Salary ballpark?

Black_Knight

Hi all, does anyone have any ball park figures for what a software qa engineer with 3-4 years experience should be asking for? I'm good, though by my own standards I'm not amazing. Been working as a system test engineer for the last 2 years, I've a decent range of skills, and been getting consistent high annual ratings.

I'm trying to figure out what to ask for, should salary come up in an interview i have this week.

My commute now is negligible, but this new place would cost about 2500 a year extra to drive to (fuel and toll). So to take home what I'm on now I would need an extra 6k pre tax. But of course I'd like an overall pay rise on top of that, so I'm worried I could price myself out of their market.

/thinking to much

walshyp

Best piece of advice is too look up what QA Engineers are getting on Irish Jobs.

They pay a lot more in Dublin than other places. Anywhere from 35k to 60k depending on how big and good the company is!

walshyp

walshyp wrote: »

Best piece of advice is too look up what QA Engineers are getting on Irish Jobs.

They pay a lot more in Dublin than other places. Anywhere from 35k to 60k depending on how big and good the company is!

Actually 35k to 80k going by Irish Jobs

Manach

Depending on location/experience, but I've heard figures of 35-45K being mentioned for mid-level QA people. Alot depends on negotiation skills as well.

Black_Knight

Its based in Dublin

walshyp wrote: »

Best piece of advice is too look up what QA Engineers are getting on Irish Jobs.

They pay a lot more in Dublin than other places. Anywhere from 35k to 60k depending on how big and good the company is!

ATM im fairly deep into this bracket, and would be looking to get the top salary of that range if I moved (commuting expenses just cripple any "raise" involved). Which begs the question, Am I expecting too much?

walshyp wrote: »

Actually 35k to 80k going by Irish Jobs

Based on this, perhaps im not

Manach wrote: »

Depending on location/experience, but I've heard figures of 35-45K being mentioned for mid-level QA people. Alot depends on negotiation skills as well.

I wouldn't move for 35-45K.


The job itself is probably better for my career, so I dont mind if I dont get a great salary bump, but at the same time I dont want to sell myself short.... or price myself out of it.

Aswerty

I don't understand the issue. Surely if you go for it and they can't pay you what you want - then you'll be in the same position you are now. The alternative is to look for a lower salary which is something you won't do. So just apply for the job and walk away if they don't measure up to your expectations salary wise.

Also from you boards location and your fuel costs I'm going to assume your commute is Athlone to Dublin. The hours you lose of your personal time on that commute really need to be factored in to the equation. You'll probably be doing a 3 hour commute every day. You couldn't pay me to do that.

Black_Knight

Aswerty wrote: »

I don't understand the issue. Surely if you go for it and they can't pay you what you want - then you'll be in the same position you are now. The alternative is to look for a lower salary which is something you won't do. So just apply for the job and walk away if they don't measure up to your expectations salary wise.

Also from you boards location and your fuel costs I'm going to assume your commute is Athlone to Dublin. The hours you lose of your personal time on that commute really need to be factored in to the equation. You'll probably be doing a 3 hour commute every day. You couldn't pay me to do that.

You have assumed too much.

I just don't want to sell myself short, or over value myself.

robbiezero

Black_Knight wrote: »

You have assumed too much.

I just don't want to sell myself short, or over value myself.

Couldn't see them going over 50K for 3-4 years experience, but it probably depends on the company.

Aswerty

Black_Knight wrote: »

You have assumed too much.

I just don't want to sell myself short, or over value myself.

Well the point still stands. A negligible commute is a very valuable asset and your budget indicates a pretty substantial commute. The most costly thing about a commute is not fuel or tolls – it's time. Apologies if I'm going on a tangent but this stand out as the most relevant aspect of your post. If you calculate your effective hourly pay, for this hypothetical job, with a decent commute you might be coming out behind your current effective hourly pay.

As to a ballpark figure. Morgan McKinley do an IT salary survey. You can find the one they did at the start of the year here. I'm not sure how reputable it is but in my own area salaries seem pretty accurate. Considering the source, it's worth mentioning lower salary expectations are in their interest. So middle/upper experience could be skewed to the lower end of things. And for some salary ranges this looks to be the case.

