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Front-end dev - am I underpaid?

Kamyl

Hi folks,

Short summary,

- I moved to Ireland more than 3 yrs ago, with 3 yrs experience as Front-end dev (mainly XHTML, CSS, Jquery)
- I have 6 years' experience now
- I have a very good knowledge of Javascript(native), typescript and lots of libraries and frameworks.
- I recently (less than 6 months ago) started to use nodejs, AngularJs and reactJs
- I'm fluent in english - but as you probably see - I'm not as good as native speakers. Anyway it's good enough to attend technical meetups etc.

What I do
- 75% - work with JSON API and AJAX (ie REST) in javacript
- 25% bug fixes and updates to legacy code

Technology:
- 90% Javascript/TypeScript
- 10% C# (asp.net mvc)

Some projects:
- mobile presentation layer of existing system
- integration with third parties (ie google maps, CRM's, helpdesks)
- chrome extensions
- validation framework (js)
- nodejs monitoring bot
- few internal angularjs apps (with bootstrap)

(of course there's a lot more, but I dont want to write a novel)

My problem:

My salary is 25k only.

Why is this a problem?
- I get lots of job offers with 35k-60k salaries
- I don't think I'm js guru, but I'm neither junior front-end dev anymore.
- I can't even find a job offers with a salary lower than 30k

My question:
Is this just my arrogance or I'm a way underpaid?

Thanks

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Comments

MaggotBrain

Unless you believe otherwise I'd say the agency is screwing you, pocketing what you should be making. You have the right attitude though, no point in throwing the toys out of the pram. Ireland is too small to be burning bridges over your own mistakes.

Middle men only look out for themselves.

Find a new agency, play hard ball and do it soon as you are being screwed royally.

jobless

cant believe you are only getting paid 25k for your experience level.... you need to value yourself more and get what you are worth...

Im guilty of staying in a job i was comfortable in for more than 10 years and am now struggling to change it... as others said the mistake i made is hanging around too long...
you would certainly climb up the salary ladder quickly if you moved.... just dont tell them you were on 25k previously

conorcan2

It's possible that if you're not from the European Union, or from a country within the European Union with a lower average salary rate then your employer is using your countries average salary as a base rate. Their decision to employee you at a lower rate was a business decision - instead of employing a local at X salary, we'll employ somebody from overseas at Y.

I'm not arguing that it's fair, or that you should accept it, but maybe that's the context for the lower salary?

srsly78

That would be fine if the overseas person was working remotely. But if they live here they have to pay Irish cost for rent and food etc, shouldn't take them long to figure out they are being screwed.

conorcan2

srsly78 wrote: »

That would be fine if the overseas person was working remotely. But if they live here they have to pay Irish cost for rent and food etc, shouldn't take them long to figure out they are being screwed.

Yes, good point.

I have an Irish friend who is earning around the same as the OP (in civil service) and is paying mortgage, food etc and still has cash for occasional luxuries. If he made sacrifices in respect to his living arrangements then I think he could save more money...

The average year salary in India for a developer is around 3,365 euros.
http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=Web_Developer/Salary
(Admittedly, I don't know how accurate that source is!)

chrislad

As a graduate with zero experience, even on co-op, I was offered more than 25k, with a rise coming next month and I still don't have a years experience. I'm doing Java with Spring and ExtJS Javascript. I'm not based in Dublin either. I'd certainly be asking questions about that level of pay, as I'd consider that on the low end for a graduate.

Trojan

Some awesome "tough love" on this thread

carlmango11

What the actual f**k. That would be a sh*t salary if you were fresh out of college and were half-monkey.

The interns in my place are almost on that.

L.Jenkins

Trojan wrote: »

Some awesome "tough love" on this thread

It's the only way to be. I know I'm getting stitched up and this is the kind of advice you'll more than likely never get from a recruiter or agent.

red_ice

I haven't read the previous posts, I'm just in awe at OP and had to put my point of view on this.

I'll be blunt. A lot of people higher foreigners because they will work for less and are more likely to accept what payment they can get. I've seen it a million times. I know of 2 agencies who have no developers, and outsource all their work to eastern European developers for next to nothing, and the work they get back is phenomenal. Absolutely gorgeous code.

25k for someone of your skill set is laughable. You should be upwards of 50k. Realistically, anyone in your shoes should expect 35k-40k as a front end developer in an agency. However, agencies can pick and choose from a bundle of CVs a mile high and will always find compromise with someone willing to work for less that shows potential. This is where you will struggle. You've got a skill set, and are in need of a more senior position, meaning you don't have the luxury of working your way up the company like a junior / intern would without settling for a wage like you're on now.

