I was in category “lower pay and higher stress” … 
Curious - “in practice”, how much approximately does (net, maybe even after taxes) income change for folks?
I assume not “by -20%” because of tax brackets etc.,
but wondering closer to which actual number?
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Making more money long term
that sounds like quite a lot of travel to me 
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No promotion or change yet - here‘s the update for:
2024: 243kCHF
2025: 255kCHF
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Really Impressive. How many YoE do you have and what role do you hold?
Financial Services IT Consulting since 15 years, overall 22 years of experience. It all started back in 2000 with an apprenticeship 
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update:
2022: 279k
2023: 233k +35k SARs
2024: 234k +35k SARs
2025 (est.): 245k +35k SARs
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Sorry about the middle management part – – congrats on the salary progression!
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Yes, hardly a day goes by when I don’t regret taking this step. But there is one day a month when I’m glad I did it
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Another year has gone by. Got a job after 1.5 years of unemployment and the best-earning days seem to be behind me.
I find it remarkable that the capital has kicked in and started to work for me: Networth 17x in 25 years (salary + investments –> compounded annual growth rate of 12%)
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Almost four years without an update. Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Real Net Income
Since I was taxed at source, I decided to input the real salary that hit my account after AHV and tax deductions. Not correct for 2025 and 2026 prediction. It’ll probably be between CHF65K and CHF68K.
Theoretical Gross Income
And here’s the base gross salary negotiated in the contract.
Breakdown
Q3 2018 - Q2 2022: IT Apprenticeship
Q3 2022 - Q4 2022: Part-time IT Technician
Q1 2023 - Q1 2023: Jobless
Q1 2023 - Q3 2023: IT Support Specialist at the same place I did the apprenticeship
Q3 2023 - Q2 2024 : IT Service Desk Specialist
Q3 2024 - Q1 2025: IT Technician
Q2 2025 - Present: IT Technician in Fribourg.
Key takeaways
I never, ever, want to go back to RAV. I hated every single moment of that and wanted to put a bullet through my head when discussing with my counsellor. May God bless her, but what a fucking pain in the ass she was.
I do not wish to work in Geneva unless I’m paid CHF130K+. Not worth it commuting that far and working with French salaries. I find it difficult working with French commuters, it’s not the same when you’re not living in CH.
I had to go to Fribourg to find a decently paying technician job.
Future Outlook and added context
IT job market is looking bleak, unless a Data Engineer with a PhD, Polyglot and quintillion years of experience.
I’m currently doing the Wirtschaftsinformatiker Brevet. Trying to take next year’s exam. I’m doing it just to have the paper. I was interviewing for DevOps and Cloud roles when the market was hot, but unfortunately it didn’t go through.
Not only that, but I haven’t found my passion and don’t know if I’ll remain in IT in the coming years. For now, it’s just a job to pay my bills.
I wanted to be an Elektroniker, but was unable to find an apprenticeship, then into Software, but same thing. That’s why I defaulted into IT Systems, that may also be the reason I cannot find good jobs; networking (as in IT networking) is not my forte.
After apprenticeship, I tried doing the Matura while working part-time. Not fun at all. I was working very far, and it was just a nightmare to conciliate the two. Then, I did some maths and for a Bachelors it’d take me 5 years if everything went fine. If I wanted to have a scholarship, I had to sign up first to Uni and start the courses before knowing if I was sure to have one.
I just couldn’t see myself studying without earning some money for three years, that’s why I decided to continue working and figure things out along the way while I save money and invest. Do not regret that decision a single bit.
Right now, I’m looking at Bachelor options at the Open Uni to do Computing and Electronic Engineering. There are some interesting programming modules and I can do it slowly while working.
Addendum:
If writing too much, it’s better to make a draft and paste it when finished. I didn’t want to post it yet, hence the deleted comment above xD.
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Good update! I am sure you will find your way / interest areas. You are still young enough to explore quite few different things.
Good luck
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2012: 52k
2013: 56k, new job
2014: 61k, new job
2015: 61k
2016: 66k
2017: 78k, new job
2018: 84k
2019: 87k
2020: 93k, new job
2021: 115k
2022: 153k
2023: 156k
2024: 198k, new job
2025: 205k
2026 (expected): 215k
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Care to elaborate? These are pretty huge jumps. Also 21 and 22, I mean those were huge increases.
new job: still the best way to get a promotion lol
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sure:
2012: 52k → finished apprenticeship around then, first real job afterwards
2017: 78k → finished bachelors degree around then, first real qualified job from regular clerk
2022: 153k → finished specialised degree, promotion
2024: 198k → same role but better paying company
actually I never got a promotion when switching jobs but often switched shortly after getting one to a company where they pay better for the same rank.
worked my way up from an accounting clerk at a small company to the upper (but not highest) ranks of one of the big 4 accounting firms. but you pay this salary with your time and nerves.
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also before 2022 I had overtime pay which I didn’t include. I think I finished 2021 around 125k including the overtime pay and then from 2022 there was no overtime pay anymore.
Crazy, congrats!
And yea, I started my career at one of those. Didn’t realise the pay went up so fast though. So that is like a senior manager role now?
Thank you! It also heavily depends on the firm and service line but yeah senior manager should be around 160 to 240 everywhere I guess