M365 Admin in Baltimore/DC, like money, where’s the next jump?
Posted by WorldlinessPresent36@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 42 comments
Early 20s, bachelor’s done, relatively early in my career, currently a Microsoft Administrator in the Baltimore/DC area running the full M365 stack (Entra, Intune, Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, Purview, Power Platform, Autopilot, AVD).
Certs: MS-102, AZ-900, MD-102, MS-900, Security+, Network+.
I like the work, but I also like money. Couple questions:
1. Sitting at $90k. Underpaid, fair, or actually decent for this market? Want a real reality check, not Glassdoor fantasy numbers.
2. What’s the natural next jump — role and cert-wise? Leaning AZ-104 → Azure engineer track but open to hearing where the actual money is in this market (cleared roles, gov contracting, etc.).
3. Worth pursuing a master’s, or would the time/money be better spent on more certs and hands-on Azure work?
Hit me with it.
LessProtection1225@reddit
Agreed. Was at 85 at 27 and just squeezed past 100 w bonus at 31
wjjeeper@reddit
I didn't hit 6 figures until 40. Congrats!
LessProtection1225@reddit
Thank you!
wjjeeper@reddit
Can you get a clearance? That's an easy 30-40k bump.
WorldlinessPresent36@reddit (OP)
Yup that’s also the route I was thinking, easy way to increase salary with same workload
RilkeanHearth@reddit
That's not how that works. OP has to find a company willing to sponsor his clearance, and this can take a while. A lot of companies want you to have a clearance already and there's tons of people have it as is in the DC metro
pinrolled@reddit
It's not impossible to find a company to sponsor your clearance. You have to get it from somewhere!
RilkeanHearth@reddit
If from scratch, not too many private companies will due to the time and cost. The dmv and places with military presence has more than enough folks with existing clearance already
DapperSand3413@reddit
Man, I am working in IT Support I/II and want to level up to M365 Admin to be like you. I have most of the same certs as you, B.S. and enough experience. Hoping that will be a good starting point to getting more into a SysAdmin role in the near future.
WorldlinessPresent36@reddit (OP)
It’s not as far out as you might imagine, keep applying bro, lots of nos before you you hear yes
I wish you the best
ocviogan@reddit
This thread is really making me realize that I am severely more underpaid than I thought.
8923ns671@reddit
It's hard for me to believe these numbers. These are not the numbers I am seeing in job postings.
Leasj@reddit
A lot of jobs don't even post salaries. My current position was posted as "Systems Administrator". I didn't even get a salary range until after 3 interviews... Ended up working out but I would have been pissed if they low balled me after all of that.
PhoenixVSPrime@reddit
I'm similar exp as op but 56k at an msp. I regret not finishing ccna
Leasj@reddit
How long has it been since you have job hopped? I know the market is in the gutter rn... but just curious. That's where I got the biggest increases in salary. May be worth applying to some positions at a higher salary just to see if you can get any bites.
PhoenixVSPrime@reddit
I've been at the same company for 3 1/2 years with about 5 years total in IT.
I didn't hop because I managed to stay fully remote and didn't think I could get more than 60k if I went back to the office.
Leasj@reddit
Ah well fully remote definitely changes things. I make a decent amount more but I also have to commute 30-40 mins to work depending on traffic. With gas going up it is making a huge dent in my actual take home.
JM_Artist@reddit
Maryland MSP 42k, A+ five years. Yeah, lots of us are underpaid.
Loudergood@reddit
There are Maryland msps that pay double that.
RiceeeChrispies@reddit
*Cries in British*
WorldlinessPresent36@reddit (OP)
All good, MSP’s are notorious for this it’s on you to decide when it’s your time to leave though
SystemHateministrate@reddit
Factor in cost of living as well. Seeing these high salaries is like oh wow I'm so underpaid, but I live in a low COL state.
Imaclassicman19@reddit
I’m also in the DC area and in my early 20s with 3 years IT experience. My base salary is $80k but with my bonus and incentives goes up to $98k. I think you are being paid pretty fairly when it comes to your experience and age but there’s always more money to be made. My other friend with 3 years experience just got a hybrid Cloud Engineer offer in DC for $120k. So I think you can definitely shop around and get something better.
nme_@reddit
Move to a low cost of living area and find a remote gig.
I’ve been remote and in the Midwest. I work on east and west coast markets, so the pay is still high, but the cost of living is stupid low.
Elensea@reddit
Crazy how many of you don’t know your value. We start our tier 1 entry help desk out at 50k with 10% bonus. A+ cert no bs required.
unccvince@reddit
If you're looking to make more money, don't work for others, work for yourself, you'll get the difficulties that come with that and perhaps you'll rethink your position.
