Just got offered a job

[Sheepathon]

Does the job have anything to do with your major in college?

 

[QuitBanningMe]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
Oh, right. Sorry. It's in Hilton Head Island, SC. About an hour south of Charleston.

Sounds expensive. In that case, don't make large-percentage contributions to your 401K or other pension plan (AT FIRST...when you start getting more $$, then contribute larger percentages), and when they offer you medical benefits, just take basic medical, and forget about vision, dental, and all that other crap, assuming you're pretty healthy.

Clip coupons, look for food on sale, and bargain to find a cheap apartment. Apartment rent prices are almost never set in stone, so if you can come down $20/month, that's $240/year that you can spend on food/other stuff.

Good luck.

Any apartment community on HH has no problem filling vacancies at the price they ask.

 

[Supermercado]

Wow, I've got a lot to read. Sorry for being out so long. My brother just got back from his first year of college and he's still totally helpless when it comes to computers so I was helping him get his stuff set up and everything. Thanks to all that have posted advice. I'll read it all over and then post back here with the questions I'm sure I'll have. Thanks again, guys. I knew ATOT could help

And QuitBanningMe, it's good to have someone familiar with the area to ask specific questions. I imagine you'll be getting a few PMs from me if that's all right.

 

[QuitBanningMe]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
Wow, I've got a lot to read. Sorry for being out so long. My brother just got back from his first year of college and he's still totally helpless when it comes to computers so I was helping him get his stuff set up and everything. Thanks to all that have posted advice. I'll read it all over and then post back here with the questions I'm sure I'll have. Thanks again, guys. I knew ATOT could help

And QuitBanningMe, it's good to have someone familiar with the area to ask specific questions. I imagine you'll be getting a few PMs from me if that's all right.

Fine with me. Ask away.

 

[Supermercado]

Thanks, I'm sure I'll have lots of questions once I really get into planning stuff out and seeing what my options are.

 

[Storm]

Where do you live now?

Cause if you are in the area why not live at home for a while to see what your paycheck would be after taxes, medicare etc. That way you a concrete number instead of estimating.

If its out of state, then I guess you have to.

 

[Otaking]

Congrats on the job!

It's amazing that you got a coding job even though you weren't one previously.

I think someone earlier said not to get dental, vision, and all the crap, but I'm in horrible health, so I'd take all that if I could.

But most importantly, don't forget to get renters' insurance (unless that was known already). It's cheap, and I've known several people that have been saved by it. :thumbsup:

 

[Supermercado]

mAdMaLuDaWg: Yeah, I think I may have a little bargaining room on the salary. It's at least worth a shot, so long as I don't push it too hard and they change their minds. I say that I think I have a little room because last week, they have me do a small demo of what I can do and he said he looked at the code for it and had his previous developer look at it and he said that I know more than the guy that was there. So that's encouraging and I might be able to get a little more out of it. Even a few thousand dollars more would make me more comfortable taking the leap, so to speak, and moving out. I'm a cautious person by nature and I don't want to get stuck living in Hilton Head paying a crazy rent or anything if it's going to be tight. As for upgrading the PC every year, I don't do that now. I never have. It's not worth it to me. I upgrade every 3-3.5 years or if something breaks and needs to be replaced. That's mostly just hard drives, though; nothing expensive like motherboards or processors *knock on wood*

astrosfan90: I'm pretty sure than $30,000 is more than workable. I may not be able to do as many things as I'd like to or buy as much stuff as I'd like to, but I understand that. And I have enough restraint to be able to walk into Best Buy and walk out empty-handed I may be 22 and in the party generation, but I'm not much of a partier. I'd much rather sit at home and watch TV than go out and blow $20 on drinks for a night. That's a waste of money, as far as I'm concerned. Good call with the resume. I'll definitely keep it updated since I only have plans to stay at this job for a few years. I figure by that point, I'll be able to get a job more in line with what my degree is actually for.

sygyzy: Compiling that list of bills is kind of some of the information that I was after when I posted this thread. I don't really know what to expect as far as a monthly power bill and that sort of thing. Maximum of 25-30% of gross income may be tough to swing on Hilton Head. I did some checking around on apartments.com, apartmentguide.com, and apartmentfinder.com, I think, and most of the places go for $650-$750/month for a 1BR/1BA place. While it'd be nice to have two bedrooms so I can use one as a computer room, that's probably not possible on Hilton Head, with costs as much as they are. Also, thanks for that link. I'll be reading over that very carefully in the next day or so and trying to figure out what I've got to work with. That link looks very helpful.

cerebusPu: Luckily, I have 0 credit card debt. The only debt I have is a little over $10,000 in my student loans.

kranky: Good to hear from you on this. I was hoping you'd see this thread and reply. My aunt ought to be able to help me with the financial stuff. She's an account at the Univ. of SC downtown. She mentioned something about a W-4 and while I don't really know much about it, she said she would help me. We're going to their house for Mother's Day this weekend; I imagine we'll sit down and do some figuring and maybe plan out a budget.

Based on what I found on some websites (none of which were actually from the apartments themselves, I don't think), there are a few places in Hilton Head that have 3-, 4-, and 6-month leases. Assuming that montly rent isn't drastically higher for the shorter leases, I'll probably try and rent for as short a term as possible.

