Entry Level Salary in NOVA (Chantilly): How Much is Enough? (Richmond: apartments, to rent)

[VTGISTech]

I'm approaching college graduation and am interested in some jobs in Northern VA, specifically Chantilly.

I am from Central VA, and go to school in Southwest VA (Virginia Tech) so I am used to a low cost of living.

The salary offered to me by one company is $36,000. Upon a quick-n-easy Google search, this equates to about $24,000 "Roanoke Dollars" or "Richmond Dollars."

***I could make that much at a $10/hr wage job full-time.***

I'd expect an offer like this from Richmond to get by, which would equate to roughly $60,000 in NOVA.

I'm not wanting to drive a nice car or wear nice clothes; I just want to spend less than 60% of my income on rent.

I have low expenses as it is (15 year old pickup truck (with no payments), no expensive habits e.g. smoking, not into clothing or fine dining.) I'm an average American man.

Should I tell these guys to go fly a kite (or raise the salary by about $20,000 ) or should I just accept that I can't start at the top and be struggling to pay the rent for my first few years?

Thanks In Advance

[The Dissenter]

you are gonna need more money if you wanna think about NOVA. 36000 can be done here but most likely with that salary you may end up in a terrible area.

[EricD]

I'd ask if they will increase their offer. A lot of people right out of college live with their parents in NoVa for the first 2-4 years out of collage, so they can pay off college debt and get their income high enough to live on their own. Let the company you are applying for know that you will need to pay the rent on your own apartment, and you'll need a higher offer than $36k to do that. $36k is actually a common starting salary, but you should be able to get them to break the $40,000 mark (or at least get close)

Good luck, I know what it's like. I just graduated 2 years ago, and took a job in NoVa right out of college. But I was able to live with my dad for a year and a half, save up money, then I got married, and with a double income we were able to get our own place. (Plus I got a job in Fredericksburg, and my wife works in Richmond, so we were able to get a place inbetween, which is a lot less expencive than in NoVa)

Oh, and here's one more thing to think about. You can always accept the job in NoVa, and work there while applying to other places. A lot of companies will adjust their offer based on your current salary, which in NoVa will be higher. (That's what I did, got in at a good pay in NoVa for over a year, then accepted a job in F'burg for the same pay)

[DavidS827]

Have you thought about countering their offer? It wasn't until a year or so after I took my first job out of college that I realized that I could have countered and been offered more money. Never be afraid to negotiate.

If you do accept it, you will most likely have to choose from living far away from your job so that you can afford your own place, or renting a room with other recent college grads. I just checked craigslist and there are dozens of places in very nice neighborhoods (around Chantilly) that you could check out if you are open to sharing a house. Personally, I would suggest living closer in and sharing a house. This will help you set up a network of friends in a new area and will put you closer to nightlife and your job.

[dullnboring]

It is certainly doable if you rent out a room in someone's house or split an apartment, as opposed to renting out your own home or apartment. That's a fairly normal starting salary. Figure your take home pay will be something around the way of $2400/month. Apartments in this area will generally start at around $1000/month. There's some in the $900 range, but $1000 is a general rule of thumb to start out with. Figure in an additional $200 for utilities and you're looking to spend at least 50% of your income on rent (and then you can figure out the rest of your monthly expenses in terms of food, car insurance, gas, and other random bills to see how much you'd be left with at the end of each month). This is IF you choose to rent out an apartment on your own. Rooms in homes can be found for $500-600/month including utilities. While I think you could live in your own apartment if you really desire to, I would recommend renting out a room, at least for a little while, to give yourself a bigger financial cushion each month, increase the likelihood of finding a place closer to work (a BIG issue in the DC area) and as David pointed out, it will also possibly introduce you to some people in the area.

It can't hurt to try to renegotiate but you can certainly make due on a 36K salary with a few sacrifices and keeping an eye on your budget. If you rent out a room, you won't be living a king's lifestyle but you should be able to pay your way just fine and save up some money each month.

[SmerkyGrl]

I would say it'd depend on what other things the job can offer you. I have accepted a job in Tyson's Corner that offers 31k Base and 10k minimum commission (by minimum, I mean they'll make up the difference with a check if I don't get to 10k). Despite this low-ish salary, they have offered me amaaaaaaaaaaazing benefits: 3 weeks vacation, FULL health benefits (vision, dental, health), free gym membership, and metro reimbursement. After doing some research and some calculations, I found out that not only can I make my salary work, I may have a little bit left over if I live frugally. Like you, I don't have payments on my car but I suppose one major thing is that I don't have college loan payments either and my driving record is pretty pristine (translation: Low insurance payments).

One thing you've got to keep in mind is that counter offers can be rejected and the offer withdrawn altogether. Unless the offer is TRULY unreasonable, I'd be very wary about counteroffering. Once the counteroffer is made, EVERYTHING--ALL the details within the original offer--is immediately made invalid and can be taken away from you.

Finally, have you considered having a roommate? I hear they cut down costs by a bundle

[seanpecor]

It's getting curious-er and curious-er. I keep hearing how all the good paying jobs are in NOVA, but every time I hear a college grad talking about NOVA and I.T. related job offers, they're talking sub $40,000 salaries. In Roanoke, I know an IBM project head who is hiring VT Comp. Sci grads right out of the gates at $63,000. But he lost one recently to Microsoft in Seattle who was offering $86,000 out of the gate. I know I'm getting a very thin slice of a big pie, but does anyone know of any examples in NOVA where you're getting $75,000 to start for entry-level I.T. enterprise programming gigs? Because that's basically where you'd need to start to compete with the Roanoke jobs I know of, given the substantially lower cost of living in the Roanoke Valley.

I know there are examples of experienced folks in project lead positions making big bucks in NOVA. I have one friend pulling $175K doing GIS work for SAIC but he's been at the same place for 15 or more years. I'm more interested in the entry level stuff that requires a very expensive B.S. in Comp Sci just to get in the door.

Sean

[ashbrn4]

What is your degree in? That's the only way we can judge if you are being paid what others in your position are. My son graduated from UVA last year and was hired as a System Engineer by a large federal contractor and his starting salary is over $60,000/yr. Very common for engineers. Your degree makes a huge difference in pay. As I've posted before, he shares an apt with a roommate and friend from college also doing the same work and they each make enough to live alone, but each wants to buy a condo/townhouse in a year or two. Average salary coming out of UVA is somewhere around 35K. Teachers are usually on the low end of the pay scale and engineers, analysts, etc are on the upper end.

What I want to know is did you go utilize your career center on campus? That is the best place to start when looking for a job after graduation, as well as internships. They will have job fairs and companies and govt agencies coming to the school to interview. Of course, if you are graduating this semester, it's too late for that.

[SmerkyGrl]

Seanpecor,

I think you forget that not all of us are engineers :P Most people who are not engineers are lucky to see a starting salary of 35k+.

Ashbrn4:

My career center (Virginia Tech as well) is total crap. All the jobs they offer are either low-paying or jobs that I wouldn't need a BS for. The better job offers I've gotten were all found through my own means. Perhaps its different for others but that's my personal experience.

[ashbrn4]

Hmm, I know plenty of my sons friends that got their jobs after graduation by utilizing the career center so that's why I suggested it. I know for a fact that several large federal contractors interview at Tech and UVA every year and not just for engineers. (because I personally know a couple that do the interviewing, usually in Dec for the spring grads) BTW, my sons' first degree is in math (he's a double major), not engineering, but he was offered a systems engineering job. And my son didn't use the career center, but did have the luck of having two parents who work in the Federal/Intel fields and have contacts, but he did get the job on his own merits.