You should consider relocating to somewhere that has a single application to maintain, something that you can own from day 1 and make your own over time. Your value to a company will be worth more than the 40k intro salary you started off with. I've seen people take 15% pay rises within their first year of a company just because they own that application.

Have you thought about going along to the NDRC / Wayra to join a startup team and be lead developer / CTO on a project? You would match your current salary, could outsource your skill set to other teams in need of developers and carve yourself a corner of the Irish dev scene. The NDRC worked wonders for my professional career, I wasnt even well known in the place.

The Corinthian

red_ice wrote: »

Have you thought about going along to the NDRC / Wayra to join a startup team and be lead developer / CTO on a project?

One can be a CTO on a project now?

red_ice

Well the three founding members of the team I was on in the NDRC were CEO / CMO / CTO. So I'm confident you can yes. It is your company after all.

Have you heard otherwise about seniority / rank / titles within these places?

The Corinthian

red_ice wrote: »

Well the three founding members of the team I was on in the NDRC were CEO / CMO / CTO. So I'm confident you can yes. It is your company after all.

I think you're confusing the role of CTO with someone who happens to be the CTO but is fulfilling another role, such as lead developer, on a project. A CTO is a 'C-Level' title in a company and is not associated with any specific project.

So when you suggested someone is a "lead developer / CTO on a project", they can't be the CTO on a project any more than they can be the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on it. That's just silly.

dazberry

red_ice wrote: »

Have you thought about going along to the NDRC / Wayra to join a startup team and be lead developer / CTO on a project? You would match your current salary, could outsource your skill set to other teams in need of developers and carve yourself a corner of the Irish dev scene. The NDRC worked wonders for my professional career, I wasnt even well known in the place.

The problem with this is are you putting the cart before the horse? I got involved in a post-startup after the CTO had left. The guy is a serial CTO, but armed with a PhD he seemed to managed to skip getting all that much hands on experience. The decisions he enforced very much demonstrated this...

D.

Kamyl

Hi guys.

This is me - OP.

Six months have passed. I spent this time developing my skills, growing my portfolio and making a little bit of PR.

As a consequence, my salary hasincreased. I did few interviews. All the companies I talked to, were happy with me and I finally accepted a job offer for... 70k / year.

This is nearly 3x times more than I was making 6 months ago.

Thanks for encouraging me. I'm not sure it this would happen without you guys.

Regards,
Kamyl

CaoimH_in

The kick up the arse you needed! Back yourself in future man!

L.Jenkins

I'll be aiming to negotiate myself a better deal when I look for a new role myself. Asked for a pay increase during the year and got it.

Greyian

Kamyl wrote: »

Hi guys.

This is me - OP.

Six months have passed. I spent this time developing my skills, growing my portfolio and making a little bit of PR.

As a consequence, my salary hasincreased. I did few interviews. All the companies I talked to, were happy with me and I finally accepted a job offer for... 70k / year.

This is nearly 3x times more than I was making 6 months ago.

Thanks for encouraging me. I'm not sure it this would happen without you guys.

Regards,
Kamyl

Congratulations, just shows what you can get when you're worth it and willing to fight for it.

Itzy wrote: »

I'll be aiming to negotiate myself a better deal when I look for a new role myself. Asked for a pay increase during the year and got it.

Out of interest, did you do this during a performance review (or something similar), or just approach your manager/superior and say you wanted a pay increase?

punk_one82

Kamyl wrote: »

Hi guys.

This is me - OP.

Six months have passed. I spent this time developing my skills, growing my portfolio and making a little bit of PR.

As a consequence, my salary hasincreased. I did few interviews. All the companies I talked to, were happy with me and I finally accepted a job offer for... 70k / year.

This is nearly 3x times more than I was making 6 months ago.

Thanks for encouraging me. I'm not sure it this would happen without you guys.

Regards,
Kamyl

Good to see you left and are way above where you were in terms of pay. I'm not too sure about frontend pay in Ireland but I'd imagine you're on more than the average? Congrats!

c_man

Nice one Kamyl!

L.Jenkins

Greyian wrote: »

Out of interest, did you do this during a performance review (or something similar), or just approach your manager/superior and say you wanted a pay increase?

We're not subject to reviews where I work, which is odd. I did however straight out asked for an increase and I got it.