Salary for Software Developers

[punter]

Hey, guys,

If you are a Software Developer, preferably for Windows, with over 10 years experience, what is your salary? I know this is a very personal question, but were're all anonymous here, anyway.

Also:

How many weeks paid vaction do you get a year?

After one year of employment, what is a reasonable salary increase to ask for or to expect to get?

Thanks, I appreciate your responses (if you're willing to divulge).

 

[fuji]

It really depends. There are great software developers. There are good software developers. And then there are software developers who are not very good.

I would expect a Windows developer working at Microsoft with 10 years experience to be in the $100k range and enjoy four weeks vacation per year. Other similarly high tech companies would pay about the same, and said individual is likely to receive any number of similar offers from such companies should they decide to put themselves on the market.

On the other hand a hack slaving away at a non-technology company on their second rate "custom" billing system might only be pulling in $40-50k per year, have two weeks vacation, and live in fear of losing their tenous hold on their job.

It depends.

 

[emacs]

If you are a Software Developer, preferably for Windows, with over 10 years experience, what is your salary?

when i was a dev (i quit to become a consultant) with less than five years experience i was earning 62.5K. with your experience of ten years, i would estimate salary would begin at 80K.

 

[6969696969]

It also depends on who you work for and where you work. I am in the midwest US and make a bit over 40k (US) a year, work 60+ hours/week, NO vacation***. BUT, I also am a part owner (over 10% but less than 40%). My gamble is that the extra work up front will pay off down the road.

The "average" for 10 years exp. in my area is $65k/yr w/ 2 weeks vacation. A few hour drive from here (Chicago), it jumps to $72k but the cost of living is higher. Averages = average worker...

As for 1 year performance, I would try not to base that on a fixed rate, instead frame it around how much added value you brought to the company in that year and can bring in the following year. Think individually, project and corporate wide. If the company is successful and you contributed, you should rightfully get a share of that success. If your projects are never deployed (for whatever reason), you may be wise to keep quiet. If your stuff rocked but the company itself is struggling, see if you can defer some of your raise (have it guaranteed though).

Sorry for rambling...

***Technically I get 3 weeks, but work gets in the way

 

[WinterHawk]

It all depends on how unique your skill set is and the type of company offering the job. I've got 25 years experience in banking software development. Make over $75K a year, with my pager and on-call pay it's over $100K.

 

[Radio_Shack]

Forget full time my friend. Even the most useless SW guy makes over $100K as a consultant (incorporated) and will clear over 80% of it with all the deductions.

 

[punter]

Forget full time my friend. Even the most useless SW guy makes over $100K as a consultant (incorporated) and will clear over 80% of it with all the deductions.

That's what I've been doing for the last 10 years. I just want a change, tired of looking for work every 6 months. I realize that I'd be taking a pay cut, so I'm trying to guage how much. It would be nice to get stat. holidays, sick days, and vacation time and get paid for them.

So it looks like 90-100k as a perm. employee is too much in Toronto.

 

[Radio_Shack]

That's what I've been doing for the last 10 years. I just want a change, tired of looking for work every 6 months. I realize that I'd be taking a pay cut, so I'm trying to guage how much. It would be nice to get stat. holidays, sick days, and vacation time and get paid for them.

So it looks like 90-100k as a perm. employee is too much in Toronto.

You would have to become architect role to get that kind of salary in most cases.

 

[punter]

You would have to become architect role to get that kind of salary in most cases.

No thanks, too much responsibility that's not worth the extra 20k, LOL!

Ok, so we've established that 75-80k is a good salary. What about annual pay increases? Can you expect to get one every year to keep up with inflation or is it only peformance related? Can you expect a 10% increase for the first year, if you do well, or more like 2-5%?

 

[OddSox]

Annual pay increases? In the private sector? You're kidding, right?

 

[punter]

The problem with contracting is that there is a lot of competition. Everytime I go for an interview, I'm competing with 2-3 guys from my agency and possibly 2-3 from several other agencies. The average rate for a senior software developer is $50/hr, and has been for the last 10 years, however lots of the new immigrants that I compete with are willing to take much less, somtimes 35-45/hr, and that means more bench time for me. In recent years, I've had increasing amounts of bench time. That's one reason for my considering perm employment.

 

[superman]

http://www.itworldcanada.com/salarycalculator/

chek here

 

[Thunderballs]

Payscale data is pretty accurate - we use it at work. Monster.ca data is good as well. You have to look at regional data so comparing yourself to a friend in Vancouver or Chicago is fairly useless unless you want to move there. My guesstimate is around 80K with 10K on either side of that depending upon the position being offered and/or your skill level. Remember the best chance of securing a good salary and benefits entitlement is upon hiring you. Once a company has you already as an employee, then it's Sorry, we work according to policy which is two weeks vacation, a 1 year wait for the pension, etc. When you know that you are on the hiring short list TELL them what you want, don't merely accept what is offered. Tell them you need 3 or 4 weeks vacation and don't settle for just two. Ask for various eligibility periods to be waived such as the waiting period to join the pension plan, benefits plan, etc. The most leverage you will ever have is when you are hired.

Lastly, don't put too much empahsis on benefits. A recent survey found that something like 60% of Canadians would prefer to keep their benefits versus having a $15K raise in pay. The average person does not even come close to using 15K in benefits which just goes to show that we tend to overvalue them.

 

[C Dick]

With developers a lot has to do with ability, more so than experience. The best situation is where you know how to do something, and it is hard to find people who know that. My buddy has been maintaining the previously mentioned custom billing system for 15 years. He became a contractor, and said they had to pay just as much for three days a week. So they spent a year looking for alternatives, but nobody else could do it. So now they know they need him, and he can write his own ticket.

 

[rama putri]

Salary or rate to amount to 60-80K is more like it. A company would pay this to a local developer, but they'd be hard pressed to pay more when there are excellent Chinese and Indian developers that get 30-50k.

 

[radius]

No thanks, too much responsibility that's not worth the extra 20k, LOL!

Ok, so we've established that 75-80k is a good salary. What about annual pay increases? Can you expect to get one every year to keep up with inflation or is it only peformance related? Can you expect a 10% increase for the first year, if you do well, or more like 2-5%?

I don't know about Toronto, but I don't think thats a good salary at all for Ottawa and I would have though the pay is better in Toronto. Here, a senior developer ranges roughly between 80-100k for local companies and a bit more for big, international ones.

By senior I mean someone who can take something from requirements through design and implementation to QA and customer support, be a team lead, needs no supervision, mentors others on the team etc. Maybe a bit of project management.

Edit: forgot to add the only way to get a 10% pay increase is a) you were underpaid to begin with and they want to keep you, b) to get promoted