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The job I accepted pays over six figures as a contract.
Congratulations on the 6-figure job. I have seen the same 6-figure contract offers in Dallas. The permanent non-contract positions being around $75-95k with a $5-15k bonus.
Those contracts can be nice. If they are running against a deadline, you could end up working 45-50 hours/week for a short period. You are looking at $10k for the month. That kind of money stretches farther here than California.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDGeek
The company looking for an SSRS developer between $70k-$85k passed on my resume even though I could have done that Mickey Mouse job standing on my head. I wasn't upset about it, though. The pay was crap and the commute was even worse.
With their job req (expertise in SSRS, SSIS, T-SQL, and C#/VB.NET FRONT-END development, 6+ years of experience) and unbending requirements, they will struggle hard to find someone with those skills willing to work for that salary.
The recruiter sighed when I told her that and said, "I know...I've been trying to fill this position for six months." I wished her luck.
I agree that company was offering CRAP at $70-85k for a SSRS developer with 6 yrs exp. If they ask for 3 years exp or drop the C#/VB.net, they could fill that role.
There are too many other Dallas employers offering more money for SSRS developers with 6+ yrs exp.
Last edited by move4ward; 08-07-2014 at 08:29 AM..
Old technologies like SharePoint, VMware, SQL Server, Visual studio, PHP, are still very widely used even today. As people move on to newer technologies, they create a hole for older technologies that temporarily increase salaries in these areas. Unfortunately, many organizations do not have a focus on technology and slow to move forward even though it can have a positive impact.
This works out for the people who are slow at learning the latest technologies as they can continue to work without investing in themselves while being paid a reasonable salary (albeit lower than newer technologies that are in demand).
Ummmm...take a look at the RHT salary guide I mentioned. SharePoint, SQL Server, and Virtualization are the highest paid skills. And SharePoint is certainly not "old" it is still Microsofts fastest growing product.
No. The job I accepted is for an integration/performance specialist. I'll be using SSIS, but as you probably know some shops prefer their SSIS packages to be nothing but Execute SQL tasks strung together with all the logic wrapped up in stored procedures. I prefer that as well because then I have complete control over the integration and I think the performance is better.
They also need someone who can dig through execution plans and actually understand what's going on in them in order to speed up slow queries. All of the questions I was asked in the interview dealt with either integration or query optimization. Those two areas are my rock-solid strengths in SQL.
I do know how to use SSRS, but I have no professional experience with it because I've never worked anywhere that used it. Cognos and Crystal Reports, yes. SSRS, no. But I did take the initiative to learn it on my own. For a lot of hiring managers, however, that doesn't count. They don't care that I learned it anyway despite it not being required anywhere I've ever worked.
The job I accepted pays over six figures as a contract. The company looking for an SSRS developer between $70k-$85k passed on my resume even though I could have done that Mickey Mouse job standing on my head. I wasn't upset about it, though. The pay was crap and the commute was even worse. With their job req (expertise in SSRS, SSIS, T-SQL, and C#/VB.NET FRONT-END development, 6+ years of experience) and unbending requirements, they will struggle hard to find someone with those skills willing to work for that salary. The recruiter sighed when I told her that and said, "I know...I've been trying to fill this position for six months." I wished her luck.
Sounds like it's not a mickey mouse job then...If it was, they would be able to find someone at that lower salary range for the required skills. I know it can be tough to be passed over for a position, but there was some reason they passed you over, whether you like it or not.
Sounds like it's not a mickey mouse job then...If it was, they would be able to find someone at that lower salary range for the required skills. I know it can be tough to be passed over for a position, but there was some reason they passed you over, whether you like it or not.
I really am amazed by how regional salaries are. In Texas, that is really good pay, considering you can buy a house for the "price of a VCR". I work in Microsofts back yard, where the average house is 700K. But we do have more tech talent here since Amazon, Expedia, Microsoft, Classmates, etc. are all here, so the market here is pretty saturated.
Sounds like it's not a mickey mouse job then...If it was, they would be able to find someone at that lower salary range for the required skills. I know it can be tough to be passed over for a position, but there was some reason they passed you over, whether you like it or not.