RebelButtMunch

robbiezero wrote: »

Couldn't see them going over 50K for 3-4 years experience, but it probably depends on the company.

I'd agree with that. 3-4 years isn't a lot

RebelButtMunch

walshyp wrote: »

Actually 35k to 80k going by Irish Jobs

85k for a qa engineer with a few years exp isn't going to happen I reckon.

Black_Knight

We'll find out tomorrow I guess.

As for the commute, it'd probably be about 40 mins by car with traffic. Maybe an hour by train. Currently my commute is about 15 minutes. Train might even be more appealing. A bit of a walk in the morning wouldnt go amiss.

How good are sites like Glassdoor or payscale to go by?

Black_Knight

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

85k for a qa engineer with a few years exp isn't going to happen I reckon.

Its a starting point for haggling.:rolleyes:

UncleChael

How did you get on Black Knight?

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

looking at that salary survey, it's such bullshít that managers get paid so much more than the developers actually doing the work. it's not like it's Tesco and you're stacking shelves mindlessly while the managers take all the responsibility.

and lower end salary for an iOS dev is €42k with 3 years experience. the equivalent for an 'SQL Developer' is €45k! didn't even know SQL dev was a full job title, I presumed SQL is just something devs know as part of a real progamming job.

The_B_Man

I worked in a place where Oracle DBAs were on 80k.
If you can get a good DBA to optimise your database, it can potentially save you a lot of time and money.
Of course, you still need a good dev to write efficient queries around the optimised DB.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

but that salary is for SQL developer alone. SQL DBA is a separate job title with a lower starting salary after 3 years experience! €40k. i agree with you, there's a lot of knowledge and experience needed to be a good DBA. crazy that they're paid less than a guy/girl writing SQL queries. i assume this doesn't happen in the real world, the survey just has the wrong info.

Graham

georgiecasey wrote: »

but that salary is for SQL developer alone. SQL DBA is a separate job title with a lower starting salary after 3 years experience! €40k. i agree with you, there's a lot of knowledge and experience needed to be a good DBA. crazy that they're paid less than a guy/girl writing SQL queries. i assume this doesn't happen in the real world, the survey just has the wrong info.

It does happen in the real world. There's a lot more to SQL than the odd select statement and table join that you might come across as an app/web developer. It's almost exclusively at the enterprise end of the market too.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

i gathered those salaries were in enterprise alright.

Graham wrote: »

There's a lot more to SQL than the odd select statement and table join that you might come across as an app/web developer.

like what? genuinely curious

Graham

georgiecasey wrote: »

i gathered those salaries were in enterprise alright.

like what? genuinely curious

When you move away from the fairly straightforward, single table CRUD operations things can get complicated very quickly.

Consider a financial transaction where money is moved between accounts and balance records are updated. Even at a basic level, that's probably 2 new records and 2 updates. What if one of the inserts fails how does your average system handle that? Is the error logged? Are the 2 updates and 2 inserts considered a single transaction that should be rolled back on failure? Should something happen if a transaction is rolled back. What if it's more complicated, throw in some currency conversions and you could be talking about an exponentially larger set of queries.

A fairly generic SQL developer job spec:

Understand and evaluate UNIX, SQL and or Data Modeling.
Design and develop T-SQL procedures, query performance tunings and SSIS packages.
Develop underlying data models and databases.
Develop, manage and maintain data dictionary and or metadata.
Ensure compliance of standards and conventions in developing programs.
Design, develop and implement complete life cycle of data warehouses.
Translate business requirements into software applications and models.
Resolve and troubleshoot complex issues.
Be aware of potential blocking, deadlocking and write code to avoid those situations.
Create cubes in SQL Server Analysis Services.
Perform and execute data extraction, transformation and loading using ETL tools.
Maintain and manage all versions of data models for production, testing and developing databases.

Disclosure: I'm not a database developer so this post represents my understanding of part of the role. I won't be the least bit offended if a real SQL developer wants to come along and correct me.

willabur

I work in qa. If the position you are going to is for an automation engineer then you are looking at 50-60 if not then manual qa engineer can expect to get something like 35-40 with that level of experience

Black_Knight

UncleChael wrote: »

How did you get on Black Knight?

