Am I underpaid

A little overpaid.

There are a lot of people doing more for less money, so consider yourself fortunate.

$68K sounds a trifle low to me, for NYC anyway. Here's what I would do --do some searches for salary surveys in the NY area and look to see what people in comparable positions are making. Call a tech recruiter or two, tell them you're a working IT pro with [xyz qualifications] and say you're looking for a change. Eventually they'll get around to asking what your salary requirements are -- start high, say $120,000, and see where it goes.

Do you have any of those? That will make a big differance. I'm currently in St. Louis and have about 6 years experiance with an Assoc. in Networking Technologies with no Certs. My office is a bit smaller and I get paid a bit less. I've just realized that I'm going to have to do something to get any further. So I'm looking at getting a bachelor's degree in Network Management.

As Guru says, many people are even less fortunate than you. That doesn't make your situation any more fair, but it does make it more difficult to do anything about it. American workers are going through tough times. Corporate executives are sending jobs offshore as fast as they can sign the contracts, which doesn't speak well for their IQs. When all the Americans are unemployed, who will be left to buy those cheaply made products? You may have to just be patient until either some of these people start to see the light or our benevolent government steps in. (Pause while the laughter dies down.) I feel your pain. I have 37 years experience and after a long spell of unemployment I felt fortunate to land a job that pays what I was earning in 1987.

Just for a point of comparison, we just hired a tech with 15 years of experience, his A+ and 2k MCSE, and masters in an unrelated field. (zoology of all things!) This is near Detroit, but he is paid less then half what you are.

He is not the exception here either, we had 80 resumes within two days of posting the job listing: "Network consultant/engineer, min 5 years experience, certifications a plus, $40k/yr."

He is a model worker, he is salery @ 40hr/w but he easily puts in 60 hours a week and wishes he could do more.

I would absolutely hate having to find a job in the market today; so please do not leave your job before being sure you have another lined up.

Eric