Computer Science - starting salary?

[Ultima]

What would be the starting salary for a computer science graduate (from CEGEP - quebec equivalent of college)?

Also, what are the hours like for typical jobs? I was told to expect no less than 60 hours/week (even if its officially "40" hours)

 

[Kosugi]

Ultima,


The computer science field is vast now. Much more dynamic, and that is an understatement, than when I got into back in '73.

The amount of money you will start at depends on where in the US you get your job. Also, to a lesser degree, the technology you are employing.

I can speak for Florida, and an entry level person in the South East (including Atlanta), can expect to start as an employee (not contractor), in the 33K - 40K area. It is down considerably from 2 years ago, btw.

Note that is for coding and systems application development. Administrators may start a little higher, but the glass ceiling is alot lower than with traditional programmers.

Interestingly enough, programming, whether C++, Cobol, or Java, all have about the same range. Very little difference for Entry level individuals.

Hope that helps.

 

[Descartes]

With the field you're most likely targeting (software engineering, yes?), they're going to look at what skills/past projects/etc. you have, rather than so much that you simply have a degree. Once you work an entry-level position for a while, you'll have much more going, and you could easily grab at least $60k I would think (in a low cost of living area). For entry level, I've seen anywhere from $32k to $45k, depending on the emphasis of the developer.

 

[vi edit]

Go to salary.com and look up the specific City and job that you are looking at.

The standard of living costs vary so much across the country, it is next to impossible to give you an accurate figure.

 

[Ameesh]

my range out of college was 56K-85K yearly with signon bonus between 5-15k and stock options (varied). My degree was a BS in Computer Science from UC San Diego. the jobs were throughout the US but mostly in california and Washington State. Good Luck with the job hunt.

 

[Ameesh]

guys dont scare this guy! 33k is paltry, he could just do contract work and make triple that easily. (assuming that you are a capable and versitile programmer).

 

[Ameesh]

the 60 hour thing is right though. i dont know anyone who works 40 hours.

 

[gittyup]

i dont know anyone who works 40 hours

Nice to meet you. I usually work less than 40 hrs per week.

 

[Rallispec]

here at my company (BAE systems) the starting salary is about 40k a year.. but raises and promotions happen pretty often.

edit* 40 hours a week is about right.. depending on what your working on. I probably do a lot less than 40 hours becuase i have enough time to sit here and play online all day.

 

[Ameesh]

<< here at my company (BAE systems) the starting salary is about 40k a year.. but raises and promotions happen pretty often.

edit* 40 hours a week is about right.. depending on what your working on. I probably do a lot less than 40 hours becuase i have enough time to sit here and play online all day. >>




dont work for military contractors, you'll get bored like this guy and wont get paid very well.

 

[RichieZ]

the idustry better still be hot in 4 yrs

 

[Rallispec]

<< dont work for military contractors, you'll get bored like this guy and wont get paid very well. >>



exactly! i tell this to everybody. Was even worse last year when i worked for Lockheed Martin. You would have thought i would have learned my lesson.

 

[ragiepew]

umm I work ~40 hrs a week... nice to meet you...

I just accepted a full time offer @ my place but I do not have a CS degree... instead I have MIS degree... but to some extent, especially in the entery level positions, they are similar. Anyway, here's the specs...

Pay: $51500 per year
Industry: Oil and Gas
Location: Houston

hope it helps.. btw, the market kind of sucks now though... at least around here, maybe graduating in 4 years is a good thing .

 

[satori]

Um... I'd say my friends down here in the valley fall into 2 groups... those that work 50-60+ hours a week, and those that work a good 15-20 hours a week. One guy probably has put in 30 minutes of work in the past 2 weeks, because his manager is away on vacation and never assigned him new work. I, of course, fall into the former group.... ya right!!!

 

[SinNisTeR]

i have a PHD in CS, and i make nothing, zip, zilch, you get the point..




















by CS i mean counter strike.

 

[rangeLife]

<< my range out of college was 56K-85K yearly with signon bonus between 5-15k and stock options (varied). My degree was a BS in Computer Science from UC San Diego. the jobs were throughout the US but mostly in california and Washington State. Good Luck with the job hunt. >>



whoa. i'm excited now. im a third year cs major at ucsd. that sounds like so much money to me right now...

