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The Almighty Buck Businesses IT

Annual IT Salary Survey Finds Dissatisfaction 582

Posted by kdawson from the grumbling-all-the-way-to-the-bank dept.
BobB writes "A storm seems to be brewing in the IT job market. Pay raises have continued to outpace inflation, and bonuses are downright impressive — 11.6% on average. Yet, as the 2007 Network World Salary Survey finds, dissatisfaction over salary packages is rampant."
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Annual IT Salary Survey Finds Dissatisfaction More

Annual IT Salary Survey Finds Dissatisfaction

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  • The secret to maintaining a healthy IT job market. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) <qg@biodome.org> on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @02:36AM (#20752559) Homepage Journal
    Get the head hunters to contact IT geeks every 6 to 8 months and offer absolutely plumb jobs. When you get em on the phone, "refresh their job details" and then tell them that plumb job is gone, but you'll keep an eye out for them.. just what salary range are you looking for? Oh, well, with your skills you should be getting paid a lot more than that.. etc.

    • Re:The secret to maintaining a healthy IT job mark (Score:5, Insightful)

      by an.echte.trilingue ( 1063180 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @04:30AM (#20752975) Homepage
      I see this more as an indication of wide-spread management failure in the industry than of money per se.

      Ironically, (unreasonably) high wage demands typically have more to do with the non-tangible compensation that a job offers than the actual amount of money employees make. That is, when people are happy with their job, when they enjoy the social contacts, when they get to work in a nice environment and, above all, when they have a sense of purpose, then they make reasonable wage demands. When the job sucks, they spend 8 hours a day thinking "I don't get paid enough for this shit." In that case, no wage will be high enough.

      One of those things that management should be doing is ensuring that their employees have the intangibles to keep them happy and productive. That is something that our much derided PHBs learn to do in their MBA programs. However, I think that the IT industry is having issues in this arena because the skill set required to perform the job is so specialized that programmers who get promoted to managers never bother to acquire "managerial" skill sets (or they just don't put any value in managerial skill sets) and people who do have managerial skill sets are so wildly incompetent in IT that you would not dream of hiring them to manage coders or SAs.

      just my $.02
      -mat

      • Re:The secret to maintaining a healthy IT job mark (Score:4, Insightful)

        by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @07:49AM (#20753799)
        Overall I would agree the modern MBA program puts a lot of emphasys on Buisness Ethics and focusing on the intangibles because the accountants can deal with the tangables. Sometimes forces higher then them force them to be more stupid, Policies like fireing 10% of all underperfoming or middle perfroming employees every year to make sure we only have the top ones available. Seem to force a lot of stupidity in management because they have to show costs savings even though they are IT and normally the more money they have the better the cost savings is for rest of the corporation. But the MBA program and the Managers are normally not the problem, unless they have some sort of powertrip ego. But most conflects with Managers and Employees happends because the manager actually has to deal with more issues at once, many are really conflecting eg. Increased Demmand on IT Resources, Lower IT Budget. And all these other things that lead them to try to get the most out of everyone.

      • Re:The secret to maintaining a healthy IT job mark (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Zarf ( 5735 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @09:14AM (#20754393) Journal

        I think that the IT industry is having issues in this arena because the skill set required to perform the job is so specialized that programmers who get promoted to managers never bother to acquire "managerial" skill sets (or they just don't put any value in managerial skill sets) and people who do have managerial skill sets are so wildly incompetent in IT that you would not dream of hiring them to manage coders or SAs.

        I think you are on to something. The problem partially stems from IT being a very young component in business. Consider that Accounting has been around for hundreds of years... there is an established relationship between various types of businesses and accounting professionals. Yet IT has only been around for a few decades. I don't think businesses nor the profession itself knows how to deal with the problems of succession and management of talent.

        The most "fun" work environment for the worker is one of unstructured cooperation where there are no rules. This is not the ideal since that freedom can potentially lead to disaster in the wrong coworker's hands. Eventually management will get paranoid about waste.

