What do you do?

Heylel

Heylel

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Borzak_sl said:
Congrats!

Is that the job that I looked at your resume?
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No, that one didn't pan out. This is actually something that just randomly came across my desk and I decided to apply for since it seemed like a good fit.

Financially, this is much better than the first job. That one would have probably paid around the same but meant relocating to LA. Half the raise, maybe more, would have been eaten up in higher living expenses.
 
Cad

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Heylel_sl said:
No, that one didn't pan out. This is actually something that just randomly came across my desk and I decided to apply for since it seemed like a good fit.

Financially, this is much better than the first job. That one would have probably paid around the same but meant relocating to LA. Half the raise, maybe more, would have been eaten up in higher living expenses.
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I mean, yea, but you'd get to live in LA. Generally the cheaper cost of living places are cheaper for a good reason.
 
Borzak

Borzak

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I turned down a pay increase of 300% when I took my job outside San Antonio that would have meant moving to the bay area. Not for me and money ain't everything as they say.
 
Heylel

Heylel

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Cad_sl said:
I mean, yea, but you'd get to live in LA. Generally the cheaper cost of living places are cheaper for a good reason.
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I own a nice little home in the suburbs of Atlanta right now. No complaints.
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Noodleface

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I'm approaching my two year mark and still not promoted. Getting kind of angry. Also I misread the recruiters email, it's just a week and a half before I know.
 
Palum

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Cad_sl said:
Generally yes. If you want to send them its still fine, but the thinking is that nobody changes their mind based on thank you notes, except for in the negative if you typo the notes or say something stupid. Nobody says well, I hated that guy, but this thank you note is sincere so I'll give him the nod. But people say dumb shit in thank you notes and leave a bad impression.

So yea I'd skip the notes.
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The best one I got was one of those tins of Costco European cookies... for someone who missed their interview because they decided not to relocate. I mean how do you top not wasting 20+ minutes and free cookies?
 
Palum

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Noodlemod_sl said:
I'm approaching my two year mark and still not promoted. Getting kind of angry. Also I misread the recruiters email, it's just a week and a half before I know.
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Do you mean promoted as in tiers or onto an entirely new position with additional responsibilities? I can kind of understand if it's like Dev I-II-III-IV-SR-SRII-etc. that controls your wages and whatnot, but I find positions to be far too situational to plan like that. I've worked for places where I've been pulled into new shit and places where I had to wait for people to die.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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I've been software engineer 1 for 2 years, typical track is software engineer 2 after 1 year, this is why I'm looking for new jobs
 
Heylel

Heylel

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Noodlemod_sl said:
I've been software engineer 1 for 2 years, typical track is software engineer 2 after 1 year, this is why I'm looking for new jobs
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With my academic job, the research track typically goes 3 years as RS 1 > 4 years RS 2 > 5 years Senior > Principal RS if you're lucky. What they don't tell you is that the paperwork actually needs to go in a year ahead, so if you actually wait 3 years you'll end up with 4 in a tier 1 position. It's hella lame.
 
Cad

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I never understood the 1,2 whatever shit. If you're getting raises and bonuses and advancement, then who cares what your title is? If you're not getting those things, again... who cares what your title is? Do you care if you're Software dev 3 if they still have you doing monkeyboy shit and pay you $50k?

Or are you thinking all of the advancement/raises etc come with the title?
 
Noodleface

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It's a little of everything.

If I'm throwing my resume out there, being a software engineer 1 vs. 2 shows a clear advancement path. Being stuck at 1 for a few years probably makes someone go "why hasn't he been promoted?"

On the money aspect, there's a fairly decent bump here in pay. I've received my annual shitty raise (4%) and that's it. Obviously I've grown as a developer, in both skill and responsibilities, yet my pay and my title don't reflect that. Maybe if I were further in my career and settled in it wouldn't matter as much, but to someone trying to advance their career efficiently it bothers me.

And as to why I haven't been promoted, I got literally and figuratively fucked here. I originally started in System Engineering as a Software Engineer 1. I worked there for a year, was poised for advancement, and my position literally was shitcanned. Thankfully BIOS picked me up, where I've been for another year now. So I got a shitty roll of the dice there. I guess some of my resentment stems from that.

Sorry for the longwinded explanation. I'm not a title whore, but I would like my skill level to be reflected in some way.
 
