Damn. And you don't even have to be celibate like the Catholics. Nice deal!

That doesn't mean 120k isn't still a great salary, it means that Switzerand is one of the few places where public sector workers are well rewarded.

Very interesting figures - but a bit of apples-and-pears, as public and private sectors in Switzerland are subject to very different market conditions.

Most significantly, many IT jobs in the private sector are in direct competition with labor markets abroad. The large Swiss banks have been under cost pressure for years, in response to which they have moved many IT 'generalist' jobs abroad. Expectations are that they will continue doing so wherever possible for the foreseeable future - which has pushed 'IT generalists' salaries here in Switzerland down from those of years past.

Public sector jobs do not face that competition. The protestant minister in Switzerland really doesn't have to worry that his job will be moved to Timbuktu where sermons can be written at a lower cost.

Perhaps it has been misinterpreted. What I meant was you can have what is considered a 'common' skill now, such as OS, Email etc, and in a large company this will still command a good salary because deployment and management of even something simple like an OS is difficult in big env's.

I understood what you meant, I am just saying that even in the scenario you describe, 150k as an IT generalist would still be highly unlikely in that situation without a management role.

120k is a good offer for an experienced generalist. However I know somebody who starts in ZH in April doing a generalist Windows and VMware role for 145k on which she will pay zero tax. 3 years fixed term. Same position is also open in Basel for anybody interested. I know another job went last month for 132k at a small private bank. Important not to generalise.

The person on 145k, how big is the company and IT team? Also why no tax?

BIS, Zurich Altstetten data centre. Qualifies as an intl. org under Swiss law or something like that.

145k in an international org is hitting director grade. AFAIK, salary bands are pretty much standardised across the UN/NGO/IO for a specific country.

Like I said...

Hi!

I'm searching job in switzerland. 7 years of experience in Citrix/MS/Vmware
For me the salary is important but the most important things is a good experience and coworkers.

In the next future, I would like work in this wonderful country.

Hi Omoyano,

You'll get a lot of insightful input from this thread, or use the search function for other input.

All the best!

Thanks!!!!

But I need improve my level of English before...a lot!!

My company has 3 system administrators, 2 are seniors. They all get more then 120k and the seniors more then 150k But it could be due that we are not a huge company so they have a lot of responsibilities. All servers and system are on their hands. TO do upgrades they have to work on weekend of at night, they need to be always available on-call. So it really depends on the tasks. I guess those are "management" roles.

The priest:

As this thread is a few years old. What's an good salary for an IT Systems Engineer now in 2020/2021?


I am currently an IT Systems Engineer working in Zurich, being living here for about 18 months/ Originally from the UK, after doing abit of research looks like I am being paid low for my experience. Over 15 years experience working in IT, with two MCSA's, one MCSE, Azure, Security+ and ITIL certs.



I am on 90,000 CHF a year, so after this pandemic is over. I will be looking for an better paid job.

from a historical perspective it is low but now we are in a buyer market

Priest seems like a pretty cushy job... no CPE/CPD requirements (I mean, the body of knowledge hasn't changed that much in the last 2 millennia), don't have to deal with life-threatening situations nor heavy manual labour...

not many openings, churches emptying out, and in cantons which don't have compulsory church taxes there can be some funding problems.

Compulsory church taxes? You mean on legal persons?