How much salary should I expect with my first job as a Software Engineer?

Question

I'm a senior at a decent university majoring in Computer Science.

Soon I will be interviewing for Software Engineer positions.

I have had two good internships with will known tech companies, my grades are decent and I was active during college (president of ACM chapter, etc). I'm not sure if those things are even relevant though.

I'll have interviews in the pacific northwest if that makes a significant difference.

1. I'm curious about what kind of salary is typical for straight out of college?
2. Is it typical for Software Engineers, even first year ones to negotiate their salary? I know in the sales industry they are almost expected to negotiate their salary but with the IT field I didn't know how prevalent that was.

Answer 1

Glassdoor.com aggregates reports on salary and job satisfaction. My first salaried job as a developer in 2004 started at $65,000. It was for a bank and was in a "second-tier" US location (i.e. not the coasts).

Answer 2

If you try hard enough you should be able to get a few offers on the table. I graduated last year and had offers ranging from $55k - $65k, but the economy has changed significantly since then.

My advice would be to pay less attention to the salary and more attention to the opportunity. If you get a position that will help you to grow as a developer with plenty of room for career development, then you will exceed your salary targets in a few years.

The biggest mistake you can make is going out there, being cocky because you have a degree and expecting to make tons of cash.

You still have plenty to learn, so set yourself up accordingly.

Answer 3

You should be looking for a job you will like, not a salary you will like. Salary should always be secondary. Would you marry for money or love? A job is something you will be spending at least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week with. You better like it. As you gain more experience, the opportunity for more money will come.

That said, you can expect offers all over the place.

Answer 4

Good point from brent.

Job satification first, then you could look to a better salary in the future, once you get that important experience. Make sure when you choose your first job that it looks like the right job for you.

Negotiating your salary will have a lot to do with supply and demand i suppose. If there isnt many skilled Software Developers around your area going for the jobs your after, you might be able to negotiate. Doubt it in this current climate.

Dont forget a good pension, training, bonuses, perks etc can be just as a good offer as another company who might be offering more money, but have less extra's on top of that.

Answer 5

Expect 45-65k. Obviously if it in NYC or another major city you will get more but cost of living is going to be higher.

The other posters are correct, income is secondary for the first job. The key thing to remember is to take a job that will teach you something useful. If you get yourself into a COBOL or VB6 shop you might as well shoot yourself in the head. Latch on to a company that is on the leading edge (.NET, SQL Server, MVC Framework, ect.) of wildly popular products. That way you will be in a great position to start making 6 figures in 2 to 3 years once you have some experience under your belt. The alternative is you have to start all over and learn a new technology in two years.

Oh and one more thing, don't be suckered by the employers who will tell you that you will be doing new development in .NET or whatever, but you have to spend a small amount of time doing VB6 work. Its a trick, you will be doing 95% VB6 work and 5% new development, you don't want to be in that position either. Good luck.