Hello again !

I would like to know what would be the annual wage for a Linux+ certified individual without having any experience as being employed but with 6 years Linux home experience.

Thanks !

ps: ...in the US of course

Probably some kind of minimal wage, I'm not sure how you work in the USA but here one gets a minimal wage that's pre-defined, when one gets a job, and after job experience grows the wage may grow too. Especially if one has no working experience before. So, you should probably think the job you're trying to get, what kind of people (like engineers?) do it, and what is their minimal wage usually.

Thought so too but I was expecting a closer answer to my question, e.g. minimal wage in US$.
For example, I've found a chart with average wages across the US but it's outdated.
In Oregon county where I will be going, the average wage for a System Administrator was up to 50K.
I need a refference point so I can start building my resumee.
Do you think 40K/year is reasonable for one without experience ?

Thank you !

Yes, that is a reasonable wage, but I don't think you will find too many offers that high.
I think the minimum wage is around $5.75, but you can find many jobs offering more.
I just heard of a job that might be openning up shortly for around $17.00 an hour for help desk work. I have heard from people on forums that a help desk job only pays around $8.00 an hour.
What I am trying to say is, you will probably have a hard time making $40k a year unless you really impress someone or you know someone offering a job.
Good luck

You mentioned home experiences. It is quite useless for employers, because it is hard to proof unless they give you chance to prove your skills. And the annual wage is the question of negotiation.

i also believe there is a site called salaryfinder.com. your cert, did you home study or take a course? if you took a course for the cert then add that to the resume. in texas it is about $5.50 an hour or atleast it is in lubbock.

It is hard to judge that because your expierence can also affect your starting pay in a company. The best thing to do is volunteer you free time to an organization that uses linux. This will help build your expierence.

Many thanks to all of you !
My experience with linux is based on self study (mainly) but I also took a Unix course from CISCO Networking Academy Program at a local CISCO Academy in Romania.
Well, I'm not in the rush to gain a lot from the beginning so i'm willing to accept anything that involves Linux (not a bad idea that with the volunteering), even working as a help desk employee for a while.
Now, my main concern is that of being employed so I need a reference point to start building my resumee. In that direction I need to know how much sould I request as a "desired minimum wage" given my condition.

Thank you agan !

I would say the best thing to put down is negotiable.

You can gain experience and references a lot faster by working for yourself. Sites like: even have an ebay-like feedback system for PC techs, making the whole reference process a lot easier and faster. Don't know what's available in your country though.

That is a nice site. How did you find that one?

I'm a registered, though currently inactive, service provider. Found it through a link on CompTIA's site as I recall.

Yeah I just signed up there. Saw a lot of action on there from Evansville, IN. I think it is going to take me some time to get use to how they do things there.

Plus side is you'll be getting what the middlemen (temp agencies and "consulting"/outsourcing firms) usually charge: three times what they pay the person doing the actual work, that is. Down side is they're very short-term assignments, usually half a day or less, so if you're not carefull you might find yourself stuck in traffic for four hours every day just to get four billable hours down on paper. Still, working half the time for triple the pay works out OK for most people.

Anyway, you might have to be a little patient with your cert verification. Though most of the site is fairly automated, validating credentials is still a pretty manual process over there: you have to send them an email; someone there then has to login to the MCP site; another person has to update your database records, etc...

Many thanks to all of you for replying !
One with the volunteering idea was very appreciated.
I will take that into consideration when I will arrive in the US.
Until then (not far away from now on) I'll want to ask you this: do you think there will be a chance for me to be recruited by some employer given my situation ?
I'm not seeking for a high wage from the beginning, just some job which involves working with Linux so I can gain experience for a better position which I might seek in the incomming future.