Is this a good salary?

laradevire

Hi

I recently started my second job as a developer. My first was a backend, this one is as a frontend. I have around 7 months of experience from my previous role. My salary is 32.5K a year. Is that good? I'm happy with this, as I wasn't on great money in my first job.

GreeBo

laradevire wrote: »

Hi

I recently started my second job as a developer. My first was a backend, this one is as a frontend. I have around 7 months of experience from my previous role. My salary is 32.5K a year. Is that good? I'm happy with this, as I wasn't on great money in my first job.

I'd say its pretty darn good for someone with under a year experience!:eek:

laradevire

GreeBo wrote: »

I'd say its pretty darn good for someone with under a year experience!:eek:

I'm pretty happy with it, but some people are telling me it's low. This was the market range I thought.

JustAThought

laradevire wrote: »

I'm pretty happy with it, but some people are telling me it's low. This was the market range I thought.

For your experience,yes. Work steady for a few years a nd get good experience and then move for a good raise. Win win. Good luck in the new job!

laradevire

JustAThought wrote: »

For your experience,yes. Work steady for a few years a nd get good experience and then move for a good raise. Win win. Good luck in the new job!

Hopefully, I get decent internal rises. It seems like a fantastic company. Thank you!

WhiteMemento9

laradevire wrote: »

I'm pretty happy with it, but some people are telling me it's low. This was the market range I thought.

If you are based in Dublin it is probably low. Anywhere else then it is a good salary. I have seen Dev jobs in Dublin for graduates this year starting at 38k straight out of college. I know of some way higher straight out of college but you are talking the likes of Top University Grad of CS and the like courses with very high marks.

done4now

Well to give you some perspective I started on £21k fresh out of Uni (2011), got promoted to £25k (2013) with bonuses every year roughly (~£1k) in Belfast. Moved to Dublin for €40k in 2014 (looking back I should of asked for more) got bump in 2017 to €45k with no bonuses all during my time there as I was ineligible (fecking HR policy due to my title) while similar peers were on ~€60k.

Found out this years interns got offered €20k only to up it by another €17k a few weeks before starting added to a €1k signing on bonus so brining them to a grand total of €38k. So after 8 years experience working as a developer I was earning €7k more than someone who hasn't even finished Uni :mad: (makes me mad even thinking about it again)

Then a few months back I got offered €550 a day as a contractor :rolleyes:

To answer your question I think your salary is excellent for your experience and you are still pretty green so in a few years you can start demanding a lot more. IMO experience is way better than pay especially at the start of your career.

beauf

https://www.brightwater.ie/docs/default-source/surveys/salary-survey/2019/information-technology.pdf?sfvrsn=0

I hear a lot about these salaries. You can generally tell if someones earning a lot, by how they live.

smacl

beauf wrote: »

I hear a lot about these salaries. You can generally tell if someones earning a lot, by how they live.

Not in my experience. Access to credit is such that many people leading an apparently wealthy lifestyle are up to their necks in debt. Similarly I know quite a few very well to do techy types that don't drive and dress like extras from a Jay and Silent Bob movie. While it is a bit of a stereotype, sales and management types tend to show more visible signs of apparent wealth regardless of whether they actually have any. Devs, not so much.

beauf

That's superficial stuff. If someone is investing and buying properties and talking about money like having 18 months mortgage reserve etc. Forward planning etc. Their general behavior and mannerism around money. Even if they are a miser you can generally tell if they have money. Most multi millionaires I know would haggle over a cup of coffee.

It's on other things too like how they talk about jobs wages, companies. They will be dismissive of roles below them and wage scales they are beyond. Once someone is over 120k they are generally looking for other business opportunities, passive income, running side business etc.

Higher end Contractors talk like this too. Even though may not realise they do.

beauf

smacl wrote: »

... While it is a bit of a stereotype, sales and management types tend to show more visible signs of apparent wealth regardless of whether they actually have any. Devs, not so much...