Deposits shouldn't be too much of a problem. I've got a few thousand in my savings account right now. That comes from being as thrifty as I can. I don't buy things without looking for the best price possible. If I can avoid it, I don't want to have any roommates. It may not be possible, and I don't know anyone in Hilton Head, so it might be hard, but if I can avoid that, I'd very much prefer living alone, even if it was a bit more expensive. I don't know my exact credit score, but if I had to guess, I think it's pretty good. I've had my card for a little over 4 years and the limit has increased from $1000/mo. to roughly $12,000/mo. I think I've been late on one payment and that was only because I was a moron that month and just forgot about it. Call it a stupid mistake, I suppose.

The car is something that I don't suppose is a necessity right away but like I said, it's old and it definitely won't last forever. It's in pretty good shape mechanically right now so a car won't necessarily be a first priority. It's probably within a year, though. 3 years for a used car loan is good, you say? It might be better if it was a monthly figure. What would be considered a fair amount to pay per month on a used car? $200? $300? I suppose that depends on what type of car I'd end up with. Might be time to start seriously considering potential vehicles.

Working hard won't be a problem. I'd consider myself a hard worker and I'm not a screw-up or anything, I don't think. When I have something to do, you can bet that that's what I'll be doing. Thanks for the other advice regarding the workplace environment. I will keep all of that in mind.

Sheepathon: It's related, but no, it's not exactly what my major was. I was BS Computer Science and our curriculum was mostly Java, C, and C++. This job will be mostly PHP and MySQL, which happen to be my main interests are far as programming goes. I've always been primarily interested in web-related things as opposed to more traditional programming. Eventually, I think I'll probably want to move to that type of position, but for now, bills are due and I need a job. It so happens that I took a course in MySQL at school and I'm interested in it.

Storm: I live in Columbia now. About 2 hours from Hilton Head. Unfortunately, living at home for a few months or a year isn't possible.

Otaking That's sort of my thoughts right now. I have no professional experience in the computer world, so I'm more limited than some people that I know from school. I fall into the category of no experience and decent grades. Some of my friends either had more experience or better grades and have gotten higher-paying jobs. If all the other insurances are available at not outrageous prices, it's definitely going to be considered. And yes, renter's insurance is on my list of things to get. I gotta protect my toys somehow


Whew. That was long. I think I got to all of the people who made comments and responded accordingly. Sorry it took so long. Thanks again for everyone's input thus far and here's hoping for any more information to help me get started.

 

[dmcowen674]

Just get to work, it's your first job, they'll be many more down the road.

Congrats.

 

[Supermercado]

Thanks. I plan to be working as soon as I can find a place to live and get myself moved. Within a week or so, I think.

 

[sygyzy]

You really should try to stick to the 30% for rent. I know that might not be possible but you are stretching yourself too thin otherwise. 12-15% for car payments is another rule.

 

[SearchMaster]

You sound like you have a level head on your shoulders - I suspect you'll be just fine no matter where you end up.

That's about the starting salary I had about 15 years ago; cars, apartments, and health insurance are a little more expensive now. We start our software engineers out at $40K (which is actually a little low) and our web developers at $30K. Is strictly web development your goal, or do you want more of a software engineer role? If it's the latter, I would fear that you could get stuck in the web developer track. If web developer is what you want to do...sounds like a good opportunity! I started with a small company and in a lot of ways I miss it, even though my current (mid-size) company still has a small company feel in a lot of ways.

 

[edro]

30k is more money than you will ever need. The main things that cost while living alone are:
1. Rent
2. Food
3. Utilities

You can't really help the rent (once in an apartment), but you can limit the Food and Utilities. Get basic cable (or no cable), save on electricity by turning things off while not in use and hang drying your clothes, buy groceries in bulk and at Aldi or Sam's Club (Costcos), and stay away from single packaged foods.

The funny thing about income, is that people always adapt to it. Money does not buy happiness, but it does make life easier sometimes

 

[Supermercado]

sygyzy: I'll try and stick to the 30% if I can. I guess I'll have to find out exactly what I'll be making before I know what 30% of that is. In the end, though, if 30% isn't possible, I assume it's okay to fudge the budget just a little and move some money from another place if I can (buy less red meat or something like that, which will drive up the cost of food) to afford a decent place. The island, unfortunately, I think is pretty expensive, so it's either 1) live on the island and pay for it, but be closer to work and save on gas and commuting time, or 2) live further away and pay less rent, but be further away from work and have higher gas costs and more time spent driving to and from work. And I'll try to stick to 12-15% for cay payments, once I figure out what 12-15% is. I think I can probably have a budget set down at least temporarily by this weekend, so I'll know what I've got to work with. And when I formally accept the position next week, I can see about maybe getting a little more money and padding my budget.

SearchMaster: I always thought web development was my ultimate goal but I would enjoy software development, either. And that's what I paid to go to school for, so it makes the best sense to ultimately get into a software engineer or developer job if I can. I have no intentions of getting stuck in a career track that I don't want to be part of, even though I do enjoy the type of stuff I'll be doing. When it comes down to it, I think software development is where I'd like to be in 5 years. If this job is a stepping stone to a job in Atlanta or Charlotte, that's great. Or if the company really takes off and I stay in Hilton Head making plenty of money to take care of things, that's great, too.

edro13: By my very brief and probably incomplete calculations, I've figured that $30k is more than I need. My concern is how much money I'll have left to work with for emergencies and general buying of toys and computer parts and things like that. I know I can get by on the salary, which is the important thing, but I would like to be able to enjoy living in Hilton Head while I'm there