Any-Title8588@reddit
I'm at 6, almost 7 years, in making 98 doing similar work, but my area's cost of living is low. If you are early in your career (under 4-5 years) I'd say 90 is pretty fair, but you have the potential to get more for sure
Cert wise? I'd say Az-104 of course since you have 900. SC-300 would be good to have as well. AI certs might be valuable if you are hands-on with it in your role at all. Role wise? You can either continue to be a Microsoft Modern Work SME (think modern work engineer or architect roles) or you can jump to Azure cloud engineering
Yes, only if your job pays for it. If not, then no. Certs and hands on is where your money should go
Ragepower529@reddit
I don’t have any of those certs however I’m in the same ball park as you also in my 20s…
I mean honestly with this job market just be grateful to be employed has been my mentality.
SketchyTone@reddit
California in a HCOL area, I make 90 + 15%. Moved from Infrastructure to Applications after I moved to a SA, previously handled all Infrastructure tasks on a cloud premise with a background in On-Prem and Hybrid from MSP work.
I only have a D365 cert at the moment, I'm looking to cert up and take in this order over the next 3-4 months: Net+, Sec+ then AZ104. I never had a need for certs but definitely need some now to find a new role. Getting the basics so I dont get automatically rejected as easily. Then I'll start getting my CySA+ and CCNA.
That_Guy_Aflaxk@reddit
Holy these mfs paying me Pennies on the dollar 😭
DoctorAKrieger@reddit
What do you actually do on a day to day basis? What can you build from scratch?
Teflon-Ron@reddit
If you feel undervalued, look for another job. Fwiw, I have the same roles/responsibilities and make 50k, granted, I'm interviewing for other positions so hopefully I'll be making more soon
Kardinal@reddit
Do you know on prem AD as well?
If so I might have a position for you that pays better. DM me if interested.
99% remote and in that area.
WorldlinessPresent36@reddit (OP)
Def interested however Reddit won’t let me message you. Can you message me to connect on this?
Kardinal@reddit
Sure.
Due-Interest3757@reddit
I am at 75k in a similar role. I think you're very talented if you're making this or the geography has its own advantage.
CryoJuice@reddit
Start talking to the smaller offices in the area for a remote support gig. The more rural the better. Build a book of business and sell it to an msp.
thaneliness@reddit
I’m at 95k with an associates and basically same skill set. 28m
badaz06@reddit
There's nothing wrong with continuing your education towards your Masters, but you're probably going to move yourself past tech and into management, so if you do getting certs like a CISSP would be more relevant.
Doing the work your doing is nice, but what you're not showing is how big the company is and how many other admins you work with, and if you're simply an administrator or if you're someone driving the technology. There's a huge difference between someone with a title and someone who pushes implementing the technology to make it work better on their network.
Since you asked for the straight shot - my guess is that with all those roles you haven't pushed deeply into any of them. I have all those roles as well, and while I have some experience in some things, there are others on my team who are way more knowledgeable about some of them than I am, while I am far more knowledgeable in some than they are. There's a difference between knowing, knowing how, and being able to do it.
I'll give you this advice to even though I know you'll ignore it. It's not all about the money. Money is nice, buys you nice toys, but sometimes those jobs will also beat your ass to death. Want to make bank? Get into a SE role. A strong SE with the right sales guy pushing the right product can clear $250 - $300K a year. Don't expect a home life because you'll live in hotels all year round, but you'll have money. Vacations? Not when quarter end is near and you're not hitting quota. Or get a job somewhere where a few minutes of downtime costs them a few million. They pay great too, but when you're chasing the coins, they own ya :)
gruntbuggly@reddit
If you don't have a clearance, 90k is probably reasonable for that kind of workload early in your career. Possibly even a little high, but that could be a geographic COL adjustment.
In my experience, for operations-type roles, MS degrees don't make enough difference in salary by themselves to be worth the expense out of your own pocket. Now, if your long term goal is to move towards being a CISO, or some sort of policy/compliance type role, maybe it would. Or if your long term goals will lead to delving DEEP into one particular subject, like Cybersecurity or Quantum computing, or AI governance, then a MS degree *can* make a difference. Likewise, if you go into the defense contracting world, or into the intel contracting world, clearances and degrees do make a difference. That's starting to change, but it's going to be a while before the old guard really lets go of their job/degree mappings.
But if those are the kinds of paths you see in your future, you should see about making the transition into the kinds of companies that do those things, and work yourself into a position where the company pays you to go get your masters. And then, 10-15 years after that, they pay you to go follow it up with a PhD.
Lots of companies will invest in enterprising, ambitious, and talented employees, with the caveat that you pay it back with time in service.
Leasj@reddit
I'm in Arkansas and your salary is roughly similar to mine at 27. Been in IT for 8 years now. You're doing fine imo
OutrageousNet4541@reddit
You’re already ahead of a lot of people in the field for your age. With hands-on M365 + Entra + Intune + Purview + AVD experience, AZ-104 is definitely the right next step. In the DC market, combining Azure + security + clearance can push salaries way higher than traditional sysadmin roles. I’d personally prioritize real Azure projects, automation, and cloud security over a master’s right now.