Oh I agree, Devs generally tend to be very conservative bit like accountants.

smacl

beauf wrote: »

Oh I agree, Devs generally tend to be very conservative bit like accountants.

Different generation of devs from me so. Nothing against accountants per se, nor conservative types for that matter, but just no. :pac:

Sonny noggs

My basic salary has stagnated at the mid to high 90s the last 3 or 4 years (approx 17 years dev experience), I took a 3k pay drop to take a new job last year, fewer holidays, less responsibility but far shorter commute so happy with the decision.

Better bonus in the new job also.

dotsman

Sonny noggs wrote: »

My basic salary has stagnated at the mid to high 90s the last 3 or 4 years (approx 17 years dev experience), I took a 3k pay drop to take a new job last year, fewer holidays, less responsibility but far shorter commute so happy with the decision.

Better bonus in the new job also.

Yes, there does seem to be a lot of resistance at the 100K mark, unless contracting (unlike other professions). It's like once they hit that, the bean-counters scream "outsource" (regardless of how much more that costs the company in the long run).

Shai

dotsman wrote: »

Yes, there does seem to be a lot of resistance at the 100K mark, unless contracting (unlike other professions). It's like once they hit that, the bean-counters scream "outsource" (regardless of how much more that costs the company in the long run).

I find you can get around that resistance by getting partially paid in stock. Although that does require your employer to be listed on the stock market.

14ned

dotsman wrote: »

Yes, there does seem to be a lot of resistance at the 100K mark, unless contracting (unlike other professions). It's like once they hit that, the bean-counters scream "outsource" (regardless of how much more that costs the company in the long run).

From HR's perspective, there is a tax band between 70k and 100k, and the break point is 100k. If you look at pay for professionals, it tends to cluster within the tax bands from Revenue, so below 44k (married couple), then 44k - 70k, then 70k - 100k, then 100k to 125k, then 125k+. Each of these is a marginal tax rate threshold where the marginal tax rate rises, so it's natural to categorise employees into those bands.

On that scale, senior software engineers with a foot into management ought to be two tiers below upper management, so under 100k makes total sense to them for where people ought to be in the pecking order. If you rise into management, you enter the 100k - 125k band, and now there is a lot of resistance to exceeding 125k.

Some authorised stock option schemes sit outside those tax bands, which makes them cheap to offer and they operate on a separate ranking system anyway.

Niall

Shai

I didnt know about those tax bands. Where are they from?

14ned

Shai wrote: »

I didnt know about those tax bands. Where are they from?

If you compose all the Income taxes and PRSI taxes and USC taxes onto a single graph (like HR and accountants do), then those bands fall out.

rainbow kirby

I was on 32k in Dublin 7 years ago in my first dev job with 2 years of QA behind me, so I'd consider it on the low end for Dublin. It's solid anywhere else in the country though.

christy G

Hi is 60k a year after tax good salary in dublin?

biko

There just isn't enough info in your post to make an educated guess.
Are you junior/senior, what skills have you etc etc..

You can try going here https://www.glassdoor.ie/Salaries/index.htm and typing in your job title and location, and see that way.

Creamy Goodness

60k after tax is roughly 100k gross. There was a Irish times article in the last few years stating how many people are on which salary. There 108,000 people on a salary of 100k or above in the entire island of Ireland. If you’re on 100k you are in the top 3.6% earners in the country.

It’s a great salary but as Biko said depends what you’re being asked to do, if you’re working 12-14 hour days and non stop pressure cooker situations and constantly and never not contactable by people I’d say not really.

Subscription required: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/are-you-a-high-income-earner-if-you-are-on-80-000-a-year-1.3605299

namenotavailablE

Assuming the typical tax data values for a single person, if you're taking home €60,000 you'd be on a gross pay value of €96,900.

Here's my spreadsheet result:

christy G

Hi no I don't work 12-14 hour days and non stop pressure cooker situation. I would work 40 to 48 hours a week I have a side bussines some months I make 6 to 7k but majority of the time it's 5k .

igCorcaigh

So, I'm just looking to add to this thread, rather than starting a new one, if you all don't mind, especially op.

