J2EE Salary expectations: My experience is 5yrs C/C++, 3months J2EE

willwork4food

Hi,

I've been asked to submit my CV along with my salary expectations to a company that is interested in interviewing me in the next week. I have been given no indication of what they intend to pay for the role they have in mind.

The job is basically J2EE development, but I have a problem figuring out what my salary should be.

I have 5 years C++ experience, but only 3 months J2EE experience. I also have a Sun Java Programmer Certificate and an IBM J2EE exam (one of the tests in IBM's Certified Enterprise Developer certicate, for which I am currently studying). I'm bascially self taught in Java and J2EE.

Should I disregard my C++ experience entirely and only expect to get the salary of a jobseeker with 3 months J2EE experience? This doesn't seem right to me, partially because of the similarities between Java and C++, and partially because my development experience in general has allowed me to pick up Java and J2EE far easier that someone starting from scratch, or straight out of college. Also I can bring experiences to the role that aren't specifical to programming languages (e.g. design and development processes, etc.).

On the other hand I can't expect to be paid for 5 years of C++ experience in J2EE role (or can I??).

So what's the compromise? Should I ask the going rate for 2 or 3 years in a Java/J2EE role?

All opinions welcome.

maggz

Your experience with C++ is totally relevant. And also the fact that you have been working as a programmer for 5 years gives you much broader working knowledge and experience then someone who simply has a couple of months experience as a J2EE programmer. Certainly demand the salary of someone with 5 years experience. You have also gone out of your way to learn a skill and get certified which shows you are dedicated and are willing to work hard to get to where you want to be. Dont settle for less money then you are on now, if that particular employer doesnt see your worth, there are software houses in Ireland who certainly will.

TempestSabre

Yeah I agree with maggz. Salary wise 50+ guesstimate.

dvince1

What I have found to my dismay is that despite having lots of
C/C++/Unix/OO experience in the past and having worked on
projects using standard J2SE (not EE) .. is that employers nowadays
are not very open minded about a seasoned programmer/developer
versus someone who can attest to having worked recently
for 2+ years specifically using J2EE/EJB/JDBC,etc. It is as if it
demands too much of a leap of faith on their part to employ someone
who "hasn't been at the races" with enterprise Java and I guess
they feel that enterprise Java or .NET,etc are so big that the
learning curve and the risk of losing any time because of the
urgency of the requirements of the role they are advertising
they always seem to feel safer with a J2EE programmer with 2
yrs experience versus a 5-10yr veteran of non J2EE technologies
who in reality should be able to give them a better longer
return on investment once they rapidly climb the learning
curve associated with J2EE,etc.

I am more restricted geographically and I am not in a position
to take up work in Dublin due to other commitments but this
is what I have found by focussing my efforts on applying
to local software houses.

Your mileage may vary significantly though if you have a wider
pool of employers to choose from. If I were the employer
I would value your wisdom and length of time in the industry
more than the "Johnny J2EE come lately" approach I've seen
from bean counting employers who lack imagination on this
front.

<dv>

TempestSabre

I think its the agencies and HR people who look past relevent experience and focus on matching the job spec exactly. A lot of software development is not very standards driven and theres usually a learning curve thats has nothing to do with the language or technology but the inhouse development process/methodologies or most likely the lack of them.

willwork4food

Thank you for the responses. I now have a firm idea of what to ask for.