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sarehu posted:The standard advice is to take your annual salary and divide by 1000. That's your rate per hour otherwise, you might as well get a job (or raise your rates and work less). Shouldn't that be 2000 rather than 1000? Just based on 40 hours a week and 50 working weeks per year.
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Sep 28, 2017 14:55
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ultrafilter posted:Shouldn't that be 2000 rather than 1000? Just based on 40 hours a week and 50 working weeks per year. That doesn't factor in income taxes, paying for healthcare and insurance, retirement contributions, etc.
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Sep 28, 2017 15:01
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Rebus posted:On that note, drop me a PM if you're a competent C++ developer in the UK who wants to work in F1. You might want to indicate which area of the country you're in. If it's Oxfordshire, if you're anything like my last employer, it's because Oxfordshire is expensive af to rent or buy a house; if you want to get people to move there you'll need to offer near-London salaries to compensate. Also, don't be my previous employer and refuse to put a pay range with the job ad. Possibly less of a deal for a more junior role, but senior devs are less likely to apply when they have no idea whether the highest you're willing to offer is like half their current salary or whatever.
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Sep 28, 2017 15:44
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ultrafilter posted:Shouldn't that be 2000 rather than 1000? Just based on 40 hours a week and 50 working weeks per year. The idea is that odds are that you won't be working for parts of the year. Whatever percentage you will be actually working will be offset by downtimes, time spend hunting for opportunities, etc. There's a fair amount of overhead to account for, so 1000 is a reasonable number. Now, if you will get a 5 year contract, maybe you can reduce your hourly rate by some amount.
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Sep 28, 2017 16:16
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Volguus posted:The idea is that odds are that you won't be working for parts of the year. Whatever percentage you will be actually working will be offset by downtimes, time spend hunting for opportunities, etc. There's a fair amount of overhead to account for, so 1000 is a reasonable number. Now, if you will get a 5 year contract, maybe you can reduce your hourly rate by some amount. Or don't, because figgies.
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Sep 28, 2017 17:38
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Kinda depends on the contract too. Getting a new gig? Job you quit wants you to work on the side? You can charge a lot more if you're the guy they go to for emergencies.
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Sep 28, 2017 17:48
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Volguus posted:Now, if you will get a 5 year contract, maybe you can reduce your hourly rate by some amount.
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Sep 28, 2017 17:55
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Just got a recruiter to give the first number. I feel like a goddamn hero.
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Sep 29, 2017 03:54
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Tres Burritos posted:Just got a recruiter to give the first number. I feel like a goddamn hero. Hopefully it's not a third party recruiter?
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Sep 29, 2017 04:24
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feedmegin posted:You might want to indicate which area of the country you're in. It is indeed Oxfordshire... your name isn't Nick is it?!? Thanks for all the other comments - I think we'll hold off until January and then look at hitting up some of the local dev meetups (or convincing HR to spend some money on a recruiter).
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Sep 29, 2017 08:00
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Rebus posted:It is indeed Oxfordshire... your name isn't Nick is it?!? Ha, no. I used to work at Sophos. I suspect we had a company kickoff at your place a few years back though. 
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Sep 29, 2017 11:14
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Getting flown in for an interview for the first time. It's a strange feeling.
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Sep 30, 2017 00:11
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Pollyanna posted:Getting flown in for an interview for the first time. It's a FTFY. Disregarding recruiting costs are nothing yada yada yada, it was pretty neat for me being flown in after spending so long in my previous career where recruiting budgets were "Can we afford a post on Craigslist?" Good luck!
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Sep 30, 2017 00:43
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I've been at my current (first) job for 4 months and I'm looking at applying for a position at a different company. I'm assuming the short time frame at my current position might raise some eyebrows, but my reasons are 1) regularly being asked to look the other way about licensing violations is starting to make me feel uncomfortable, 2) zero mentorship - I'm the only person with a CS background here and regularly encouraged to just do whatever I think is the best call. While fun I'm really worried about my potential for growth and 3) the job I'm applying for is just more interesting to me. I know it's generally not a great idea to talk poo poo about your prior employer during an interview, but I feel like #1 is a pretty big deal regarding my decision to leave. Is it kosher for me to bring that up if they ask during an interview?
