Renegotiating my salary

CamiKaze

CamiKaze

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So the time has come for me to renegotiate my salary...
Any tips?

What is the industry standard for someone who develops software in C/Embedded C/C++ on the Point of Sale devices? I have a year of experience and i finish all projects on time.
I have 6 months experience in software testing and automation engineering at a other company.
And i have a Bsc in Computer Science.
I also help admin by developing c# applications that processes some other stuff.

Can anyone help me find my worth?
 
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No no not what YOU are worth but what THEY are prepared to pay you for your services, NO you can't bitch that you are getting too little. It is negotiation time again when the "BOSSES" are broke and the workers try and feed their children (kids are baby goats!) on a pittance.
yes partly sarcastic partly true. Take your pick.
 
Well, im a grad, and the HR of my department said that i should do some research on the a market related salary then we can discuss this when i get my permanent contracct, lol im not bitching, its just that the permanent contracts are about to be released, actually after the renegotiation.
Im already earning in the 15k - 20k range.
 
Cameronsmith63 said:
Well, im a grad, and the HR of my department said that i should do some research on the a market related salary then we can discuss this when i get my permanent contracct, lol im not bitching, its just that the permanent contracts are about to be released, actually after the renegotiation.
Im already earning in the 15k - 20k range.
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That sounds about right then. 1 yr experience isn't much. My friends with IT degrees started at about 10k gross 3 1/2 years ago, so 15k-20k range is more than acceptable. If you manage to get more, then good for you
 
how many projects have you compelted? what were the complextiy of the projects? and did any of those projects miss deadlines, go over budget?
 
crackersa said:
how many projects have you compelted? what were the complextiy of the projects? and did any of those projects miss deadlines, go over budget?
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i complete my projects well before their deadlines, then i spend my free time creating c# apps to help admin with whatever they want. I lost track of how many projects i have/had. As far as complexity, it might differ to what you think is complex. I haver recently completed the code for changing the baud rate for comms devices and POS devices, now im working on pulling info from the chip on a sim card and maybe adding another application on the POS device. Next i will play around with biometrics for POS devices, all of this is from the ground up. But for now, im create a c# app to extract data from a server and create graphs and stuff, i did it before so it shouldnt take long. thats the "complexity" of the things that i am working on.

and it never went over budget.
 
Should my previous year's experience as a tester and automation engineer add to me getting a better salary as an embedded software engineer?
 
Cameronsmith63 said:
Should my previous year's experience as a tester and automation engineer add to me getting a better salary as an embedded software engineer?
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In your defense, people that finish things on time are largely underrated by companies ... plus you mention that projects never go over budget with you ... so you should be in good standing with your company ... one other question would be is whether there are any bugs in your work? If there are little to none then you can add that to your list of reasons.

I think the automation engineer would probably add towards your salary; but not by a alot though ... question would now be what are you looking for in your new salary (either values or percentages from the last salary)

personally i think that since you seem to have proof and its possible that you can get what you want.
 
I think i understand what you mean by underrated and finish on time or very quickly, it means that you can finish quick but there might be bugs right? There are bugs now and then, but it doesn't last long enough to extend the due date. im looking for a percentage.

I hear other grads trying to get a 40% increase over their last salary, but that sounds ridiculous. Is that even possible???? Are there any links where i can get more industry standard salaries for this?
 
Percentage depends on your current salary.
If you are earning say R5 p/m, asking for 40% is not ridiculous, but if you are earning R50k p/m, then 40% increase would be ridiculous.
 
R20k minimum. I'd say at least R25k for 1 year experience however I'm comparing with Java developers whom start out at around 15-20K and should after a year earn at least R25K (closer to R30k - 35K)

And in case you are wondering, I started working beginning of the year with BSc(CS) Hons from UP and everyone I know gets at least R20k p/m CTC (even the .NET guys) unless they work at UP or CSIR in which case the average is R10K.

