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HELP! How much should I ask for?

N

notfred

Lifer
A friend of mine (not a real clsoe friend, but an aquaintance who i haven't talked to in a few months) sent me an email today. He offered me a position as a perl/CGI programmer. I'm really excited about this, cause I really want this job, but I don't know how much to ask for. This would be my first real programming job. I'm good at it, I know I can do the job, but I don't want to scare him off, or undersell (is that a word) myself. I was thinking of asking for $30/hour to start. (Keep in mind that I'd have over an hour commute). Does that sound reasonable? too high? too low? Remember, this is a Perl/CGI web development position. The company I would be working for basically does a lot of the web work for Cisco's intranet. I will, however, probably be working part time (25-30 hours a week, most likely).

Also - this is the SF bay area - one of the most expensive places in the country.

*me crosses fingers * - hoping everything works out with this.....
 


<< A typical Programmer I working in California -- Sacramento earns a median base salary of $48,875, according to our analysis of data reported by corporate HR departments. Half of the people in this job earn between $43,953 and $55,860
>>



Salary.com

Does this include any perks, bonuses, benefits, ect? Or does it just give a paycheck? Will you actually be employed by a company, or are you contracted out as a private contractor?
 
I suggest you ask for some like $50/hour for the first 3 months, after that they offer you a better deal. Then you see what they are willing to offer and if you are happy with it.


btw, finish that map of yours 😛😉
 
I'd be working in San Jose, not Sacramento (don't know how much of a difference that makes). the link isn't working for me.

I emailed someone at NASA about getting ultra high res images of the earth for new maps. Hopefully they get back to me soon 🙂
(it's 42,000x21,000 pixels for the entire cloudless surface of the earth. - cool 🙂)
 


<< I emailed someone at NASA about getting ultra high res images of the earth for new maps. Hopefully they get back to me soon 🙂
(it's 42,000x21,000 pixels for the entire cloudless surface of the earth. - cool 🙂) >>


OMG:Q please please please share when you get it😀
 
I emailed someone at NASA about getting ultra high res images of the earth for new maps. Hopefully they get back to me soon 🙂
(it's 42,000x21,000 pixels for the entire cloudless surface of the earth. - cool 🙂)

That would be one nice picture!

Good luck with the jobs, btw!
 


<<

<< I emailed someone at NASA about getting ultra high res images of the earth for new maps. Hopefully they get back to me soon 🙂
(it's 42,000x21,000 pixels for the entire cloudless surface of the earth. - cool 🙂) >>


OMG:Q please please please share when you get it😀 >>



yeah, the biggest you can get off their website is 8000x4000. They don't distribute the bigger images w/o permission just becuase of the bandwith. (the ultra high maps I want are 600mb in .tif format)


Anyone a programmer? how much did you start at?
 
I think he will laugh at you if you ask for $50 an hour, but I could be wrong.

You do realize that at $50 an hour that if you worked full time for the whole year you'd be pulling six figures?

I think you could expect $25-30/hr
 


<< I think he will laugh at you if you ask for $50 an hour, but I could be wrong.

You do realize that at $50 an hour that if you worked full time for the whole year you'd be pulling six figures?

I think you could expect $25-30/hr >>



I jsut did the division, and you're right. It didn't seem like as much cause I would only be working part time. I think maybe I can ask for $35 and work from there.
 
Anyone a programmer? how much did you start at?

I am a Oracle Applications and PL/SQL developer (I also do a bit of PERL/CGI too). I am on my industrial placement year at the moment and I go back to University in September. I have been offered two jobs for when I finish in May 2003.

If I stay where I am at the moment the starting salary will be around £18,000-£22,000 ($25,000-$30,000). For the second position I have been offered the starting salary is £25,000 ($33,500) but that would involve a lot of travelling. As yet I am undecided which one to take.

Oh, these are jobs in the UK, I don't know if the salaries in the US are higher or lower 🙂


 
I started at $10/hr about three years ago. But, that was a small company and I was getting in at the ground level. About seven months later, we wrapped up all our current projects and called it quits as a programming group and went our seperate ways. It was good training for a first programming job and while it didn't pay much, it was a good work environment with great opportunity. It didn't pan out, but it could have and I like working with local folks who produce quality work.