        The most "profitable" work environment is where nothing goes to waste and every key stroke leads to profit. This is not the ideal since that efficiency means a loss of adaptability and a high burn out rate for employees. It turns out that the highly profitable environment can only exist in sprints.

        There should be a sustainable happy medium that works well as a company grows. I don't know what that is yet. I haven't seen it in my work history.

        • Re:The secret to maintaining a healthy IT job mark (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Brave Guy ( 457657 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @10:55AM (#20755407)

          The most "fun" work environment for the worker is one of unstructured cooperation where there are no rules.

          That sounds like it ought to be true, but IMHO it isn't. I think IT mainly attracts three kinds of people, and if you look at what drives them, it's never really that.

          Firstly, you have those who are only in it for the money. They probably took some university course just so they could work in IT, and they probably aren't very good at their job. Most of them don't get very far, because their attitude is entirely selfish, and the only motivator they have is making as much money as possible from doing as little real work as possible. In their minds, they'll have fun later, when they're rich.

          Then you have the "journeyman" developers and sysadmins: those who are happy to work in a well-paid industry, but basically see it as just another job. These people represent the largest proportion of the industry, IME. They are typically competent but unexceptional in their skill and aptitude, and approach their jobs with a reasonably professional attitude. The best motivator for these people, IME, is simply to let them get on with their job: give them clear instructions about what needs to be done, and some relevant background information if they're the kind of person who likes to see how they fit into the bigger picture, and then just get out of the way and let them do their work. These people typically recognise the value of good organisation, and respect strong but flexible leadership. They don't go to work to have fun, but they will find their work environment most pleasant this way and rarely demand more.

          Finally, you have the guru types. Often, these are the guys who got into IT because they enjoy the field. If they took a university course they enjoyed or they get paid well, that's almost incidental, and just a bonus on top of having a job where they enjoy the work. These guys know their subjects inside out. The big variable — and the thing that separates the gurus who are great people to have in your group from the gurus who are liabilities — is how well these guys do things outside their own development or administration work.

          Those who develop people skills, understand the business context for their work, cooperate with management, and give constructive input to these areas from the point of view of the IT guy, tend to go far, though they tend to stick to a technical path rather than moving into management. Motivation for these guys often comes from seeing a good result from their work, and they will work in whatever way seems best to achieve that goal. Again, this isn't usually unstructured cooperation; on the contrary, IME these guys are the ones most likely to want good processes in place, and to appreciate readily whether existing processes are helping or getting in the way. Often, these guys also value honest recognition when they produce good work, and like to know that when they make constructive suggestions they are being listened to.

          Of course, you also get the gurus who want to have everything their own way. These are the guys who want their own office and to work in their own style. They want full-time ownership of the code they write (not that it matters since no-one else can understand it anyway) or the final say over any changes to their networks. These guys probably are motivated by unstructured work, but cooperation is a word that doesn't enter their vocabulary. Frankly, you're better off hiring a couple of less egotistical, less demanding, and far more pleasant and constructive journeyman types anyway than you would be getting stuck with one of these guys, who seem to be known as "rock star programmers" in trendy blogs.

          So I don't think unstructured cooperation is really fun for any of the major types of IT guy. The good ones tend to appreciate enough structure to do an effective job, while the bad ones will cooperate only as far as is necessary to get what they want anyway, and often would prefer to stay under the radar and just do things their own way. Constructive anarchy doesn't really work for either group.

  • Housing up 50% & Salaries up only 11% = !Satis (Score:4, Funny)

    by Adeptus_Luminati ( 634274 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @02:41AM (#20752571)
    I blame it in part on your (USA) housing bubble. Wait 2-3 years for the housing market to drop 50% and you should all be very happy! (Assuming you didn't first go bankrupt on your ARM sub-prime mortgage! heh)

    Up here in Canada, you're lucky to get 4% raise/Yr in IT. Wages in general have been quite stagnent in the past 3 or 4 years (except Alberta Oil cities), yet our housing prices are climbing in mutliple urban cities at double digit percentage rates /Yr. Don't worry, our bubble will also be popping soon... then maybe we can all go down to Cuba an cry over our losses with cheap Tequilas & Cubans (cigars) in hand.

