Tl:Dr; I'm about to graduate college with a major in applied mathematics, a major in computer science, minor in stats, and a minor in business administration. I currently work for CCF as a full stack intern, and was offered 60K~70k salary once I graduate after working for them for > 1yr. I declined, but not sure if it was the right choice. Without repeating too much, a large part of me posting is to ask for feedback on where I should put my expectations coming out of college. Me, and many of my peers still in school have no idea what we should be expecting in terms of TC and the likes. I have over 2 years experience developing react, python (I'm graduation with honors, my honors project is a full python library for the discord API written from scratch with a much different philosophy than discordpy), c# (I highly dislike working in c# however), lua (I hand wrote most of my window manager config in lua, along with my slowly growing neovim config), solid level of C++, nodejs frameworks like express and tools such as docker (I dockerize all of my current projects), very well versed in git (when I started at ccf I moved all of our repo's from TFVC to a git based repo, and am also in charge of setting up all of our CI/CD), Linux CLI / sysadmin (I use arch btw) and have a good year experience with mongodb, mysql/Microsoft SQL server. I've also started doing freelance work, where I have contracts with multiple people who essentially give me a 1099 and I bill then hourly @ 40/h, however this is just part time work. I work for CCF Full time over the summer. Since I'm technically an intern, and I've only worked there for a bit over a year, can I say I have 1 YOE? Can I count a YOE for working on large scale projects during college? One large project that I've developed for 3+ years, independent of school. Uses mongodb, discord library I wrote from scratch, nodejs express API, react front end, rabbitmq for properly dealing with rate limited requests to discord, totaling over 8000 LOC using the `cloc` cli tool. What is a reasonable starting salary I can aim for? Any recommendations on where I should start looking? When should I start to apply for jobs, since I won't graduate till may 2023? Current TC: 20/h main job 40/h contracting part-time, no benefits.
What TC are expecting after graduating if you think 60-70 is too low for an entry level position?
More in the realm of 85-90k. My buddy graduated and landed 85k w a company with only a CS degree. I also really don't feel as if I'm entry level at this point, I could be extremely naive & on the top of "mount stupid" interns of dunning Kruger
Are you in LCOL area? Personally I'd worry more about growth and getting my foot in the door than high tc right off the bat. If you want high tc though, MAANG is always an option to apply to
Very much LCOL area currently, I'd really like to move out of Ohio though. I'm actually eager to relocate to virtually anywhere
I think 70k should be fine. You'll always want higher TC, and you'll get it, but don't forget to focus on growth. This is prime time to learn as much as you can so in the future you can easily get high tc jobs
Come to Bay Area and get your 250k faang salary
Honestly I'm very eager to relocate anywhere, bay area always seems a bit extreme though hahaha
You could have accepted and still look for new jobs, then renege later at the expense of burning bridges. You can probably say you have 1 YOE if they ask, but specify when you have the chance (also keep in mind some companies don’t take experienced hires for new grad roles, so be careful what you tell them). I don’t think you should count YOE when you worked on some projects or attempted a start-up project. Starting salaries can be reasonably estimated based on Glassdoor and levels.fyi, also don’t raise your expectations because of Blind, people on here work for top tech companies and their comps are top of the field. Note down companies you want to work for (GG, Meta, etc.) then go apply directly on their website. They post as soon as July/August this year for new grad positions next year.
Gotcha, thanks! So new grad positions are kind of a thing? And I would apply in July for a position next summer?
New grad postings are very much a thing, especially at bigger companies. Smaller ones can be more team dependent and only hire what they need at the moment. I know Microsoft and some highly sought after start-ups post very early (end of July). Google, Meta, Amazon post a little later (August/September/October). They recruit continuously throughout the year until they fill their headcount, so make sure you stay on the lookout constantly for those months. You can apply as soon as the posting is live, but some people save it for later in the year so they have more time to leetcode and do interview preps.
I think you are correct in your assumptions, in my opinion you can land a job with a better TC with the level of experience that I see you have, but in your shoes I would accept the offer and prepare for interviews at the same time.
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Starting salary doesn’t matter. Switch within first year. Once you’ve a job it’s easier to find your next job. I can refer you to Nutanix. They are not the best payer on the market but average should be good to start
Thanks! I might take you up on that. Again I dont graduate till end of May, but I'm definitely looking for referrals too