Got on well. Waiting on an email now to make it all official.

Salary wise, I kinda slipped up there (and after all this prep). They asked my current wage (I added a few quid to it of course), not my expected wage. Pretty sure I could of got more if id said I was currently on more.

All in all, 20% increase on my current salary. Been checking out google maps, aa routeplanner and that "waze" app for commute times. By car its probably around 35-45 minutes depending on traffic. A walk and a train would take me about an hour. Nice alternative when the weather gets worse, and drivers get slower.

JaMarcusHustle

Black_Knight wrote: »

Got on well. Waiting on an email now to make it all official.

Salary wise, I kinda slipped up there (and after all this prep). They asked my current wage (I added a few quid to it of course), not my expected wage. Pretty sure I could of got more if id said I was currently on more.

All in all, 20% increase on my current salary. Been checking out google maps, aa routeplanner and that "waze" app for commute times. By car its probably around 35-45 minutes depending on traffic. A walk and a train would take me about an hour. Nice alternative when the weather gets worse, and drivers get slower.

FYI, some companies tend to ask for a copy of your last couple of payslips from your current job to verify that salary you told them. Adding on a few quid might not be advisable.

Black_Knight

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

FYI, some companies tend to ask for a copy of your last couple of payslips from your current job to verify that salary you told them. Adding on a few quid might not be advisable.

That's the last thing I want to hear. Away with ya, im not listening to that.

RedXIV

willabur wrote: »

I work in qa. If the position you are going to is for an automation engineer then you are looking at 50-60 if not then manual qa engineer can expect to get something like 35-40 with that level of experience

I second this, I'm around the same as you and in that bracket for automation.

Aswerty

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

FYI, some companies tend to ask for a copy of your last couple of payslips from your current job to verify that salary you told them. Adding on a few quid might not be advisable.

That's mental. I haven't heard of that before. Unless I really needed the job I'd tell them to go jump in a lake.

willabur

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

FYI, some companies tend to ask for a copy of your last couple of payslips from your current job to verify that salary you told them. Adding on a few quid might not be advisable.

never heard of that before

JaMarcusHustle

Aswerty wrote: »

That's mental. I haven't heard of that before. Unless I really needed the job I'd tell them to go jump in a lake.

willabur wrote: »

never heard of that before

Well maybe it's not typical, but for my last 2 job offers I have been asked. Granted, I work in financial services so it's a different industry. But just posting as an FYI.

paulpd

The new employer will need your P45, which shows what pay you received from January this year to your leaving date from your previous employer

Tow

paulpd wrote: »

The new employer will need your P45, which shows what pay you received from January this year to your leaving date from your previous employer

Only if you choose to give it to them. You can contact Revenue with the new employer's number and get them to issue a P2C to the employer on a week 1 basis.

Raging_Ninja

georgiecasey wrote: »

but that salary is for SQL developer alone. SQL DBA is a separate job title with a lower starting salary after 3 years experience! €40k. i agree with you, there's a lot of knowledge and experience needed to be a good DBA. crazy that they're paid less than a guy/girl writing SQL queries. i assume this doesn't happen in the real world, the survey just has the wrong info.

Does the survey say how many of these sql developer roles there are? Willing to bet there's not that many.

Its like working on legacy systems for banks which use cobol - the wage is high but good luck trying to find a job there.

Graham

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Does the survey say how many of these sql developer roles there are? Willing to bet there's not that many.

Its like working on legacy systems for banks which use cobol - the wage is high but good luck trying to find a job there.

A 3 second search of Irish Jobs is almost enough for me to offer odds on your bet.

Black_Knight

paulpd wrote: »

The new employer will need your P45, which shows what pay you received from January this year to your leaving date from your previous employer

I don't foresee it being an issue. A bonus here and there and it all makes sense.

Evil Phil

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

FYI, some companies tend to ask for a copy of your last couple of payslips from your current job to verify that salary you told them. Adding on a few quid might not be advisable.

It's none of their business what salary you're currently on, they're paying you for the job you applied for, not the job you're leaving. You should ask for what is a fair wage for the position applied for, and that is not based on your current salary.

I was recently asked for my P60 as part of a job application, I moved along sharpish.