    Adeptus

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Adeptus_Luminati ( 634274 )
      Oh yeah, and I forgot to add that inflation calculations don't take into account the following:

      1) Rising Energy costs (i.e. Oil @ $84 anyone?)
      2) Higher Energy costs increase costs of most consumer goods due to higher cost to transport them
      3) War in Afghanistan & Iraq costs a few billion per month that you pay through taxes
      4) US dollar deflating for the past year against just about every other currency by 20%+
      5) Crazy Tuition fees in your Universities
      6) Even more insane Health Care costs

      Time to buy Gold

  • European salaries != US salaries (Score:5, Interesting)

    by seti ( 74097 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @02:43AM (#20752575) Journal
    What amazes me is the difference between average IT salaries in Europe and the US. Here in Europe, an average 30-year-old IT worker could expect to be making about 3000 euros before taxes every month (i.e. 36,000 a year). Reading that article, I gather the average US IT salary is about $80,000, which is about 56,000.

    Can anybody explain this huge difference? Is the cost of living in the US just so much higher than in Europe? Or does IT just pay a lot more in the US?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by c0d3h4x0r ( 604141 )
      Cost of living in the US is generally higher because we have to pay for medical insurance, hospital visits, childcare/daycare, etc, almost entirely out of our own pockets, in addition to all the taxes we already pay. In most European countries, those kinds of services are provided through some kind of government-run socialized program paid for by your taxes. Here in the states we have to handle those things entirely on our own and they cost a lot, so we have to earn more to be able to do that.

      Plus, here i
    • US engineers get (mostly) paid on merit and (mostly) get paid a heck of a lot more than regular old company workers with similar degrees and experience. Example: the average national starting salary for a liberal arts major working 9-5 is somewhere in the $30k range. The average starting salary for a graduate from my CS department is in the $55k range. A disproportionate number of our graduates go on to live in high, high cost areas (California, New York City), but you can still see the disparity (there
    • No. Really!

      Oil is denominated in US dollars. It means the whole world has to buy and hold USD reserves. This increases the demand for dollars more than other currencies and keeps it artificially strong. If you compare the salaries you'll see approximately where the dollar is heading if the oil link is broken [telegraph.co.uk].

       
    • 2500 here. Get me a Green Card and my ass has to take the next plane 'cause I'll be gone.

      I think the difference isn't so much the cost of living, more the lack of extra expenses paid by US employers. Here, every employee costs the employer about twice of what he gets paid, due to taxes and mandatory insurances. When you take that into account, you're actually above 56k a year.

    • Re:European salaries != US salaries (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Corgha ( 60478 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @05:04AM (#20753133)
      Can anybody explain this huge difference?

      This could get political, so please don't take any of these comments as judgments on the personal worth of Americans or Europeans, or about which nations are better that which other ones. There are lots of fine folks on both sides of the pond, and there's more to life than salaries and GDP. I'm just trying to explain the salary difference, since you asked. I'll just throw these possible reasons out there and we'll see what sticks...

      According to an article in The Economist earlier this year (sorry, don't have a link), American companies get a higher ROI (usually measured in increased productivity) on investments in IT projects (this actually goes with the company, not the worker, so it's probably down to management, but in any case a higher "R" makes you willing to be a little more free with the "I").

      Also, Europeans work significantly fewer hours per year than Americans, on average. Like 15% fewer [ecb.int], according to that linked speech from the President of the European Central Bank. Looking at the yearly salary, then, distorts the figure for how much people are being paid for each unit of labor input (though, even per hour worked, Americans are more productive, so that further raises the value of the labor to the company).

