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Salary expectations?

N

NTB

Diamond Member
Saw this posted in the school email system the other day, and I am seriously considering sending in my resume. One thing I'm not sure of, though, is that it asks for a salary expectation - I have no idea what to ask for this (aside from "more than I'm making now", of course). It's only an intern position, so I know I won't make a fortune. Anybody have any suggestions on what to ask for? What did some of you make (if anything) doing internships in college? Here's the ad:

Company: RGA (Reinsurance Group of America, Inc.)

Position Description: Systems Intern - must be pursuing a degree in Computer Science, MIS, or related field. Requirements: some development experience or coursework in VB 6.0, VB.NET, or other Microsoft technologies; Java experience a plus; understanding of database design and usage; Oracle and / or SQL Server preferred; ability to work on an independent and team basis. ability to set priorities and document procedures. Salary varies, depending on school year and level of experience. Full time hours until school reumes; potential for part-time hours during school year.
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Nate
 
Originally posted by: cchen
What year in school are you? What prior experiences do you have?
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Senior in college; course work in VB 6, C++, Java, and a database class (although it wasn't SQL or Oracle); I've also done quite a bit of reading and coding on my own outside of the classes. No real work-related experience with it unfortunately, though. Going through a book on VB.NET right now.

Nate
 
Originally posted by: NTB
Originally posted by: cchen
What year in school are you? What prior experiences do you have?
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Senior in college; course work in VB 6, C++, Java, and a database class (although it wasn't SQL or Oracle); I've also done quite a bit of reading and coding on my own outside of the classes. No real work-related experience with it unfortunately, though. Going through a book on VB.NET right now.

Nate
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No experience hurts, but being a senior helps. I would expect $13-$17 an hour
 
Thanks for the suggestions, everybody 🙂 Keep 'em coming.

I'm cleaning up my resume and a little cover letter to send to them this morning. Should have it in by the end of the day, I think.

Nate
 
Back when I used to hire a lot of tech people, I'd put in "state salary expectations" in order to weed out the complete idiots. It works, too.

You are NOT a complete idiot because you asked for advice.

The proper answer to that is to state what you made on your previous job, and (if necessary) how that might be different for the job you're applying for.

The even better answer is to knock yourself out finding out what that job pays - call the co. headquarters, ask friends-of-friends, call a competitor, and so on, the information IS available if you look hard enough. Then, you put down slightly more.

If you put down too little, you get thrown out because you don't know enough about the field & the job to get the right amount. If you put down way too much, you get thrown out because you're a lunatic. If you put down exactly the right amount, they'll probably ask you to take less - bargaining.

Good luck, and I hope you get the job 😀 .
 
Originally posted by: Ameesh
in my senior year i made $27 an hour for my part time software devlepoment internship, $15 is way to low.
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You are not the norm.
How can you say that the equivalent of 30k per year is way too low for an internship when the average starting salary offer for CS graduates is around 45k a year?

My first job wasn't technically an internship, but it was a part-time job through a temp agency while I was in my senior year in CS. I started at $16/hr. Continued working there after I got my degree and got a raise to $23/hr. Then after a year temping, got an offer of a full time permanent position starting around 50k.

Having real experience would be very helpful, and since it is the experience more than the money that you are after here, I wouldn't go too high on your expectations. As someone pointed out, some internships aren't paid at all. Seems to me that $15/hr would be pretty good for a college student with no real experience. To me, that sounds like you believe you are a good worker and worth a reasonable rate, but not greedy.
 
Thanks for the advice, everybody. Going to send in my stuff today; from what I've read here and heard from other people, I think I'm going to shoot for $15 / hr.

Nate
 
most I made at an internship was $10/hr. and I was shocked they gave that. It was for HSBC doing web app testing... (which they ended up never deploying). I wouldn't expect more pay than a typical P/T job.
 
Originally posted by: NTB
Thanks for the advice, everybody. Going to send in my stuff today; from what I've read here and heard from other people, I think I'm going to shoot for $15 / hr.

Nate
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Good luck. The people talking about $15+ are out on the west coast where that stuff is inflated. You're in the midwest. I'd put $10 if it were me.
 
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: NTB
Thanks for the advice, everybody. Going to send in my stuff today; from what I've read here and heard from other people, I think I'm going to shoot for $15 / hr.

Nate
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Good luck. The people talking about $15+ are out on the west coast where that stuff is inflated. You're in the midwest. I'd put $10 if it were me.
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Even the people here are telling me to ask for $12 to $17 an hour, so $15 shouldn't be too bad. And I would be willing to negotiate a little bit. At least I'd still be making more than the $7.50 I was getting working retail 😛

Nate
 
Originally posted by: NTB
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: NTB
Thanks for the advice, everybody. Going to send in my stuff today; from what I've read here and heard from other people, I think I'm going to shoot for $15 / hr.

Nate
Click to expand...

Good luck. The people talking about $15+ are out on the west coast where that stuff is inflated. You're in the midwest. I'd put $10 if it were me.
Click to expand...

Even the people here are telling me to ask for $12 to $17 an hour, so $15 shouldn't be too bad. And I would be willing to negotiate a little bit. At least I'd still be making more than the $7.50 I was getting working retail 😛

Nate
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You can ask for $15, but unless you have other better prospects, I'd take whatever they offer. The experience will be worth much more than the pay.
 
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