salary

Salary.com accuracy for Software Developers

I have used Salary.com in the past to get a feel for what the base salary for someone with my experience is in my area. I personally have had jobs that deviated greatly in both directions from the average given by salary.com. I was just wanting to see if anyone else out there saw the same thing, or if I am just an anomoly. ...

Are the tools at a job enough to turn down higher pay?

At my current job, I have free reign to use whatever tools/frameworks I please. Such as NHibernate, OSS, Subversion, Castle MonoRail, Windsor and other cutting edge tools. I am feeling like I am not being challenged enough however. I can learn new things, but there is only one other developer that I mentor and it's getting a tad old. I w...

How do you determine what your salary should be?

I always find it really difficult to try and determine where I am salary-wise compared to my peers in the area. Sites like salary.com always have a wide array of job titles where many sound very similar and it's hard to tell which title really fits you and their salary ranges seem a bit inflated to me. In the rare case when job posting...

Applying for a programming position--include my Salary Requirements?

Many job listings for programming positions ask you to send a resume and "Salary Requirements" or "Salary Expectations" right at the start. I do kind of know what I need to live on, and what I'd actually prefer to make. Should I list a range? Should I ignore that piece when I send my resume? Should I say that my salary requirements are...

Fair contract salary compared to permanent salary

Let's say I have a position open, it can either be contract or permanent position. What is a fair amount of money I should pay for the contract position, if I am willing to pay X per month for the permanent role? Contract pays are inevitably higher, because the contractors are not entitled for a lot of benefits, and are not guaranteed ...

What appear to be the more lucrative programming skills at the moment?

I've referenced many of the salary survey sites, but they all tend to categorize salaries based on generic job titles. Obviously, things like job title, years of professional experience, location, and the many important non-tech skills are closely associated with how much a position pays. What are currently some of the hot programming-...

5 years experience == 100k+ salary? Really?

There are ads like that all over the place on different online job boards for software developers. My question is: is that really a realistic goal for most developers? Are recruiters just flat out lying, or does a typical programmer (i.e. non-rockstar) really command that much in today's job market? Assuming 5% increase every year for f...

Economy and Programming Jobs

Programming is considered by many to be a recession proof job but with the recent downturn in the economy and how severe it's been, will this still hold true for this recession? Are people seeing their salaries go down? ...

How much should a contractor charge as a day rate?

I've spent my career in full-time employment in the UK, on an annual salary. I'm interested to know how contracting rates compare to salaries, specificially how to compare the two. Basically if someone would make a certain salary, what would they equivalently charge as a day rate? day rate * X = annual salary What is the X factor? E...

How to best prepare for technical performance review? What to include?

As a Programmer or Software Engineer, how do you best prepare for a Performance Review? If the organization doesn't have pre-defined annual objectives, what type of things do you do to prepare? How does one translate programming productivity and skills into a review? When a supervisor isn't hands on, what has worked well to demonstrate ...

Programmers: income potential..

I am stuck in a 9-5 cubicle/programming job. Is this how my career would end in 20 years from now? I am in my mid 40s and have been programming for about 15 years now. In the early days, I dreamt about opening my own consulting firm and hiring whole bunch of programmers to do great projects and make lot of money. Years later, I am earnin...

Developer salaries to rise?

I have heard people say that the large fall in people graduating with CS based degrees will soon cause developer salaries to rise due to the effects of a smaller supply but ever increasing demand. Do people really think that this is true? To my mind there are a couple of reasons this won't happen: Outsourcing With 'DIY' style languag...

How to know how big a salary you can expect in new job and demand it during interview?

Hello Where I live, job adverts are without range of earning that interviewee can expect. So during interview I have to say how much I want to earn - which is risky, while demanding too much will end the interview, and if I say small number - I can work for half of others pay. What is key to know how much could I ask that will satisfy ...

New Programmer Learning Curve to Fulltime

I know there are a lot of variables in learning speed and experience just give me what you'd consider the norm What do you believe is the average time needed (years or months wise) for a beginning programmer with no other languages yet to be able to get an entry level position as a developer? I desperately want out of my current caree...

Does a Programmer's Salary Vary Depending On Language?

Hi, I am not nor have I ever worked in industry as I am a university student atm. I have heard in certain places that Java and PHP programmers get paid less than say C# or other programmers. The correlation in my mind seems to be that the verbose languages pay less, this may not be the case but when you compare C# to Java, the former is...

Software vs Network Engineer (Salary, Difficulty, Learning, Happiness)

What are your thoughts on being a Software Engineer vs a Network Engineer? I've been on the software field for almost 10 years now and although I still have a great deal of fun (and challenges), I am starting to think it could be better on the "other" side. Not to degrade network engineers (i know there are many great ones out there),...

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

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'l...

Is it typical for programmers to negotiate their salary?

In some industries salary negotiation is almost expected (sales for instance), but I'm not sure how prevalent this is in this IT industry. Is it typical in the software industry for software developers to counter salary offers made to them? Edit: My previous question was closed, so I'm attempting to extract anything too localized fro...

How much should I pay a university student for a holiday project?

It's been a while since I was at university ... I have a project that I'm currently struggling to devote sufficient time to, so am considering paying a student to develop it for me (I'm based in the UK). So, what would be a reasonable hourly/daily rate to pay a student during the summer, probably based in London, England. Some (option...

Is Programming generally an overtime exempt field?

My manager told me that the industry doesn't pay overtime for programmers. Is this true? ...