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Oct 1, 2017 08:01
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Portland Sucks posted:I've been at my current (first) job for 4 months and I'm looking at applying for a position at a different company. I'm assuming the short time frame at my current position might raise some eyebrows, but my reasons are 1) regularly being asked to look the other way about licensing violations is starting to make me feel uncomfortable, 2) zero mentorship - I'm the only person with a CS background here and regularly encouraged to just do whatever I think is the best call. While fun I'm really worried about my potential for growth and 3) the job I'm applying for is just more interesting to me. The lack of growth potential and the lack of mentorship are generally pretty good reasons, especially as a first job. Particularly the mentoring thing, you can emphasize that there is nobody to give you direction which is kind of a problem when you're early in your career. Sure you can look things up on the internet and you've been completing your projects at your current company, but it's far from ideal. If you want, you can address the licensing issue in a vague fashion and without directly attacking your employer. "I am uncomfortable with some of their practices" is a way to say that that doesn't directly accuse the company of anything, but an interviewer with half a brain will immediately think, "Oh poo poo, they're doing something bad, this person has ethics but is tactful enough not to badmouth their employer in an inappropriate setting." If you think that's too much, "We're just a bad fit" is your standard "I don't want to give you the real answer" response. Everybody knows that's what it is, but usually interviewers are smart enough to take the hint. Sometimes people just land in a job that's just poo poo for whatever reason; as long as you don't do it like 4 times in a row most people aren't going to worry too much about the short duration beyond the initial question.
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Oct 1, 2017 09:13
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Smugworth posted:FTFY. Disregarding recruiting costs are nothing yada yada yada, it was pretty neat for me being flown in after spending so long in my previous career where recruiting budgets were "Can we afford a post on Craigslist?" Good luck! It's weird, though. I don't usually think of myself as valuable enough to be flown in.
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Oct 1, 2017 15:38
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Pollyanna posted:It's weird, though. I don't usually think of myself as valuable enough to be flown in. Between your salary, benefits, payroll taxes, overhead for things like IT support, lost productivity of the people who have to onboard you, the inevitable gently caress-ups a new dev will have in their first couple months, and possibly a huge fee to whatever outside recruiter sourced you, a domestic airline ticket and night in a hotel is pretty inconsequential when compared to what you're going to cost the company if they hire you.
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Oct 1, 2017 16:00
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Looking for some advice on how to manage a career change into programming. I'm about to turn 30, and have a stable, decent paying job in government, but I feel like a CS degree would open up a lot of opportunities within my current city (DC), and also open opportunities if my wife and I decide that we ever want to move to another part of the country. I've completed Harvard's CS50x, and really enjoy coding in C and Python, but the problem is that I have a BA in History, and a MA in Education. My last real math class was calculus in High School. So I think I would need to start over by getting a BS in Computer Science/Engineering. My wife is also pregnant, so I'd preferably like to do it all online. So, it looks like the best options are University of Florida's BS in Computer Science, Arizona State's BS in Software Engineering, and Oregon State's post-bacc BS Computer Science. UF and ASU are full BS programs, so they include a lot of Calc and Physics courses, while the Oregon State program if a 60 credit post-baccc program, which almost entirely focuses on CS courses. Any insight on changing careers, or on doing a BS completely online would be appreciated.
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Oct 1, 2017 16:17
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Do the places you want to work at require CS degrees? Many dont, and those that do may not ask specifically for CS. To me, youre past the degree required HR filter already and should focus on skills, unless youre already eyeing job postings that you know you cant get with your current formal education (even then you only know this after applying). Maybe the government jobs around DC really do want CS I have no idea. tl;dr: why do you think you need a CS degree? You might not be wrong but Im curious. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Oct 1, 2017 |
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Oct 1, 2017 16:22
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laxbro posted:Looking for some advice on how to manage a career change into programming. I'm about to turn 30, and have a stable, decent paying job in government, but I feel like a CS degree would open up a lot of opportunities within my current city (DC), and also open opportunities if my wife and I decide that we ever want to move to another part of the country. If it helps, I too literally have a degree in history and I'm a programmer. I don't even know calculus (the amount of actual, real, hardcore maths you need in most programming jobs is minimal). Write you a thing and put it on GitHub to prove that you can in fact code in C and/or Python; apply to smaller companies if you're worried about HR filters. At least try it before dropping $texas on a degree that might not do that much for you. To be honest, past your first job noone's really going to give a poo poo about it compared to what you've actually done in a real job.
