RE: DBA pay in university
- From: "Goulet, Richard" <Richard.Goulet@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "John Piwowar" <jpiwowar@xxxxxxxxx>, <cboyle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:54:45 -0400
John,
That is an absolute truth, salary is only one part of the overall.
I passed up a much higher paying job in downtown Boston (the Financial
District) for the one I currently have. Main reason is that I HATE
driving in a large city (sorry to those on the list that live or work in
New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, or Chicago) they drive me
totally crazy with the traffic coming at you from just about every
direction. Certain I could get use to it if I lasted that long. But my
current employer is just off the freeway, less than a quarter mile. I
also appreciate the laid back atmosphere and the fact that IT and
especially database management are very key to the companies success &
consequently we're valued. That definitely makes up for the lower
salary.
Dick Goulet
Senior Oracle DBA
________________________________
From: John Piwowar [mailto:jpiwowar@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 10:44 AM
To: cboyle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Goulet, Richard; kp0773@xxxxxxxxx; Oracle-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: DBA pay in university
What you can probably expect is that university salaries will trend
below industry salaries. Offsetting factors can include:
1) Slightly more relaxed environment, though of course this can vary.
2) Tuition benefits. Staff can sometimes receive deep discounts on
tuition, even for immediate family members. At the right time of your
life, that's not small money. One of my colleagues was in a position
well below his industry pay grade and experience level. I'm *sure* he
was there because he loved the culture and was stimulated by the work,
and that the close proximity of his resignation to his daughter's
graduation date was pure coincidence. ;-)
3) When I was working in a university environment, the percentage of
matching contributions to retirement accounts was far higher than
anything I've encountered since in industry. Of course, a higher
percentage of a lower-than-industry base salary might not be as high
impact as it initially appears.
Don't take too much from my single data point, though. It's been quite
a while since was in IT in a university, and lots of things about
compensation have probably changed, probably not for the better in
today's economy. I guess the main message is, as with evaluating any
position, it's not all about the salary.
Regards,
John P.
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