Graduate Starting salaries - IT

RicardoSmith

Well I don't agree with what others are posting. I say grads are getting around 22-28K, anyone getting better than that is doing very well. protos I'd say you'd be offered 28-35k. But I partially agree with Rolo Tomassi the IT is a much smaller tougher market now. You need to have better than ok skills and experience in order to get a good salary. However I reckon salaries are picking up, but theres fewer jobs. I'm still seeing an increasing trend to outsourcing and contracting. More and more work is going outside of Ireland.

audge

Hey, I finished college in may, im on 25k with novara.ie
was on 27k in sales before i came here, but that was never going to be my job of choice for life! have been told to expect a wage review in 3 months

RicardoSmith

audge wrote:

Hey, I finished college in may, im on 25k with novara.ie
was on 27k in sales before i came here, but that was never going to be my job of choice for life! have been told to expect a wage review in 3 months

Oddly I've always considered switching from IT to sales. Why did you switch from Sales to IT?

In_Diana_Jones

dublindude wrote:

Seriously not true.

Why would someone pay a grad (who in reality knows absolutely nothing) 25 - 27k?

It makes no sense.

Slightly OY: I have a (excellent) programmer who I manage in Bulgaria. He is on 10k. This is a GREAT salary for him and he kicks ass. Why in the world would I want to hire a crap, egotistical Irish programmer for nearly three times that amount?

I started on over 27k over two years ago as a Software graduate and I was at the lower end of the IT grad scale in the company I work for.

In_Diana_Jones

Rolo Tomassi wrote:

IT in Ireland faces a dismal future. Salaries are coming down and an awful of work/resources is being sent to India. Will be difficult to get a straight coding job in years to come...

Why the hell do you want to be a straight coder?
There ain't no money in that game!!

In_Diana_Jones

dublindude wrote:

You really have no idea wat you're talking about.

I worked for Microsoft. I was a Build Engineer. The interview was simple ( a few technical questions, what's the problem? I'm an engineer - right?)

The people in Microsoft are NOT smart. I still have lots of friends there - they will tell you this yourself. It's where non-technical people get technical jobs.

My starting salary was 24k. I already had experience.

If you want a difficult interview, get a Linux based development role in AOL. My interview was 2.5 hours switching from Technical to HR to Technical to HR. Seriously demanding.

Try a two day recruitment centre for Vodafone UK.
That was an impressive interview process!

In_Diana_Jones

shoegirl wrote:

Be thankful that you're not one of these people. I know people with 2.1 degrees from TCD and second languages who've been unable to break into development at all 4 years after graduating unless they were willing to take wages starting on 19k or so.

Well, weren't they stupid to go to TCD if they want to be developers.
Last college any serious IT recruiter will ever consider in this country.

RicardoSmith

In_Diana_Jones wrote:

Well, weren't they stupid to go to TCD if they want to be developers.
Last college any serious IT recruiter will ever consider in this country.

Its has that rep for sure. Dunno how accurate it is though. I've worked with two 1.1 grads from trinity, one was dire, the other excellent. At the end of the day it comes down to the quality of the individual. I would have thought a serious IT recruiter would know that though...

RicardoSmith

In_Diana_Jones wrote:

I started on over 27k over two years ago as a Software graduate and I was at the lower end of the IT grad scale in the company I work for.

Out of curiosity what was the scale, and what kinda grads did they take. What skillset etc.

audge

RicardoSmith wrote:

Oddly I've always considered switching from IT to sales. Why did you switch from Sales to IT?

Hey, I have hnd's in journalism and radio broadcasting, and a degree in media production and media management. When I took the sales position, it was with a popular event guide magazine, and as it was my first "real" job, I innocently believed that marketing and advertising came hand in hand. They don't! I had no creative input what so ever, and having spent so many years obtaining qualifications, I felt that I was wasting them on a sales position.
Sales is not all bad though, the money is fantastic. Although I was on a 27k salary, I also earned 5% of everything all ad sales revenue between 2k and 5k, 10% of all sales revenue over 5k. It was very easy to bring in 3k - 5k on a weekly basis, and so my commission added approximately €250 p/w to my salary. The longer you are with the company, the easier it is to meet and exceed these targets as you build your client base and generate repeat business. I was only with the company for two months, and I added €1800 to my salary through commission.
However, I guess it is not all about the money, as I made the move into marketing for an IT company, and even though the salary is lower, I am enjoying the job so much more, it is so much more rewarding and fulfilling,the people are so much more real, genuine and and friendly, long term, it is a career move that made sense for me as marketing is the path that I wish to pursue.[/B]

RicardoSmith

Thanks for sharing. Its nice to hear some background on peoples work choices in the work forum. Usually its either someone complaining or just jobsearching. Which is fine but theres more to work than that. Like job satisfaction etc.

Stark

After enough pushing, HR finally gave us our salary increase anyway, woohoo Thanks very much to everyone who posted/PM'd me figures.

a-k-47

I.T pays very poorly no matter what, unless your a big hot shot, your basically fuked, you be doing very well to reach 35k after years of hard work...i worked for hp tech support, started on 20k managed to reach 26 i tink after 2 years jacked it in, changed careers n better off!.... best of luck dont settle for mid 20's try get 30k starting off, they always have ppl with same job description on higher wages, so my advice to keep hasling and milk what u can out of the rich bastards.

