[rescue] What am I worth in America ?

[Kurt Huhn]

> Hi I'm seriously considering moving overseas due to the fact I make bugger
> all. I am experienced with the usual crap like DOS, Windows 3.11/95 and
> basic NT 4.0 and 2000 administrator (no MCSE). Seven 7 experience with
> Linux as a home user, only 2 years actually being paid to use it.
> Tarantella 3.11 experience. What can I expect to get paid in $US and how
> does that relate to the cost of living. (I'm in New Zealand)

Well, you can look on salary.com to give you a rough estimate of what you
might be worth, based on locality, skillsets, and experience.  I've found it
to be roughly accurate, if you're honest with yourself and don't
misrepresent what you actually know.

There are also some other factors to think about - do you want to work for
$MAJOR_CORP or $SMALL_COMPANY.  The differences are enormous.  For instance,
my current employer is a small company with less than 12 employees total.
The #SMALL_COMPANY market is always hiring, but you take risks by working
for budding technology companies - stability being the major risk.  However,
$MAJOR_CORP isn't exactly providing incredible amounts of job security these
days either.

I personally have made sacrifices in monetary compensation to avoid working
for $MAJOR_CORP, in return for flexible hours, telecommuting, short commute,
good health benefits, and the opportunity to work with a tightly-knit and
streamlined team.  Sure, more money would be great, but I like spending time
with my kids more than I like spending forced overtime sitting in front of a
computer monitor.  An odd benefit (meaning, one you don't see very often) is
that we don't have any official "vacation time".  We all just self-govern
ourselves - take days off when we need a rest or have something we want/need
to do.  As long as the work is accomplished and progress is made...

Kurt