      Put another way, according to that same ECB article the US has a 50% higher GDP per capita than Europe (Europe's is two-thirds that of the US), so the output is higher, too. And some of that trickles down (not much, but some).

      And, of course, unemployment in America is much lower than in Europe (for August, it was 4.6% in the US vs 9% in, e.g, Germany). If you have twice as many people looking for jobs, well, the employer can offer lower pay and someone will be glad to be earning more than zero.

      So, those would make it reasonable for companies in the US to be willing to pay higher salaries.

      Plus, it's easier to terminate people without cause in America, which means poor performers with their low salaries (who would otherwise drag down the average) can be taken off your books immediately, without a lengthy process of review and appeal. In some places in Europe, it can take a while to fire someone and may not be possible in borderline cases, and you have to demonstrate cause. Since IT workers often have privileges you don't want them to use during a hostile termination, this sometimes leads to the ludicrous situation of paying someone not to come to work for a few months (and that person is probably not going to get a raise and a bonus and bump up the average, eh?). Of course, despite this, unemployment is lower, anyway, so it's not like the US is cheating by not counting all the $0 salaries, unless maybe you count the huge prison population ;)

      Similarly, you have to take into account the large concentrations of American IT workers in places like Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is a very risky place. The companies that succeed are often flush with cash. But the companies that fail don't pay anybody, and unemployed people don't count into the average. And, of course, the cost of living is high in Silicon Valley.

      So, those effects would also tend to raise the average.

      Much of this stuff could be explained as the result of the different paths America and Europe have taken with running their societies, specifically with how much risk they are willing to tolerate. But, like I said, there's more to life than high salaries. And those American salaries are getting lower in real terms by the day as Americans' purchasing power is eroded by the falling dollar. So, enjoy your vacation days and social services and don't fret too much about it. ;)

    • Social TAX means low IT salaries (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @05:17AM (#20753183) Homepage
      UK != Europe either (UK is much higher than 3k euro a month)

      Some basic reasons

      1) Employers Tax. The US and UK don't penalize companies for employing people. The UK has a small employer tax and some US states have none. Most continental countries have a significant company tax burden for each employee.

      2) Culture. The US and UK have pretty dynamic IT markets with people not remaining with one company for a long time, this means people pay more to attract talent knowing that this will help.

      3) Cost of firing. The US (more than the UK, but the UK is less than the continent) has very little employee protection which means you can get rid of poor employees or during a down turn. In the continent this isn't the case so the wages are lower as employers have to employ good and crap people and have to factor in the cost of not getting rid of them.

      The other thing that shouldn't be overlooked is the fact that English is the lingua franca of computing, this does tend to mean that top people from all countries move towards the US (and to a lesser extent the UK) and that everyone has to speak english thus meaning there is more international competition for jobs in the US and UK markets.

      With the way that the dollar is at the moment the average UK IT salary could well be above our cousins over the pond.

  • Is there anyone happy with their salary? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by imaginaryelf ( 862886 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @02:44AM (#20752579)
    I mean, who is going to answer yes?

    • Re:Is there anyone happy with their salary? (Score:4, Funny)

      by dropadrop ( 1057046 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @02:49AM (#20752599)
      Yes, I'm always happy for a couple of months after my last raise.
    • I am happy with my current wage. I am a uni student that works part time 3 days/wk as IT support and earn almost double what some of my friends are per hour.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by glwtta ( 532858 )
      So you are saying that nobody is being paid fairly? That seems hard to believe.

      Does everyone really automatically feel that they should be paid more than their position/skill level/experience justifies?

      Personally, I'd rather be paid what I'm worth.
      • No, I think what he's saying is that everyone's a wee bit greedy. I mean, yes, you get paid a lot but there's always someone who gets more and you want to reach him.

        Must suck to be Bill, because, well, he has nobody to complain about.