I had posted earlier on the salary thread:

--

I'm been a software developer in dotnet /C# for almost twenty years and the highest salary I've been paid was 45k. Recent contract rates have been 350pd.

I'm on the jobs market now and have just received a call from an agent about a development role, for 45k. I'm currently in the interview stage for a 60k offer though.

Am I just bad at haggling, but why do the offers I see pay less than what I would expect of industry average?

Cork City.

---

So I got very positive feedback this afternoon from a company offering 56k.

I have concerns about their tech stack, as it involves VB and some legacy code. Desktop based winforms which they are thinking of porting to WPF (no experience).

The company are a large multi in the fintech area, which is not my interest. I would have preferred a role with exposure to modern development patterns, microservices, big data etc.

I've been out of work since May, and really poor.
My priority is an income.

I would be mad to second guess this one, wouldn't I?

Shai

Those all seem pretty low to me, but then again, I don't know the situation in Cork, I only know the Dublin job market. I imagine these are all small companies and not multinationals?

igCorcaigh

Shai wrote: »

Those all seem pretty low to me, but then again, I don't know the situation in Cork, I only know the Dublin job market. I imagine these are all small companies and not multinationals?

Multi. Been in existence for over 300 years lol!

Hey, I'm happy with it.
Keeps the wolves from the door.

Plus, I love what I do, so win win.

14ned

igCorcaigh wrote: »

So I got very positive feedback this afternoon from a company offering 56k.

I'd agree that it seems low. A friend of mine's wife works in Mahon and is on approx 75k. She's a senior Java developer, nearly 20 years experience.

igCorcaigh wrote: »

I've been out of work since May, and really poor.
My priority is an income.

I think you're absolutely right to take it. More than six months out of employment begins to hurt your employability.

Niall

igCorcaigh

14ned wrote: »

I'd agree that it seems low. A friend of mine's wife works in Mahon and is on approx 75k. She's a senior Java developer, nearly 20 years experience.



I think you're absolutely right to take it. More than six months out of employment begins to hurt your employability.

Niall

Thanks.

I'm going to accept the offer with enthusiasm tbh.

I really want to be back on the scene because I love working at what I do, and have never earned more than this. The tech stack isn't ideal, but it's a job, and things could change. I want to work.

I also have had a *lot* of health issues in the past, with many gaps in my CV.

They did ask about that, because it does stand out, but I was very upfront about it.

And they seemed really nice and understanding.
I'm really looking forward to this and know I'm lucky for this opportunity to get back in the game.

cr-07

laradevire wrote: »

Hi

I recently started my second job as a developer. My first was a backend, this one is as a frontend. I have around 7 months of experience from my previous role. My salary is 32.5K a year. Is that good? I'm happy with this, as I wasn't on great money in my first job.

Its about average. I'm currently on 36k a year with a large MNC. Finished my degree 6 months ago and joined directly after finishing. I have friends who started on 32k and friends who started on 39k.

beauf

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Thanks.

I'm going to accept the offer with enthusiasm tbh.

I really want to be back on the scene because I love working at what I do, and have never earned more than this. The tech stack isn't ideal, but it's a job, and things could change. I want to work......

I think the scope of your question can't be answered on a forum, without a lot of personal information that isn't appropriate here. There's a back story here missing a bits of the jigsaw. You have to set appropriate and realistic goals from where you are at, and not always compare yourself with others who are taking a different road through life.

For example I'm not able to spend lots of my own time at home studying, or have a lot of free time. So realistically, I can't compete with someone who can use that time to gain competitive edge.

I would also say its always a good idea to aim for 1.0 and plan for 2.0. In that perspective, aim to get back to a 1.0 job. Once thats achieved, then look to progress to the next level.

If your situation was different, and you were being simply underpaid, that would be different. But I would say once you achieved 1.0 re-evaluate.