)

[jwojda]

I'm in the corporate sector and with about 1200 machines I'm in the 70s. But that's also Chicago-area cost of living. No Jamf/Apple certifications.

[Chris_Hafner]

Private Edu here on scenic Lake Winnipesaukee. I'll just say that I do a bit better than franton did in London. Which, isn't much given my responsibilities. However, they they keep me with this spectacular environment and all the perks of living in a small New England resort town. My family within 7 miles of me at all times. My children can walk from school to my office as well. Beyond that, we care a whole lot about what we do. That's worth an awful lot.

Oh... and they pay for my PD AND give me the tools to do my job. Not everyone can say that!

[franton]

What was really frightening was that I was half way up the pay grade. However my ex-place made up for it with one of the most generous pension schemes i've ever been part of. Now I don't have either.

[jstandre]

Wow! I just looked at the Robert Half Salary Guide. Very depressing. I am a public K-12 Technology Director and, compared to the guide, my salary is peanuts. I guess I'm just in it for the love of the game.

As others have said, that is going to be a very open-ended question, with a very open-ended answer. It will depend on location, sector, org. size, job requirements, etc... I find that using glassdoor.com as a reference can help get in the ballpark.

[ctangora]

@donmontalvo
Whoa. Hold your horses. Are you trying to say MJ was not an enabler? I have to totally disagree with you there.

[jasonrodriguez]

@damienbarrett Hey D, I live in NY too. Just a question. Is their a need for JAMF admins here? I'm currently a MAC support Engineer. I have 0 Mac certifications and was looking to get my CCA & CCT. I also work in Marketing and Advertising for over 14 years. Any advice would be appreciated.

[damienbarrett]

Yes, there's a need for Casper admins and qualified Mac techs in NYC area. I see job postings all the time on Dice, LinkedIn, and even here at the JAMF Nation job board. Here's the thing though; it's often very difficult to find a truly excellent Mac IT administrator with lots of experience. So many of the candidates come from the PC world and are attempting to make the crossover to managing iOS (and Macs get thrown in) devices. And the worlds are very different. Many cannot do it or don't have the institutional knowledge or flexible enough thinking to be a top candidate.

My advice to you, if you're truly serious about being a top Mac IT person, is to first get one or more of the Apple certs (like ACMT) and then get the CCA cert. Also, you'll have to live-and-breathe OS X and iOS. I don't claim to be a Windows technician even though I am a highly-qualified Windows user, because I choose to not live and breath Windows. Anyone who wants to be a Mac technician has to do more than just install the OS and double-click on icons. Read each of the Siracusa reviews, in order, from 10.1 --> 10.10. Then read them again. Then buy the Schoen Regan books for 10.6 and 10.7 Mac System Administration and read them. Build a test OS X Server and become comfortable with configuration profiles. Install Xcode. Learn how .pkg installers are build. Practice coding a simple project application even if you never do anything with it; it will teach you the constructs of frameworks, extensions, and more. Read the Mac IT blogs by Rich Trouton, Greg Neagle, Ben Toms, and other leaders in the Mac tech space. Obsess over Mac tech questions at Quora, StackExchange and Reddit.

"MAC" is either a cosmetics company or the unique address for a hardware NIC. It is not shorthand for Macintosh. Knowing this minor difference can mean getting hired as a Mac IT person or having your resume shunted to a reject pile.

[emily]

+1 on the sentiment of "Wow that IT Salary Guide is pretty depressing" …

[jasonrodriguez]

@damienbarrett Thanks for getting back to me man...I get it and I definitely know the difference of a MAC (address) and M.A.C. (cosmetics). Unfortunately, when you work as a Technical Services Manager and work mostly with projects, acquisitions, provisioning and day to day you don't have a chance to breath Apple products. In this new position I want to take advantage of being the best Mac/Apple administrator. Thanks for all the resources I will look them up too...

[bajones]

Wow, that Robert Half document is eye-opening. Correcting for location variance, I was making at best 20k less than the minimum described salary in my field and at worst 50k less. This is also without adding any skills percentages from the right sidebar. I almost wish I hadn't read that document. It was worth it just for the glossary, though.

[acdesigntech]

here in cleveland i get paid just shy of 70k to manage 1200 Macs worldwide. I am CJA certified (and ACSA 10.6, but wtf cares at this point :P), have over 15 years' experience in Mac administration and integration with primarily MS-backed infrastructures, etc etc, and according to salary.com I make about 15-20k less than I should for my job responsibilities and location. Those salary reports are all garbage in my opinion and do nothing but contribute to the employee vs. employer arrangement. I think that the cost of living in your location should be the deciding factor of what salary range you offer. I used to live near NYC, and I wouldn't ever consider a job that pays less than 125k nowadays, same goes for DC, also where I used to live. I make less now than I did in NY and live twice as good. It's all relative.

and

"MAC" is either a cosmetics company or the unique address for a hardware NIC. It is not shorthand for Macintosh.

:D :D :D :D :D :D

[adamcodega]

@damienbarrett Well said, you've got real actionable advice there. Can I subscribe to your newsletter?

@jasonrodriguez But on the other hand, you've got project and purchase management skills you may not have strived for but are definitely going to be helpful.

I feel my job is 50% Mac and 50% network but really it's 30% Mac, 30% Network, 20% service desk manager and 20% purchasing manager. I'm okay with that, because you just try to stay relevant in all of those categories.

It's not a bad thing to feel like an imposter or wonder if you're learning enough, what's bad is when you feel like you don't need to learn anything new. Then you'll be left behind.

On the original topic, I don't think a CCA position should be treated differently from a regular IT administrator at your company. Like any other position you may pay more if they are harder to find.

[Chris_Hafner]

@adamcodega

what's bad is when you feel like you don't need to learn anything new. Then you'll be left behind.

Great quote!

[donmontalvo]

@adamcodega {quote} what's bad is when you feel like you don't need to learn anything new. Then you'll be left behind.

Great quote!
{/quote}

Another thing to consider, some of us come from fields where we need to remain relevant, even if we only overlap.

So what we may want/need to continue to learn may not be directly related to management of Macs.

But yea, nobody wants to be a floating piece of dead wood in any business. ;)

[jasonrodriguez]

@adamcodega Sup A! Thanks for the advice man. "I'm okay with that, because you just try to stay relevant in all of those categories." Story of my life. Thanks brother...