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Oct 1, 2017 17:22
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Tres Burritos posted:Just got a recruiter to give the first number. I feel like a goddamn hero. The next level - turning them down because their benefits blow.
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Oct 1, 2017 17:24
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Do the places you want to work at require CS degrees? Many dont, and those that do may not ask specifically for CS. To me, youre past the degree required HR filter already and should focus on skills, unless youre already eyeing job postings that you know you cant get with your current formal education (even then you only know this after applying). Maybe the government jobs around DC really do want CS I have no idea. It's only anecdata, but I've got a couple friends who work for a consulting house that does a crapton of government contracting. One of them has a genomics degree, another has no degree at all. They're both self-taught programmers. It seemed there that being a competent programmer and being able to pass the top secret clearance investigation were the qualifiers.
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Oct 1, 2017 17:30
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laxbro posted:Looking for some advice on how to manage a career change into programming. I'm about to turn 30, and have a stable, decent paying job in government, but I feel like a CS degree would open up a lot of opportunities within my current city (DC), and also open opportunities if my wife and I decide that we ever want to move to another part of the country. You have a degree and you can code. Apply to jobs as a developer. Check out my post in Oldie Programming: Career Advice https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3607482&userid=141478#post475836868 to figure out how to fill possible resume gaps in your area. I have no degree, only HS and hosed around a ton in life before turning to programming for making a living. Now I develop test systems which is super easy money.
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Oct 1, 2017 17:54
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I recently graduated with a degree in actuarial science, but I want to make a transition to a programming career. My goal is to find an entry level programming position asap. Absent other suggestions I was going to focus on web development because it seems like there's a lot of material out there on it. Specifically I've been going through the things I don't remember or understand on freecodecamp, then I was going to go to their volunteer opportunities and build a portfolio that way. Is there a faster way to build a portfolio? Is that worthwhile or should I just be applying places? Are there other sorts of development I should consider, especially things that might use my insurance knowledge or math skills?
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Oct 1, 2017 18:54
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:To me, youre past the degree required Keetron posted:You have a degree and you can code. Apply to jobs as a developer. feedmegin posted:If it helps, I too literally have a degree in history and I'm a programmer. I don't even know calculus (the amount of actual, real, hardcore maths you need in most programming jobs is minimal). Write you a thing and put it on GitHub to prove that you can in fact code in C and/or Python; apply to smaller companies if you're worried about HR filters. At least try it before dropping $texas on a degree that might not do that much for you. To be honest, past your first job noone's really going to give a poo poo about it compared to what you've actually done in a real job. kitten smoothie posted:They're both self-taught programmers. It seemed there that being a competent programmer and being able to pass the top secret clearance investigation were the qualifiers. Thanks for the reality check everyone. I'm working on a Django (Django is awesome) website right now, and plan to learn/implement React after I deploy a functional CRUD site. I still have 7 months until I get vested in my current job, so I'll focus on building a kick-rear end website and take a free algorithms course online and then maybe target applying to the news/media companies around DC. Thanks again.
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Oct 1, 2017 19:05
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Having decided my reasons for wanting to leave my current job are pretty legitimate I've thrown together a new resume. I'm applying for a job opening with a company that I did a year long senior project with while I was still at school and have reached out to the engineer I worked with that year to see if I can rub some elbows. We got along pretty well during the project. I didn't really have to write a resume to get my current job (networking basically landed me it) so I'm not really sure how this looks. Any feedback would be really appreciated. Resume
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Oct 1, 2017 20:02
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Portland Sucks posted:Having decided my reasons for wanting to leave my current job are pretty legitimate I've thrown together a new resume. I'm applying for a job opening with a company that I did a year long senior project with while I was still at school and have reached out to the engineer I worked with that year to see if I can rub some elbows. We got along pretty well during the project. I didn't really have to write a resume to get my current job (networking basically landed me it) so I'm not really sure how this looks. Any feedback would be really appreciated.