RicardoSmith

I think a lot of people who work in IT are not very highly skilled. They work for years in support or similar jobs but don't focus on upskilling, getting certified, or developing their career. I realised it a little late myself.

shoegirl

GenericName wrote:

I'm an IT graduate currently looking to start work. I got a call from a recruiter this morning about a J2EE development role. When he asked what I was looking for I said €24- €27K based on what I've read here. But he seemed surprised and said he'd put me through for no less than €27k.

-So it felt as if 27k was selling myself short by at least 2-3 thousand. I have 6 months work experience and a final year project relevent to the role, but that's all and I attained a first.

I don't want to discourage you, but there is a big difference between an agent calling you and talking about 27k and somebody actually offering a job at that rate. I get agents calling me all the time and talking about jobs on 35-40k, but my best offer so far was 20k sterling (about 30k). Agents do tend to upsell on the phone - some notoriously so.

However there are jobs out there on good salaries and if you are an excellent candidate who can sell themselves well then the world is your oyster. If you're even a bit modest expect a tough battle.

shoegirl

In_Diana_Jones wrote:

Well, weren't they stupid to go to TCD if they want to be developers.
Last college any serious IT recruiter will ever consider in this country.

Try telling that to any 17 year old whose from Dublin for whom TCD will be an obivious choice (esp. if they are from the north side) - also TCD grads are a complete mixed bag in any discipline. I wouldn't say they are any better or worse than anywhere else. I do know a few real geniuses who came from TCD, but I think the actually university has little to do with it.

Fascinating the prejudice though - the moment the words TCD are ever mentioned, there seems to be a large band of begrudgers only too willing to criticise the college and its graduates. You just can't generalise like that folks.

liamw

I've recently been offered a software engineer graduate position for €33k per annum. A friend of mine got an identical offer from another company. There are graduate jobs (honours degree of course) out there for 30+k. The average i've found is 25-28k. Although these positions do require at least a 2.1 grade in Computer Science or Engineering

PowerHouseDan

Next year i will have a degree in Networking and another degree then in Web management/ and Cisco Cert... Just wondering what to expect at the Degree, both in Ireland and Uk, I am thinking about the Area of Sans

klash

I really hope that cpl salary guide is wrong, else i'm getting r'ped.

Java developer 25 - 36 ?? For a graduate ?

irishguy

klash wrote:

I really hope that cpl salary guide is wrong, else i'm getting r'ped.

Java developer 25 - 36 ?? For a graduate ?

I would say its right, but very few get above 30 starting

comer_97

i'd take any salary surveys on recruitment sites with a pinch of salt. they are just trying to harvest more CVs.

I once worked for a company who said the salary was competitive and based pay reviews (notice it's not a pay rise) on a salary survey of 20 simlar sized companies in ireland (done by Watson Wyatt).

As Pay review came and went I got a payrise that worked out as a pay cut in relative terms I started asking questions. It turned out that the pay review was based on job title. Mine didn't exist so they used something that sounded similar! Classy?

markpb

I have a degree in CA and a (taught) masters in cryptography from DCU and I started as a develper on 25k. To be honest, the degree didn't matter much to the company but it does help a lot day to day.

I've been here just under two years and I'm 32k but, in general, I'm on the low end of the scale compared to other people who graduated (from the degree) at the same time as me.

It can be hard to get a job straight out of college but if you want to be a developer or be paid well, it's worth avoiding tech support because it can be hard to make the switch later on.

shoegirl wrote:

Try telling that to any 17 year old whose from Dublin for whom TCD will be an obivious choice (esp. if they are from the north side) - also TCD grads are a complete mixed bag in any discipline. I wouldn't say they are any better or worse than anywhere else. I do know a few real geniuses who came from TCD, but I think the actually university has little to do with it.

Fascinating the prejudice though - the moment the words TCD are ever mentioned, there seems to be a large band of begrudgers only too willing to criticise the college and its graduates. You just can't generalise like that folks.

It's an easy trap to fall into but choosing a college rather than a course is a bad mistake to make. Trinity has a better reputation than DCU but it's not and never was a programming course - even the title says that. I'm not being discriminating when I say that, they have different aims and objectives. DCU CA is a design/developement course, TCD CS is a computer science course.

rick_fantastic

i graduated there last month and walked into a networking / sys admin / support job on €36 + expenses.

its not what i want to do, i want to get into project management / consultancy but a year of this before starting a MSc will stand to me in the long run.

the money is good too

damnyanks

Grad salaries are grand and all that but its long term you should be looking. Does anyone actually know how your salary progresses in 5 , 10 , 15 years once yous tart moving up within a company

Fuctifino

Funny reading this thread now

D-Generate

Thread from the dead!

Salaries are still pretty much the same as this. We are kinda back to 2004 pay levels. ESBI are paying €33k and IBs in London are paying around £35k + Bonus. Well like £32k back office and around £38k front office, a bit more and a bit less depending on bank.

6679

3 of my class mates who graduated this year started on the following
27k - Web Developer
28k - Software Developer
30k - IT consultant

seamus

6679 wrote: »

3 of my class mates who graduated this year started on the following
27k - Web Developer
28k - Software Developer
30k - IT consultant

Yes, but what is everyone else doing?

When I left college, for some reason we all measured our success against the one guy who had managed to land a €40k position in Microsoft, and not against our classmates who got €20k tech support positions in random companies.

barney85

€26,500:(

LevelSpirit

We just took on 2x 2010 grads in the IT department because we couldnt get anyone experienced. IT is hard to recruit in at the moment.
Salaries were €31k and €34k. No difference really between them in skill levels except that one negotiated, the other took the first offer.