If it had been a large company where I do the same type things day after day, then I'd probably have shot for the $20 range.
 
My friend that is a programmer only pulls in something like $50-$60K per anum after working there for like 7 years or more. That is in Utah, tho.. 😉

amish
 
I still think it really depends on how they hire you.

If you go independent contractor, you can ask for a little more since they don't have any back end costs on you (social security, benefits administration, and a whole slew of other stuff). Also, as an independent contractor you could claim your milage(or driving expenses) as a business expense to lower your taxible income.
 


<< My friend that is a programmer only pulls in something like $50-$60K per anum after working there for like 7 years or more. That is in Utah, tho.. 😉

amish >>



Yeah, the cost of living in the bay area is a bit higher 🙂

I think I'm gonig to ask for $30/hr.
 
Hmm I heard from someone a while back on this forum that you should say that it's "negotiable" and ask what's the base salary is, then work your way up from there. That's if you don't want to scare them 🙂 GL and congrats 😉
 


<< Anyone a programmer? how much did you start at? >>



Is this on a contract basis, or full-time? If this is full-time, $50/hr is WAY, WAY too high for doing Perl/CGI/web dev. I don't know where you're located, but I think that's pretty high no matter where you go. Full-time, that's over 6-figures per year. A more reasonable request might be $25/hr or something. Around here, such a position would probably command $45k/yr or so. Again, it depends on whether you're going full-time.
 
Well I wouldn't hire you for more than $15 an hour, but I don't know the cost of living adjustment for your area. The key here is FIRST PROGRAMMING JOB. You are trying to get as much per hour as many people with much more experience make. Plus, you haven't stated what your level of expertise is, which I doubt is high enough to justify $35/hr (aka ~$70k/yr for 40hrs/wk).
 


<< yeah, the biggest you can get off their website is 8000x4000. They don't distribute the bigger images w/o permission just becuase of the bandwith. (the ultra high maps I want are 600mb in .tif format) >>


Sweeet, would be slow as hell to open it i photoshop though. I would reeaaly like a copy of it when you get it, except... using jpg compression and maybe 1/2 the resolution or less.
 
That MAY be too high by $5 since you have little/no professional experience but if you're in a pricey area at least ask for $30. Try and let him know that you're willing to work for less though. I know he may just lowball the $30, but maybe he'll offer $27 or something. Congrats on getting an IT job in this economy 🙂
 
im with skoorb on this one. tell them 27 and work you way up from there. try to get them to say a price first. if they say 30 take it. if they say 20 then say, i was looking more at around 30, how about 27? 😀
 
I don't know what to tell you about your possible job, but I do have some advice if you're looking for high-quality satellite imagery.

You should check out Spaceimaging. I don't know if they'll sell to you as private party, but for work (Fed Govt), we got 1m resolution color image of New Orleans. The price was rather high, I believe $8/sq km with a minimum order of 100 sq km, but I don't think you can get something of that resolution at a lower cost. These images are from the IKONOS satellite, and they'll even take new images for you (for a $premium$) if you so desire. You'll have to call them to request an order form, and you'll have to give pretty damn precise coordinates. They have a tool called Carterra on their site that will allow you to select an AOI (area of interest) on a map and it will give you the UL and LR coordinates, etc. Make sure if you order tiffs to get 8 bit if you want to be able to open them in Photoshop or other imagery software. If you get 11 bit tiffs you'll have to spring for a program that will read them (usually programs specifically for geographic image files). Such programs are NOT cheap, one we looked at was about $10k, with contracts for extended service and support at an additional $2k a year (I think those were the figures, I'm new to this type of software and the $2k/year support contract threw me for a loop). Good satellite data is complicated to get and work with, just so you know. It's not like going to terraserver and requesting one of their blurry B&W snapshots. Like I said, I don't know if Space Imaging sells to private parties, or if the price is too prohibitive for your project, but it's hard to beat the quality of these images. HTH.
 
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