What should I be earning?
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I'm basically just trying to get some idea what is a reasonable wage for me to be paid.
I've worked for 4 years as the sole developer for a small company coding mostly in PHP and MySQL, though we've also set up and now maintain an ASP.NET app. It's grown from just a few scripts to me starting to feel the need for a little source control and issue & time tracking software.
In my spare time, I have my own game projects in C++ using mostly SDL and OpenGL.
I live in the North West of England. What sort of rates do people get paid for this sort of level of experience? I'm particularly interested in my area but rates anywhere would still be interesting.
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Oops, I meant to post this in General Discussion - I had both sections open in tabs.
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Thread moved.
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It sounds like, professionally, you're technically junior, but your knowledge overall would probably make you a high level junior. I say thisonly becauseit sounds like you're on the right path for the knowledge, but your lack of experience with source control, etc, wouldn't allow you to be a mid level. Also, at least in the US, your personal projects don't mean a lick of difference to many managers. Having been a senior level developer for quite some time, I don't know exact numbers, but I believe where I am - New England - your experience would put you somewhere in the $50k - $60k range (28K - 34K pounds).
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@Feek said:
Also, at least in the US, your personal projects don't mean a lick of difference to many managers.
It got me my job... of course I'm not near the US. And I might be the exception that confirms the rule :P
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When I was searching for a job back in January (just graduating in December) I received a wide variety of offeres ranging from 45k/year for C++ programming to 65k/year for Java development. The average salary for somebody with 1 year experience and a Computer Science degree (according to the online research that I did) here in the US was 65k/year.
Hope that helps.
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Be careful of when looking at contract/consulting/hourly gigs when trying to gauge what you're worth.
In my experience, a consulting company will offer higher rates of pay than a corporation does for reasons including (but not limited to) they don't have the same overhead.
After working on salary for the past 2 1/2 years, I'm still not at the same take-home rate of pay that I had at a previous job through an consulting company. However, the benefits of working for a corporation and getting paid vacation/holiday time, good health insurance, company matched retirement fund, etc. has made up for the difference many times over.
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It's more than I thought it would be. Thanks for the advice everyone :)
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I don't know how it works in the UK, but in the US you pretty much have to go to a new company to get a big pay increase. Or at least threaten your existing employer with your doing so to give them a chance to match the other offer.
In the US, your skills would fetch 40-50K in a smaller type city and 70-80K in a big city. But it only takes one company that likes you and you could make 100K plus. Or, the job market could be crap, and you get nothig but lowball offers.