Heylel

Heylel

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At least in the university system, annual pay raises are pretty much shit. You're shackled by any state level personnel freezes for both hiring and income adjustments. It's not uncommon to get 1.5-2% for a few years in a row. To get a "real" raise (meaning 6%) you have to change to a new title. Federal jobs have step increases, but state level (at least in Georgia) does not.

Just getting that promotion internally takes about 60 pages worth of paperwork, but getting more than 6% takes basically an act of God. You have to have a written justification signed by the President of the university. It's only slightly easier than it sounds.


edit: Anyone familiar with taxes on bonuses? My vacation payout is going to come in the form of supplemental income, and I have a feeling taxes are going to take a huge bite.
 
Cad

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Noodlemod_sl said:
It's a little of everything.

If I'm throwing my resume out there, being a software engineer 1 vs. 2 shows a clear advancement path. Being stuck at 1 for a few years probably makes someone go "why hasn't he been promoted?"

On the money aspect, there's a fairly decent bump here in pay. I've received my annual shitty raise (4%) and that's it. Obviously I've grown as a developer, in both skill and responsibilities, yet my pay and my title don't reflect that. Maybe if I were further in my career and settled in it wouldn't matter as much, but to someone trying to advance their career efficiently it bothers me.

And as to why I haven't been promoted, I got literally and figuratively fucked here. I originally started in System Engineering as a Software Engineer 1. I worked there for a year, was poised for advancement, and my position literally was shitcanned. Thankfully BIOS picked me up, where I've been for another year now. So I got a shitty roll of the dice there. I guess some of my resentment stems from that.

Sorry for the longwinded explanation. I'm not a title whore, but I would like my skill level to be reflected in some way.
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Why wouldn't you just put "Software Engineer" and put your responsibilities/achievements on there, and nevermind the number?
 
Noodleface

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I could, sure. But that's only part of my issue with it. In the end, I'm not being advanced in a fashion commensurate with my skill level.
 
Deathwing

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Just curious, and perhaps to play a little bit of devil's advocate, why is 4% a shitty raise? At a lot of places, you will get much less or none, especially if they employ that retarded curving scheme. What do you feel you are deserved each year? Sometimes I feel 4-5% is a good amount and that more would make you a good firing target after ~10 years because of compounding salary, but I really don't know.

But, I do know the feeling. 10 years post graduation and strictly speaking, my salary is only 20% higher. Money's basically never been a problem, I don't *need* to be paid more. Just would feel nice from an accomplishment standpoint. I also live in cheaper place now, I get 10% retirement payment, substantial bonus, shorter commute, more vacation time, and a strict 40 hour work week. And I've also kinda switched industries from testing hardware to testing software. Just hard to ignore hard numbers sometimes.
 
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Draegan_sl

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Congrats Heylel. Welcome to working at home.

I'm just over a month at my new job. Much better than my last one. Business development is hard when no one answers emails.
 
Cad

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Deathwing_sl said:
Just curious, and perhaps to play a little bit of devil's advocate, why is 4% a shitty raise? At a lot of places, you will get much less or none, especially if they employ that retarded curving scheme. What do you feel you are deserved each year? Sometimes I feel 4-5% is a good amount and that more would make you a good firing target after ~10 years because of compounding salary, but I really don't know.

But, I do know the feeling. 10 years post graduation and strictly speaking, my salary is only 20% higher. Money's basically never been a problem, I don't *need* to be paid more. Just would feel nice from an accomplishment standpoint. I also live in cheaper place now, I get 10% retirement payment, substantial bonus, shorter commute, more vacation time, and a strict 40 hour work week. And I've also kinda switched industries from testing hardware to testing software. Just hard to ignore hard numbers sometimes.
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It really depends on your philosophy I guess, do you get paid a wage so that you can exist in society and comfortable level, and your work is somewhat disconnected from that? Or do you get paid based on your productivity and the better you are at your job and the more value you bring to the company, the more you get paid?

If it's the first one, then maybe 4% is fine because making 70-100k will allow you a comfortable life as long as you keep working, don't get injured or disabled, don't have a messy divorce, etc... *ominous music*

If its the second one, then you aren't satisfied with those paltry raises because you know they are making more and more off of you the better you get at your job if your salary doesn't go up. And that money should be in your pocket, not theirs.
 
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