Would you hop from $32/hr to $40/hr?

Posted by Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 34 comments

Hi guys,

Ive been with my current company for a few years now at a rate of $32/hr, U.S based in MCOL are. I’ve built good relations in the company, but have been on contract for many years now with seemingly no intention of bringing me on full-time with higher pay or benefits. My title also doesn’t align with what I’m doing, and so I’m being used for cheap labor essentially. Ive got no benefits, and no PTO really.

I just got an offer for a senior software engineer position at a solid F500 company at $40/hr, however it is still contract based. From my understanding they are more likely to convert into full time with a substantial salary increase, but there’s no real evidence I can use to prove that. Conversion was discussed and it would prop me up closer to $90k/yr if it were to happen along with getting benefits and PTO.

Its a gamble, but the pay increase alone covers a large portion of my rent and so its difficult to fully pass up. I still feel like I’m being severely underpaid, but maybe I’m expecting too much considering both roles are remote. They’re both standard Java based backend enterprise roles.

Any advice from people who have been in the same situation?

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Empanatacion@reddit

90k for a senior is underpaid even in a LCOL area.

I made $35 / hr in 1997. Not adjusting for inflation. With 18 months experience.

You could make more money bartending than you make now.

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I figured I'm underpaid - I'm just not sure where everyone is finding these extremely well paying jobs outside of NYC. Most everything in my area averages about $80k.

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whipdancer@reddit

I'm in LCOL area and see salaries ranging from 75-ish to 200-ish, generally. I've heard of some lower and some higher, but I haven't seen them myself (via ads, recruiters, or people I directly know).

I'm curious what region you are in (MCOL) that is not supporting higher pay. Is it your current stack that is the limiting factor? Maybe your source(s) when looking for a new position? Is it your specific local market?

I know that to break through "my ceiling", required me to change up what I was doing. I was Microsoft focused (VB -> .Net -> C#) for nearly 20 years - and couldn't seem to break 130k consistently (TC, not just pay). I switched to NodeJS/JS/TS role that finally pushed past that. In the 7ish years since I switched (including moves into Data Engineering and DevOps), I've increased my TC by about 60%. I still don't see how I would have accomplished that by staying with what I was doing.

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

Orlando, FL. To make $100k+ you have to land a job at Disney or something Space Coast related. I’m sure there’s more, but I just haven’t really put the effort in to look for anything else. I also just negotiated for $50/hr and they took it along with a $100k+ conversion when and if it happens, so I guess I just haven’t bothered looking in years and thus have been taken advantage of by my current contract.

It was also the first company I worked for, so I’ve been really naive over what everyone else is making. I got tons of really good experience and what has been for me decent pay until about now.

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whipdancer@reddit

That’s really great. Don’t look back, keep looking up.

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Empanatacion@reddit

You can probably find remote work for 100k or more.

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flamingspew@reddit

32/hr was my rate as a junior in 00’s with no CS degree. Guy needs to value himself more.

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mattbillenstein@reddit

Why are you making so little? No education?

You absolutely have to chase the money - maybe even move out of that area if that's the going rate for devs, seems kinda wonky.

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

I've only got an associates, which I'm sure plays into it. But I can't afford to go for my bachelors just yet.

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mattbillenstein@reddit

Don't put it off forever - borrow or whatever you need to do - there are a lot of highly educated unemployed people, you'll always be at a disadvantage if you don't get a degree imo - ymmv.

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ActiveBarStool@reddit

who the fuck makes $32/hr as a dev..? Anything lower than $50 is an insult, $60 for a senior

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

I think a lot of people do honestly. When you hop from working retail to a $32/hr dev position its a really comfortable wage, but I also don't get interviews for anything past $40/hr usually.

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ActiveBarStool@reddit

bro if you're experienced, even in a LCOL, you're worth $45/hr absolute bare minimum. You save these companies millions annually if you know what you're doing.

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nricu@reddit

Those are American prices, right? ... RIGHT??

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chaos-spawn91@reddit

Yeah, here is US defaultism

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Rain-And-Coffee@reddit

Bud, I’ve jumped ship 8+ times for much less than that. It’s a no brainer.

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

Thank you!

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valbaca@reddit

YOE??

Senior SE positions shouldn’t be less than $160k. I’m not even considering anything less than $180k even in this awful market.

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

Really only a little over 3 YOE, but I have led a project from zero to prod in a F500, so there's some slight merit apart from the usual IC.

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RandomlyMethodical@reddit

I’m confused, what’s the gamble in taking the offer? Sounds like there is only upside.

You still have the relationships you built at the old company and you will build more at the new one. Loyalty doesn’t exist anymore between employers and employees, and no one would fault you for taking a better offer. Only regret I’ve had about a job change was not doing it sooner.

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Timely_Cockroach_668@reddit (OP)

Thanks, I may take the offer.

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tnerb253@reddit

Would you hop from $32/hr to $40/hr?

And here I am with my big tech salary thinking I was underpaid

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HedgieHunterGME@reddit

Shut up n

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EuphoricMembership51@reddit

Those are Eastern European rates my friend.

I'm not going to say what I make but more than both roles and a 3 bedroom rent here is 600 eur.

Genuinely 30-40/USD early career and 40-60 USD/hour is what we see in eastern europe regularly.

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vansterdam_city@reddit

Dude I feel bad that you are getting so ragged in these comments. But man, nothing you’ve said here is a risk? Why is it risky?

People take new jobs for higher pay literally all the time. You will be fine. If it doesn’t work out there, get another Java backend role somewhere else. There are tons of them.

What’s coming through in your post feels to me like you are just comfortable with how things are and don’t like the idea of changing that. Well, guess what, if you ever want to make more money you are gonna have to switch jobs. So it’s up to you to decide whether you care enough about that to do it.

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OkLettuce338@reddit

How is this a question?

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MoonQube@reddit

Thats a 25% more?

Easy choice

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Re7oadz@reddit

You're underpaid ,are there not better options in your city

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DeterminedQuokka@reddit

There are a lot more bills if you are contractor do the full tax calculations and healthcare costs. That might actually pay less. I know I had to make double as a contractor for it to match.

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whipdancer@reddit

What reason do you have for passing up a 25% raise? How is your current contract any less of a gamble than going to a new contract? You're contract because they don't want to pay you more. If you have no benefits, no PTO, etc where you are - then the only thing you can use to measure is the $$ you get.

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