The going rate for a .net developer

John_Mc

Hi,

I'm just wondering what the going rate is for a junior .net developer is?

I've been developing .net web applications in ASP.net with VB for 3-4 years now, but only graduated University in May.

I initially started as a QA Engineer within the company, but was moved to a .net developer position after a month. However, my salary was not changed despite a significant increase in responsibility and having to start working in the city centre in the clients office.

My skillset includes XHTML & CSS with compliance to web standards, DB design (MySQL, MS SQL, Access), javascript, Photoshop/Illustrator and everything else that's required to develop web applications. I can also code in Java, Cobol and C++. The first project undertaken in the new position was a sharepoint 2007 website so I now possess those skills as well.

I'd appreciate if people could give me ball park figures for someone with these skills.

Thanks

Evil Phil

When you say you've been developing .net web applications in ASP.net for 3 or 4 years was this commercial development? In that you got paid for it and can get a reference from the people who paid you. If so you should be getting a pay jump. However, you started in QA so I'd imagine you don't have commercial experinece.

A lot of companies have pay reviews at the end or start of each calander year or maybe you've a probation period to serve before you get a review. What amount you should be getting I don't know, I'm a contractor.

ianhobo

Entry level dot net (from 0 to 2/3 years industry experience) can range from 25Kto around 33K depending on the company and your relevant experience. It can also depend on the range of your dot net skills too, are you web orientated, or can windows programme etc.
If you have no experience that you can put on your CV, then it would tend towards the lower end

John_Mc

Evil Phil wrote: »

When you say you've been developing .net web applications in ASP.net for 3 or 4 years was this commercial development? In that you got paid for it and can get a reference from the people who paid you. If so you should be getting a pay jump. However, you started in QA so I'd imagine you don't have commercial experinece.

A lot of companies have pay reviews at the end or start of each calander year or maybe you've a probation period to serve before you get a review. What amount you should be getting I don't know, I'm a contractor.

Yeah I've done several commercial projects and have full references to back this up. Some of them were complex enough, such as an online reservation system for a hotel, content management systems etc.

My new position is working on my own in the clients office. The fact that this is the case means that they obviously believe that I'm qualified for the job

ianhobo

John_Mc wrote: »

The fact that this is the case means that they obviously believe that I'm qualified for the job

But they are going to try and pay you as little as they can get away with!!

Check out the rates on some of the recruitment websites, that should help

John_Mc

ianhobo wrote: »

But they are going to try and pay you as little as they can get away with!!

Check out the rates on some of the recruitment websites, that should help

Yeah I know, hence my reasoning for asking on here!

Thanks for your replies guys, have a meeting with my manager today about it so wish me luck!

ianhobo

Best of Luck!

Ginger

Did you do your degree part time or is this your first job out of college?

Junior .NET devs.. going rate about 25 to 30K depending on company and your degree level and commerical experience.

If you have 4 years commerical experience out of college then I would be saying about 40K+

Engin33r

It sounds to me like you are working under a contract rather than as an employee. I have a lot of experience in the technologies that you mentioned. I am just back from Birmingham in the UK where I spent the last 6 months converting an old system built using C back in the early 90's to an online web bassed system using .NET/C# I was earning £400/~€600 per day doing this. I come from a Java/PHP background but found .NET very easy to pick up and use. You should be able to learn a new language in a week or two.
I am currently back home in Galway working on an enterprise software system for a well known bank and earning €500 a day under a contract.
My advice is never to under price yourself. If you consider your skills wide enough to call yourself a software engineer then don't sell yourself short. There are people out there that are willing to sell themselves short but they are barely qualified to have the title of a coder and the quality of their work will reflect this.
The question is which are you? If you think you have gained the knowledge and have the passion to consider yourself a software engineer then you should be looking for around the €500 a day mark.
Hopefully this has been of some help to you.

