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Comment by jeffclark | Hacker News Reader

Is the job salary negotiated before the program? I feel like it must be hard to accurately judge someone's programming value before they learn how to program.

What happens if, at the end of the 5-month program, they offer you a desperately low-paying salary? Have you wasted 5 months and moved to DC for nothing?

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I think it's even harder to manage the expectations of an already experienced developer coming into this program.

I did something similar with another company and ran into the issue that they were expecting to pay significantly less than I was expecting (realistically or not). In hindsight, it is obvious the program was designed for new programmers or recent grads.

It might not have been such an issue if we had talked about potential salary ranges up front. It was a big shock to learn of their expectations when the offer came across the table.

Something tells me that after making it though a program like this, you'll have plenty of job options, with the one from Living Social just being one.

Those others don't matter though because by going through the class you've signed on for an 18 month stint with LivingSocial.

In reply to you and smountcastle, here is the text verbatim: If you survive the five-month program, you’ll be offered a position on LivingSocial’s elite engineering team (18-month commitment required).

I read this as, if you TAKE the position on the elite engineering team after the five-month period, the contract is for 18-months. I don't think it is necessarily tied to the 5-month learning period.

I thought the same thing. However, it looks like this was cleared up in another thread. It seems as though you are expected to join Living Social at then end of the training. So, it's not really an "offer" after all.

"expected" doesn't necessarily mean "required". Unless one of the things they have participants sign when they agree to do the program lays out specific penalties for refusing the job offer or leaving before 18 months, they're not required to do anything. And if such a clause does exist, there absolutely should be a lower bound on the salary, benefits, etc. in that contract, so that they know they're not agreeing to work for minimum wage for 18 months.

Yes, though if you make it through the program (and offered a job at LivingSocial), you're committed to 18 months at LivingSocial. They seem like a great company so I don't think this would happen, but it does give them leverage to offer a lower salary, reduced benefits, etc.

It's not negotiated before the program. In DC alone, we're seeing explosive growth in the Ruby community, so there are opportunities with the government, contractors, startups, you name it.

If you put your heart into the program there will be a job at LivingSocial for you. And the pay is very nice :)

What level of pay should accepted applicant expect... Market rate for junior level programmer in DC area? Is there anyway you can provide a ballpark figure (like $80K or something) for those who might think about changing his/her career?

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