    • Re:Is there anyone happy with their salary? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by eggstasy ( 458692 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @04:52AM (#20753075) Journal
      I'm pretty happy with my salary. I never really understood why people cared so much about money. It just sits there, piling up. What on earth would I do with more money?
      I don't smoke, I don't drink. I don't own a car (gotta love europe), neither do I want or need one.
      My monthly utility bills amount to 15% of my paycheck, and food perhaps another 15% - I eat lots of fruit and veggies, and enjoy cooking stuff from scratch. Processed food is harmful and expensive.
      Most of my entertainment is found online. Building stuff in Second Life, IMing friends, reading web pages and playing the odd flash game. I also enjoy cycling on weekends, and getting together with my RL friends for a chat over a 60-cent cup of coffee.
      I do not own any consoles, CDs, DVDs, and buy maybe 1 or 2 books a year.
      I end up taking my girlfriend to the fanciest restaurants in town for lack of a better idea of what to do with my money.
      I realize that some people are addicted to the status symbol treadmill, but I find that an exceedingly frivolous way of life, and I do not personally know anyone like that.
      I guess engineers lean strongly towards Make rather than Buy. We keep ourselves entertained through things that other people would consider "zomg too much work".

      • Re:Is there anyone happy with their salary? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by yaman666 ( 905870 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @09:38AM (#20754605)
        Wait until you get a family or decide you want to buy a house. Raising children, mortgage, college tuitions... those costs pile up. :-)
      • F-you money is where you have enough to live the way you want to live without EVER having to go back to work. Until you reach that point, you still have a long road ahead. It's where you are financially independent enough that you can tell your employer "Fuck You". You might have "piles" of money right now but if you are smart, you are investing those dollars so you can reach F-you money as quickly as possible. After that, you can do whatever you want to do.

        I used to be just like you. I'd look at m

      • Re:Is there anyone happy with their salary? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by RzUpAnmsCwrds ( 262647 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @10:42AM (#20755285)
        One word: family.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )
        Processed food is harmful and expensive.

        Hm, interesting statement. Isn't pretty much all food processed in one way or another? (Iodine in salt, pasteurization of dairy products, vitamin C added, etc.) Most of these processes are in place specifically to make the food less harmful-- less likely you'll drink spoiled milk, less likely you'll suffer from iodine or vitamin C deficiency, etc.

        Whether it's more expensive to buy iodized salt rather than non-iodized salt, I dunno. But saying processed foods are harmf

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by bkr1_2k ( 237627 )
          I think you're being a little pedantic, and you'll find the GP meant foods like boxed macaroni and cheese, frozen pizzas and the like. These are traditionally very high in sodium content, as well as several other "not so healthy in high doses" things, like fats. Your body needs fats, but not the amount of fat you get from a Big Mac and Fries. These foods also don't taste as good to most people, but they offer a convenience factor that people are willing to tolerate a slightly less appetizing flavor to ge

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by tknd ( 979052 )

        I was pretty happy with my salary until I realized I lived in the US. I'd say the unhappiness with salaries is a cause of cultural beliefs and influences like the "American Dream." In a nutshell, the American dream is to make lots of money so you can live a glamorous lifestyle. Many of the cultural influences and US laws also force people to working harder and making more money.

        For example take the way the US is built and real estate. Most places in the US build outwards rather than upwards. Because the

  • Not the CPI? Perhaps the RPI? Or maybe it should be the money supply figures... which oops aren't being published in the USA any more (wonder why).

     

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by TheLink ( 130905 )
      Inflation is just another way for a Government to tax people.

      The US still has the advantage that the US dollar is the currency used for much international trade, so they get to tax other _countries_.

      If the USA "prints money"[1] the US dollars Japan or China gets for selling their stuff to the USA automatically gets worth less even if they're still holding on to it.

      Great eh? Now that stops working so well if too many countries switch to the Euro or something else.

      Think I'm wrong? ;)

      [1] Possible ways of print

  • In the voice of Dr. Zoidberg (Score:3, Funny)

    by The Sith Lord ( 111494 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @03:01AM (#20752653)
    What !
    When did this happen ?
    That's not funny !!!!

