Ask HN: Am I being paid fairly? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Am I being paid fairly?

9 pointspromontis15 comments

I'm a 26 year old programmer working for a large IT company as a temp. My current job is at a large investment agency.

When comparing myself with others in my field, I find myself having better skills than any of them. I know I'm good, other people say this as well.

However, my employer doesn't want to give me the salary my colleagues have, blaming the current economy. My gross income is 2800 per month. So that's almost 17 euro per hour, versus the 75 euro per hour what's being paid for me. So, 75 / 17 = an operating margin (is that the correct term?) of 4.5. Ofcourse, the company has overhead, so they ask a standard margin of 2.6 which includes a profit margin.

Furthermore, I do get an end year allowance of 8,33%, normal amount of holidays, and a lease car (catalog value of 33.000 euro) which costs me 380 euro per month. So my net income is somewhat around 1500 euro per month.

Is this normal?

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Do some investigating into the temporary worker regulations for the country you are in.

Here in the UK a recent law came into force where temporary workers have to be paid the same as colleagues in the same role after 12 weeks. They should also get the same performance related bonuses too.

It's worth checking if your company need to pay your agency a fee if you were to join the company as a perm employee.

Could you please give more context? Which country are you working in? Do you have a formal education / certificate for your qualifications?

In 2007 I earned about 1.300 Euros net (no perks) as a programmer (Fachinformatiker Anwendungsentwicklung) in Germany. So if you don't have a university degree, I would assume your pay to be average.

Just my 2 cents

In our industry, I've seen labor arbitrage ratios as low as 150% and as high as 2000%, so that's not a very good way to gauge pay - it depends on your market, your niche in the industry, and the risk that your employer takes on.

You're making a reasonable wage assuming a below average cost of living.

If you don't get the response you want here, try the Workplace Stackexchange - http://workplace.stackexchange.com/

I'll put this in to perspective for you, you earn 4 times the amount I do for the same field.

WTF ?

Are you working full-time? Which country are we talking about?

That's a pretty standard salary in the Bay Area.

I work 30 hours a week for a measly GBP3.10 per hour.

WTF?? Are you saying you are paid 90 pounds a week??? In UK?

Yeah, I am looking for other work actively, but at 19 with only 2 years experience and no degree, it's pretty hard to find another job in my area, I can't even get in the door unless I studied at Uni, it's irrelevant that I'm actually talented in the subject matter.

Did you not do your a-levels? Why not try an access course? Surely this is not the position you would like to be in? For university, the only subject you really need for CompSci/IT courses is Mathematics (+further maths for oxbridge/imperial/warwick). Why don't you do that? It will help you learn fundamentals + land you much better jobs

No, I did not do my A-levels, instead I spent 2 1/2 years travelling Europe and coding on the go, worked on numerous projects, many of which are still live now, took part in over 40 freelance projects and once I came back landed a job fairly quickly.

I don't understand the assumption that all people who didn't go in to education don't understand the fundamentals of computer science, when in reality, most university lectures on the subject matter are available (and have been watched by me) online.

Your average university student spends probably less than 10 hours per week actively studying (I have no figures to back this up), I code full time, all day every day, then I bring my passion to my home and code late in to the night. Which would you honestly rather have as an employee? The university graduate with 3 years of boozing behind him, or the programmer with 3 years of experience and references behind him?

I don't want to go to university, in my opinion, it would be a step backwards.

University graduate might have much higher potential to learn(and get teached), while solo coder hero may not be able to learn anything other than he wants to. Graduates are used to being teached and that's what many employers expect from them, they want you to absorb some not so cool knowledge and get used to it without any questions.

Well, in general the hiring manager has himself graduated from University and therefore thinks that if you haven't graduated from University as well, you can't be smart.

Also there is some theory saying that to graduate from University, you have to be smart, and therefore smart people go to University to distinguish themselves.

I don't agree with everything, but I am sure that's how people in position to make hiring decision tend to think in general, especially if they haven't seen your code.

I would be more than willing to code for them on the spot (or even for free over the course of a week) - but I do however agree, there seems to be some prevalent notion that the only intelligent people in the world are those who went to university, which has some credibility to it, mostly, spending years studying does improve your mental capabilities and most mentally challenging fields require some level of further education, but I don't see why it has to be so, I understand that these companies prefer to hire someone who has gone to university, but the rudeness I have faced so far (95% of the companies I apply for never call me back) is more befitting of a bully, than of an 'educated' person who should know better.

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