Regards,
Allen Clarke

John_Mc

Engin33r wrote: »

It sounds to me like you are working under a contract rather than as an employee. I have a lot of experience in the technologies that you mentioned. I am just back from Birmingham in the UK where I spent the last 6 months converting an old system built using C back in the early 90's to an online web bassed system using .NET/C# I was earning £400/~€600 per day doing this. I come from a Java/PHP background but found .NET very easy to pick up and use. You should be able to learn a new language in a week or two.
I am currently back home in Galway working on an enterprise software system for a well known bank and earning €500 a day under a contract.
My advice is never to under price yourself. If you consider your skills wide enough to call yourself a software engineer then don't sell yourself short. There are people out there that are willing to sell themselves short but they are barely qualified to have the title of a coder and the quality of their work will reflect this.
The question is which are you? If you think you have gained the knowledge and have the passion to consider yourself a software engineer then you should be looking for around the €500 a day mark.
Hopefully this has been of some help to you.

Regards,
Allen Clarke

Hi Allen,

Thanks for your reply! I'm an employee of a software development company and am working on my own in the clients office. I asked for, and received, a raise up to 27.5k and figure that's OK given the experience I'm getting from a technical and CRM point of view.

My plan is to eventually go contracting after a year or two. How do you go about getting the contracting positions? That money sounds fantastic! :cool:

ianhobo

Engin33r wrote: »

The question is which are you? If you think you have gained the knowledge and have the passion to consider yourself a software engineer then you should be looking for around the €500 a day mark.
Hopefully this has been of some help to you.

Doesn't one need an engineering degree (preferably recognised by Engineers Ireland) to call themselves and engineer, regardless of the discipline?

John_Mc

ianhobo wrote: »

Doesn't one need an engineering degree (preferably recognised by Engineers Ireland) to call themselves and engineer, regardless of the discipline?

That's the first I've heard of it! I seriously doubt that's the case to be honest

IRLConor

ianhobo wrote: »

Doesn't one need an engineering degree (preferably recognised by Engineers Ireland) to call themselves an engineer, regardless of the discipline?

Not legally in Ireland AFAIK. Other countries do have regulations like that, but to the best of my knowledge the only protected engineering title in Ireland is that of Chartered Engineer.

I usually refer to myself as a "Software Developer" rather than "Software Engineer" to avoid arguments with people who are touchy about it even though I have an accredited degree (BA (Mod.) Computer Science from TCD) and am a member of Engineers Ireland.

ianhobo

That's the first I've heard of it! I seriously doubt that's the case to be honest

Sure, I didn't mean legally, but practically.

If you didn't do an engineering degree......thats all, just curious.

Engineering is a discipline, not a collection of skills as a previous poster said.

I know, it's a touchy subject

Capt'n Midnight

ianhobo wrote: »

Doesn't one need an engineering degree (preferably recognised by Engineers Ireland) to call themselves and engineer, regardless of the discipline?

Train Driver ?
Sanitation Engineer :rolleyes:

Its a shame really as the word is so devalued.

IMHO engineer doesn't really apply to most software. Real engineers don't hid behind EULA's or disclaimers whereas software is more of a black art. NASA will spend $1,000 per line of code in attempt to get something rock solid , that and provable software or a resonable attempt would justify the word engineer.

IRLConor

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

IMHO engineer doesn't really apply to most software. Real engineers don't hid behind EULA's or disclaimers whereas software is more of a black art. NASA will spend $1,000 per line of code in attempt to get something rock solid , that and provable software or a resonable attempt would justify the word engineer.

Hear hear.

I've seen more engineering effort in tarmac ramps than in many software projects.

That said, there's a time and a place for the $1000/LOC kind of software. The real trick is balancing the engineering effort to match the required level of reliability. Some projects need "real engineering" and some do not. I wish all projects required "real engineering" - it's much more interesting work - but unfortunately commercial reality determines the quality of most software.

ianhobo

IRLConor wrote: »

Hear hear.

I've seen more engineering effort in tarmac ramps than in many software projects.

.....And maybe thats down to exactly what I said, too many people calling themselves engineers without having any appreciation (never mind the study and qualifications!) for whats actually involved with being an engineer....just because they happened to do a software course