I really can't add much to the last couple of posts (Especially Slags...except to say: Move over brother, your on my side of this bridge
)
I would fully agree with MS's comments on the pay v. job description. I no longer deal directly with the PBX Admin side (which is where my formal Telecom training is) but have moved to a transitional "grey" area of Telephone/PC support (PC support is my OTHER field of fromal training) and as such I am paid on a floating scale dictated by the industry. What does this mean? They've taken the "average" of the Telecom Admin across the industry and the average of PC tech across the industry and combined both to pay my salary scale (of which I sit in the high midle 5 figures).
Because of this scale, I am well aware of what my job responsablilities are and
DO get paid accordingly. In fact I'm paid for WHAT I do, not for how much I know. If I don't know an answer to a problem, I frequent either this or the PC board I belong to (dependant on the trouble) to find an answer. My company is WELL aware that this is how I gain my knowledge and answers when my formal training has fallen short, and has no issue with it.
D, however has experessed that "things are different" in the country he is working, and, I can understand that, as most of us are use to working in the captilistic envornment that is North America (US and Canada). I would be currious to know what country you are working in, D, if your willing to share that information. Just country, no need to give full details such as town/copmany etc.-We've people for all over the world (though some have "disappeared" as of late-Icy from Iceland for instance), and perhaps we can have some insight from others of your countrymen/women who are currently lurking, or even from folks on this board who have done business in your country in the past.