  • The unsatisfied worker (Score:5, Funny)

    by markov_chain ( 202465 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @03:04AM (#20752667)
    Quoted from bottom of article:

    The 2007 Network World Salary Survey finds these characteristics are typical of network professionals who are more dissatisfied with their jobs than not:
    • Has been in current position six years or longer and promoted only once or not at all.
    • Makes less than $60,000 a year in a staff-level position, particularly working on collating and stapling, training or does help desk or tech support.
    • Has no direct reports.
    • Is not expecting to receive a bonus in 2007.
    • Is not expecting to receive a paycheck in 2007.
    • Works at a company with more than 1,000 employees, often in banking.
    • Lives in a Southwestern state.
    • Has earned a bachelor's vs. holding no college degree.
    • Has been asked to move his desk more than three times in 2007.
    • Has had a stapler taken away by his manager.
    • Is not permitted to listen to the radio except from 9-11 and even then only at a reasonable volume.

    • It's the stapler, I tell you. It has to be the stapler. I mean, I'd be angry if my manager came and wanted my stapler. I don't even have one.

      I mean, honestly, is that what really happens to a lot of people. I mean, it says there "typical network professionals", right? I can see that the "typical disgruntled network professional" has been in the job for a few years (give or take, on average), that he had to move his desk 3 times (give or take, again), that he may not receive a bonus... but how the hell does

      • Is not expecting to receive a paycheck in 2007.
      I can see how that would limit your job satisfaction.

      • Has had a stapler taken away by his manager.
      <peter_griffin_voice> WHOA whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa... whoa! Now just a minute!</peter_griffin_voice>

  • Wish I was paid like this in the UK (Score:5, Interesting)

    by damburger ( 981828 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @03:15AM (#20752709)

    I graduated with a degree in Computer Science in 2002, and have had awful trouble finding a well paid job. Most of the jobs advertised were web development, which were always badly paid (my first job out of university paid barely above minimum wage). These jobs usually ended before 6 months, once I'd completed a couple of projects for them and before they would be legally required to give me redundancy pay.

    There were a couple of good job openings (I was once approached by a recruitment agency to apply for a job with Google in Dublin) but of course seeing as I was not the only desperate compsci grad in the West Midlands competition for them was pretty fierce and I didn't get them.

    I was trapped in web development, but I was pretty good at it. I constantly taught myself new technologies as I developed sites, worked on projects in my spare time to expand my skills, and had a good eye for front end design from a job I had in the print industry. Despite this I was never paid more than £12k a year for web development. My current job is pays £14k, doing office admin work for the police, and that is the most I've ever been paid for anything.

    Then it seemed to be looking up. I'd gone for a support job at a large US company, and at the interview they had been so impressed with my aptitude scores and my general IT knowledge they recommended me for a better paying job (£20k) with their programming department. Sadly, I fell foul of their Gestapo-like HR department, who decided not to give me the job because, during one of the interviews over the phone to a woman in Texas, I didn't sound 'positive enough'. I'm not sure how positive a man from Yorkshire is supposed to sound to a Texan over a transatlantic phone line, but there you go.

    This is why I'm now starting a Physics degree. Fuck the IT industry, it's not worth it. I slaved away for cockle-picking money, and when my talents were finally recognised I was rejected because of some idiotic HR impression of me, rather than the evidence of my aptitude tests. Hopefully, physics is a field where people are rewarded for their knowledge and intelligence rather than whatever smarmy 'people skills' HR are after. Perhaps I'm being Naive, but it can't be much worse than being in the IT industry.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @03:34AM (#20752795)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • How about me? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Whiney Mac Fanboy ( 963289 ) * <whineymacfanboy@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @04:52AM (#20753071) Homepage Journal
        Would you hire me? Am I chirpy enough for the personality-over-skills organization you run?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Spad ( 470073 )
      Kalamazoo by any chance? Been there done that, got out as soon as I could.