 

[absolutiza]

Trilogy Software recruits the top CS majors from like the top 10 schools in the nation. I know 5 kids who graduated from my school this year that got offered 6 FIGURES to go work for them...

 

[Soybomb]

I think like the others said it depends on what you want to do with it. Personally I plan to take my BS in CS and use it to get a job working on networks and work my way up to a net admin position so I expect the salary between me and a software engineer might be a little bit different.

 

[absolutiza]

forgot to mention the cost of living index... making $100,000 in Silicon Valley is the equivalent of making like $50,000 in the Midwest cuz it costs so much to live in Silicon Valley. Trilogy SOftware is based in Houston...

 

[Emulex]

does hanging out on ATOT count as work

 

[darkjester]

<< Trilogy Software recruits the top CS majors from like the top 10 schools in the nation. I know 5 kids who graduated from my school this year that got offered 6 FIGURES to go work for them... >>



I know quite a few people who went to work for Trilogy. They report it seems like you make a HUGE amount of money, but when you're working 80 hour weeks, $100k/year becomes the standard $50k/year when you've mashed two years into one. Apparently, people burn out there and move on to other places shortly ( < 5 years) after starting. At my school, it was known to be the &quot;post-graduate internship&quot;... crappy work for good money for a few years before getting a real job.

But the industry is kinda rough right now. I just graduated and luckily had accepted a job before the &quot;big tech crash.&quot; I knew of some people who graduated with me that had their job offers retracted because of the state of the industry. And it continues 'til today... I'm a new hire and some people in my department just got canned.

But to answer the question, there are many factors involved in starting salaries. Degree, school, grades, skills, location, interviews, standardized testing (if any), etc. But I think it'd be fair to say a broad range would be between $35k - $75k for a starting software engineer. Give or take a nickel.

 

[Cerebus451]

That 56k-85k figure is a silicon valley figure. At 56k/year in Silicon Valley, you are talking about living in an old refrigerator box eating PBJ sandwiches and driving a Yugo. 85k/year buys a roof over your head. And you would still be lucky to get that kind of money with the current job market. This isn't 1.5-2 years ago when people were offering you 85k/year if you knew how to turn on a computer to come and develop web pages. Those days are gone. Most companies realise they don't need to pay big money to college grads when experienced IT professionals are willing to work for the same price because of the sagging job market.

Expect 35k-40k per year, with adjustments for cost of living. The working hours will vary greatly. Small companies will work you to death, while in larger companies you will tend to get lost in the mix and be able to stick to the 40 hours or less per week. Some industries are also known for longer work weeks. Game developers are probably the worst as they will put in 80 hours a week or more because of tight development schedules. You will also see spikes in any industry as release dates approach, the work hours tend to increase, but then will slack off in the after glow of the actual release.

It's still a heck of a lot better than when I graduated 10 years ago when I was 1 of only around 10 people in my graduating class (out of 300 in CS) that was able to land a job, and only then because I didn't feel it was beneath myself to go work for the government.

 

[satori]

Cerebus451: Yah, it was pretty damn crappy during the early 90's, huh? I remember when I entered the EE department in 92/93 and all of us were wondering if we'd made the wrong career decision... Everything really does runs in cycles...

 

[StageLeft]

the idustry better still be hot in 4 yrs

It isn't hot now. Its crap if you have no experience! Well not &quot;crap&quot;, but its not &quot;hot&quot; either

BTW Ameesh is a major exception. Very very few entry positions will carry $55-85k starting unless you're damn competent with kick-ass grades and you are one sexy bastard in the interview. I think the original $35-50k range was reasonable.

Yes there are fresh grads making $80k. This is in any field. MOST brand new CS grads won't see even close to that at the beginning.

In terms of hours I would personally feel lazy working only 40 hours/week. I'm currently paid for 40 hours a week (8-5 with 1 hour lunch), but generally put in more. However I'm lucky cause my company must be one of the very few that actually pay developers overtime...pretty darn nice OT pay as well

 

[bigdog1218]

companys have just started layoffs, they will continue through next year, and maybe late 2003 early 2004 there will be a pickup in sectors like this, i wouldn't think that this is a great are to be graduating into in the next year or two, unless you're really good and you can get a job anywhere,

40 hr weeks are for pansies, you should work at least 60 and saturdays too, its so much fun, especially when you're doing construction