They won't find anyone with that skillset willing to work for that salary...unless they snag some desperate Midwesterner who thinks that the COL here is way lower than it actually is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tac-Sea
I really am amazed by how regional salaries are. In Texas, that is really good pay, considering you can buy a house for the "price of a VCR". I work in Microsofts back yard, where the average house is 700K. But we do have more tech talent here since Amazon, Expedia, Microsoft, Classmates, etc. are all here, so the market here is pretty saturated.
LOL houses in my neighborhood are selling for $135-$155 per square foot. You can't get into a decent neighborhood in Dallas County for less than $200k. Houses in my parents' neighborhood are selling from $400k-$2 million. If you want one of those samey suburban boxes in Plano or Frisco, $375k will probably be your bottom range. That may seem like "peanuts" to you, but real estate here has been going up like CRAZY around here for the last several years. I bought my house in 2009 when the market troughed. I got it for $190k and could sell it today for $220k. For Dallas County, that is insane appreciation.
And renting? LOL...four figures a month easy, unless you want to be neighbors with section 8 tenants.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 80skeys
purple squirrel? velvet rabbit? .... wtf?? I've been working in high-tech for 14 years and never heard these terms. What do they mean?
Nobody said "velvet rabbit." I said "velvet sweatshop."
Unless you happened to have studied at the same university as Suckerberg or the two Google clowns to get hired by one of those companies to work all day on violating peoples privacy, I would forget about IT. There are no 'hot IT skills'. IT is dead because of outsourcing, H1B's and the economy.
They won't find anyone with that skillset willing to work for that salary...unless they snag some desperate Midwesterner who thinks that the COL here is way lower than it actually is.
LOL houses in my neighborhood are selling for $135-$155 per square foot. You can't get into a decent neighborhood in Dallas County for less than $200k. Houses in my parents' neighborhood are selling from $400k-$2 million. If you want one of those samey suburban boxes in Plano or Frisco, $375k will probably be your bottom range. That may seem like "peanuts" to you, but real estate here has been going up like CRAZY around here for the last several years. I bought my house in 2009 when the market troughed. I got it for $190k and could sell it today for $220k. For Dallas County, that is insane appreciation.
And renting? LOL...four figures a month easy, unless you want to be neighbors with section 8 tenants.
Nobody said "velvet rabbit." I said "velvet sweatshop."
If they won't find anyone with that skill set for that salary and need to bump the salary up, then it's not a mickey mouse job, was the point.
My old colleague moved to Texas, just around Dallas if I recall correctly, he got a 3,500 square foot house on an acre, with a huge pool, all like new, for 265K and his wifes family is from there and they told him he overpaid. I've seen pictures of the place, his neighbors are soooo far away it's mind boggling, the pool is HUGE, as is the house. It's a far cry from an average house in Redmond, WA for 700K on a postage stamp sized lot, with no pool. Heck, in Auburn, WA 250-300K buys you a house in the ghetto.
Um, respectfully drro, I have to disagree. Yes, the coastal start-up jobs have peaked and gone away replaced by speculation, but in the center of the US (our "flyover country" or "the midwest") a lot of companies that hit really hard times after 9/11 and then the housing crash had stopped hiring. Then, when they did, it was contract or outsource, as you mention.
But now? They've realized that a lot of qualified candidates have headed to Austin, SF, or other tech meccas, or they quit looking, or became secure in their jobs in gratitude for not being laid off. Personally, I was laid off in 2006 or so as my company had struggled for years. The lack of candidates makes small cities in the midwest a place where a skilled worker with basic certifications can job-hop every couple of years. If you have a reputation as showing up every day and being even mildly competent, there are more jobs than people.
Yes, if you want to get wealthy, it's maybe not your industry. But, if you're tired of retail, service-sector, or are soon to graduate, some business knowledge and a certification or two means you won't go hungry.
As BigD mentions, any time at all in these areas will provide some experience in which jobs/employers are to be avoided.
Last edited by Wyllyam; 08-07-2014 at 11:18 AM..
Reason: forgot to reply to quote
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