      I graduated with a BEng Computer Engineering in 2004 and spent a couple of years bumming around various 1st line helpdesk roles before I got lucky with a decent agency who got me a contract 3rd line role in the NHS. Once you get that first step, it becomes much easier to find further roles because you have the experience and job history.

      Also, if you can, be a contracter, it pays a shitload more than most permanent roles and as long as

    • Re:Wish I was paid like this in the UK (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Bryan Ischo ( 893 ) * on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @04:20AM (#20752935) Homepage
      > Sadly, I fell foul of their Gestapo-like HR department, who decided not to give me the job because,
      > during one of the interviews over the phone to a woman in Texas, I didn't sound 'positive enough'.

      Sorry, that is really rough. I had a similar problem once where I got to the final stages of the interview process, the guys I interviewed with were all ready to hire me, but just because I *asked* the HR interview person if in the future the company would be considering allowing employees the occasional work-at-home day (not that I expected to work at home at all, but was thinking about the future when I might have kids).

      I think it's really stupid that technology companies let their interview process get hamstrung by HR departments. They should not have HR interviews at all. If the people you're going to work with like you, the HR department really ought not to have any say in it at all.

  • I was dissatisfied so I asked for $65535 (Score:5, Funny)

    by sweet_petunias_full_ ( 1091547 ) on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @03:25AM (#20752765)

    Actually boss, never mind that pay raise I wanted, just make my salary exactly $65535 and I'll forget about the whole thing. You are using excel 2007 [slashdot.org], right?

  • Two questions about the article:

    (1) How many working hours per week is the median? Most IT jobs that I've come across only pay that well when you're working 60h+/week, or your at the top of the ladder with a fancy title.
    (2) Where is this kind of compensation? $82,000 median base pay for my region (Great Lakes) seems very high for most positions. I recently received an offer for a Help Desk spot for a regional bank on a rotating shift schedule, $14/hr...$29,120an. No thanks. Except for sales, every

    • Best requirements I've ever seen was along the lines of "10+ years xp with C++, 3+ years with C# (1 year after C# hit the roads), bac degree, not older than 25".

      My blunt question was: HOW? Never mind the C# requirement (let's assume it was an error on their side and the standard requirement of 3 years, not caring that the language barely existed), but how can someone with a bac degree not be over 25 and have 10 years professional experience? Start when you're 15 at some company, finish high school on the si

  • I still have too much..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @03:52AM (#20752849)

    .... month left at the end of my salary.

    Salary is similar to menstruation:

    • It comes once a month
    • It lasts for about 3 days
    • When it doesn't come you're in trouble

  • Inflation (Score:4, Informative)

    by michaelmalak ( 91262 ) <michael@michaelmalak.com> on Wednesday September 26, 2007 @04:04AM (#20752875) Homepage
    Inflation computed using pre-Clinton CPI formulas has been running about 8% for the past 20 years, according to shadowstats.com [shadowstats.com]. I currently make 4x as a seasoned professional now than what I did 20 years ago as a fresh college graduate. At 8% inflation per year, I'm currently making less than I did 20 years ago.

    A lot of people go to Wal-Mart, see the low prices, and think inflation is low. They forget about housing, college tuition, and healthcare, which have all been running at double-digit percentage increases annually for the past several years.

    • For the politicians it's all about making you feel good until the election is over. They don't care that you're actually getting poorer, only that you don't realise you're getting poorer. That means keeping the things which are increasing out of the inflation figures and keeping the money supply flowing.

       
  • Where do you get 11.6% salary increase per year? For most people here, that would mean you get every year between 300 and 800 bucks MORE. Every single year. Where does this (or anything coming remotely close to it) happen? It surely doesn't happen for me, that's something I definitly know.

    And, are you hiring?

    Could it MAYBE be that they're factoring in the "compensation raises" in the upper echelons, where increases of 30+ percent aren't unheard of? And that 30 percent of a 6 digit number does have quite a b

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