> *Starting* salary?

Yes!  I just did a search on monster for "graduate software" and nearly 
every result had a salary range somewhere between 20 and 30K as a *starting* 
salary.  The same is true of "graduate engineer".  Heck, two of my best 
friends from University (both did computer science) got a job with this 
company writing software for internet routers and their starting salary was 
30K.  My starting salary was closer to 20K than 30K, but that was 7 years 
ago, I know now they are offering new graduates closer to 30K.




According to prospects.ac.uk the average graduate starting salary ranges 
from 20 to 25k depending on who you ask.  I would imagine that having a 
computer science degree would put you above the average.

>> For someone with a degree and 5 years relevant experience
>
> [7 years]
>
>> I'd say 30k was easily achievable and you wouldn't be expected to be in 
>> charge of anyone.
>
> Really? I find that quite surprising.

How come? Even if you started on 20K, a 50% pay increase over 7 years is not 
surprising.

> Hell, my sister is an accountant and she doesn't earn nearly that much.

If she is working for a reputable accountancy firm, has done the 
qualifications and has more than 7 years experience (IIRC she is older than 
you?) then that seems pretty poor pay to me.

> Hmm, thinking about it... I vaguely "know" our CEO. He must surely be on a 
> bit more than 50K.

Probably a big "bit" more.

> I "know" our Director of IT [who no longer works here as of Friday], and 
> he probably earns a tad more than 50K too.

You'd think so.

> I guess most managers just don't make a habit of telling everybody how 
> much more money they earn than you do...

You can easily estimate it though, by looking at similar jobs at other 
companies, how your internal pay structure works etc.  For example I know 
that my manager must be earning more than a "lead engineer", which must be 
earning more than I do.  I know roughly what % increase you get for 
promotion, so my manager must be on about 60-70K.  I can also then guess 
that the director of my department is on about 80-90K, and the MD probably 
110-130K.  This ties in well with job adverts I've seen for similar 
positions in other companies, and from talking with other people.

Post a reply to this message