Today I found out my IT department got the OK to open a new position. I have 3/4 of a degree in engineering and an AAS in computer information systems. (Long story, very boring. I’ll spare you.) Right now I’m working as the IT admin, but also doing some help desk and tech support. I’ll be honest and tell you that I make $13 an hour.
So I’m chatting with the programming manager and he’s interested in promoting me. He said that I would be considered a junior programmer, since I have a certificate in C programming from my community college. I also took FORTRAN, C/COBOL programming and systems analysis classes from a regular 4-year college. I’m not even totally sure I’m qualified, without a BS. But hey, the manager thinks I can do it.
The thing is, I have no idea what the salary would be like. I’m sure all you jobhunters out there can understand the fear of asking, too. So what do my fellow Dopers say? What would be reasonable?
I guess for a while I assumed I would go into tech support, since I’m a pretty outgoing person. But I can also see the appeal of programming, too. If I got a substantial raise, that would help me decide!
A good answer is going to depend on what part of the country you’re working in and what sort of programming work you’ll be doing. $30K per year might not be completely unfair for an inexperienced person fixing bugs on some hoary old mainframe system in Cleveland. Yet $60K a year might be downright insulting to the same person starting work on a new web-commerce system in San Francisco.
And in my experience so far, it’s better not to ask what the salary will be like. Make them make you an offer.
Check Temp agencies in your area and see what other employers typically pay for your level of experience. Then you’ll have a good measuring stick to judge your employers offer and negotiate from there.
Yeah, it depends too much on where you are. The median salary for an entry-level programmer in Loudoun county (VA) is about $45000, which is a comfortable salary for that part of the country.
I took your advice, LordVor, and looked up the salary range at salary.com. But it’s telling me that the low end for the Denver area is $44k. That seems awfully high! I don’t want to get my hopes up. :eek:
Well, remember that $44k is the 25th percentile, meaning that 25% of people in that position make less than that. I would assume, since you admittedly are a little light on the skill requirements, you’d be coming in at a bit less than that. But that’s not so bad, as the ceiling on a programmer job is a lot higher than it is on a tech support job (more opportunity for advancement and pay raises).
$35K is certainly doable, $40K wouldn’t be surprizing. One thing to be clear on though, are you sure that they were offering a pay raise in addition to the promotion? Sometimes a company will promote an underskilled person to a position simply because they can’t afford to fill it with what they’d have to pay a new person…