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Oct 1, 2017 20:21
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laxbro posted:Thanks for the reality check everyone. I'm working on a Django (Django is awesome) website right now, and plan to learn/implement React after I deploy a functional CRUD site. I still have 7 months until I get vested in my current job, so I'll focus on building a kick-rear end website and take a free algorithms course online and then maybe target applying to the news/media companies around DC. Thanks again. Just for reference, I was more or less where you are back in February. I had finished CS50 (minus the final project), and then I did an online/remote bootcamp. I got hired about 2 weeks ago and I'm starting later at the end of this month, making more or less double what I was making beforehand. I have a degree in music business and electronic production (think audio engineering). In hindsight, CS50 taught me so much of what I needed to know, you can definitely start applying right away. One alternative to consider is maybe going through something like freeCodeCamp/The Odin Project and building up some projects to show people. As long as you have something non-trivial to show employers and know your stuff, you should be fine.
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Oct 1, 2017 20:55
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laxbro posted:Thanks for the reality check everyone. I'm working on a Django (Django is awesome) website right now, and plan to learn/implement React after I deploy a functional CRUD site. I still have 7 months until I get vested in my current job, so I'll focus on building a kick-rear end website and take a free algorithms course online and then maybe target applying to the news/media companies around DC. Thanks again. Just a heads up, while I think everyone here knows you will get a job as a programmer, that seven month window is a lot smaller than it looks. For reference, it took me four months to get my first gig after hundreds of apps. Don't panic or anything, just be aware that you will probably want to start applying to jobs before the seven months are up, not after.
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Oct 2, 2017 00:04
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There's a company I really want to interview with, but I won't get the chance to do so until after more than a week past when I'm flown in for the aforementioned company. I worry that I'll be leading the earlier company on too long if I say that I want some time to think about the position, if it works out. Is it okay to delay a decision for that long?
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Oct 2, 2017 16:12
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You might not have to worry about it, if the company that's flying you out takes a couple of days to come to a decision or the place you really want to interview with doesn't invite you in. (I do this all the time and drive myself nuts pre-worrying about hypotheticals.) If the fly-out place calls with an offer, you can probably ask them when they need a response by and their answer might fit your schedule with no problem.
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Oct 2, 2017 16:25
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Be honest with both companies. Tell the first that you have another interview scheduled soon, but you'll keep them in the loop and get back to them by X date. Tell the second that you have an offer on the table, and ask to move up the interview.
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Oct 2, 2017 16:51
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lifg posted:Be honest with both companies. Tell the first that you have another interview scheduled soon, but you'll keep them in the loop and get back to them by X date. Tell the second that you have an offer on the table, and ask to move up the interview. This is the right thing.
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Oct 2, 2017 17:47
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lifg posted:Be honest with both companies. Tell the first that you have another interview scheduled soon, but you'll keep them in the loop and get back to them by X date. Tell the second that you have an offer on the table, and ask to move up the interview. But it's also a minimal spanning honesty. Relevant dates are fine to share, I wouldn't drop a company name as that's unnecessary for the logistical discussion to progress.
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Oct 2, 2017 18:17
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I got my first offer of $53K for a junior software developer position in Ohio. It seems like an excellent salary. Should I try negotiating or just take it?
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Oct 12, 2017 00:17
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"Excellent salary" is entirely dependent upon the cost of living in the area. You almost always have room to negotiate, so it doesn't hurt by any means.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:21
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Kicking my job search into overdrive starting tonight after telling my managers 'I don't have enough work to do,' followed by a half-hearted '..yeah we'll find you more work.'
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Oct 12, 2017 00:33
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meat on a Friday posted:I got my first offer of $53K for a junior software developer position in Ohio. It seems like an excellent salary. Should I try negotiating or just take it? Try negotiation. It'll be good practice, and it can't hurt.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:47
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meat on a Friday posted:I got my first offer of $53K for a junior software developer position in Ohio. It seems like an excellent salary. Should I try negotiating or just take it? Where in Ohio? There's nowhere insanely expensive in the state, but there is variation.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:56
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ultrafilter posted:Where in Ohio? There's nowhere insanely expensive in the state, but there is variation. Dayton.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:57
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