We all work in Pretoria/Centurion/Midrand/Jhb (whom earn those salaries). Most of the guys who didn't do hons are earning between 30-35k now with 1 year exp. but they are all Java.
 
Gnome said:
R20k minimum. I'd say at least R25k for 1 year experience however I'm comparing with Java developers whom start out at around 15-20K and should after a year earn at least R25K (closer to R30k - 35K)

And in case you are wondering, I started working beginning of the year with BSc(CS) Hons from UP and everyone I know gets at least R20k p/m CTC (even the .NET guys) unless they work at UP or CSIR in which case the average is R10K.

We all work in Pretoria/Centurion/Midrand/Jhb (whom earn those salaries). Most of the guys who didn't do hons are earning between 30-35k now with 1 year exp. but they are all Java.
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+1
 
Gnome said:
R20k minimum. I'd say at least R25k for 1 year experience however I'm comparing with Java developers whom start out at around 15-20K and should after a year earn at least R25K (closer to R30k - 35K)

And in case you are wondering, I started working beginning of the year with BSc(CS) Hons from UP and everyone I know gets at least R20k p/m CTC (even the .NET guys) unless they work at UP or CSIR in which case the average is R10K.

We all work in Pretoria/Centurion/Midrand/Jhb (whom earn those salaries). Most of the guys who didn't do hons are earning between 30-35k now with 1 year exp. but they are all Java.
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Lol it's a pity since I'm always on the short end of the stick ... 4 java years with honors in cape town and only nearing 30k now ... but thats only because i made a few stupid moves in the beginning of my career .... I know another guy that earns 47k with similar experience to me ... unfortunately i can't make such a big jump because there's no justification to go from 30k to 47k for me other than "well my friend earns that much so should I" and "previous companies underpaid me so i want you to pay me properly" ... lol

Im mentioning this since Cameronsmith63 seems to be from cape town ... gauteng province are always wealthier :P
 
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Cameronsmith63 said:
i wonder why java developers get that much, better yet, i wonder why .net developers earn the same as people who dev in C.
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Demand, C developers aren't in such high demand as Java developers. Enterprises all run on Java and they pay the big bucks. Also there is a shortage, which increases salaries.

.NET developers are popular in SA because small to medium sized businesses make use of .NET

C isn't popular with anyone except companies that develop specialised software, furthermore most of the Java developers could move over to C, they don't for good reason. Almost all our Java devs either worked with C years ago or C++, the younger guys like me have used it before. We see no reason to go back, what would be the benefit?

A language is a tool, it is easy to jump from one to another. If you ever develop on a Java EE application or enterprise application you'll understand why there is a shortage of skilled Java programmers. Java has the largest collection of frameworks/libraries/etc. available and many enterprise applications need many frameworks for all the integration points. Not to mention the level of complexity of the system. You see a pretty web interface and you think it'll take a few months to do. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the application integrates with an AS400 and about a dozed systems not even mentioning complex business rules (insurance systems for example). Don't under estimate complexity because Java the language is easy to understand!

smb3 said:
Lol it's a pity since I'm always on the short end of the stick ... 4 java years with honors in cape town and only nearing 30k now ... but thats only because i made a few stupid moves in the beginning of my career .... I know another guy that earns 47k with similar experience to me ... unfortunately i can't make such a big jump because there's no justification to go from 30k to 47k for me other than "well my friend earns that much so should I" and "previous companies underpaid me so i want you to pay me properly" ... lol

Im mentioning this since Cameronsmith63 seems to be from cape town ... gauteng province are always wealthier :P
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Bud, you need to jump jobs in the beginning to get up with your salary. After the first year, I'd go for interviews again, then offer the company the chance to keep you by increasing, etc. etc. until you are up to 5 years at which point pay stabilises.

If you have the skills you are worth it :p Go for a couple of interviews and see what kind of offers you get?

And yes Gauteng pays better than CT.
 
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