Pay for PHP devs in the Boulder area?

April 1, 2008 9:49 PM

PayFilter: I'm trying to get the "going rate" for a salaried senior PHP developer or similar web development position in the Boulder/Denver area. Bonus Question: Can I ask for a signing bonus or for them to cover my COBRA expense in the process of switching jobs?

If anyone works in that kind of role or knows anyone who does in the area, can you give me a ballpark figure of how much I should ask for? I'm living in west BFE Texas, and currently I'm making in the mid 40's. Using one of the 300,000 'cost of living comparison' calculators on the web, it says I should be looking in the low 70's ... but that's probably pretty far off.

I've got 8 years of PHP, 5 years of Linux Sysadmin, and a bunch of weird experience that fits this job perfectly like knowledge of how to combine PHP, Linux, and MS-SQL... and the job is advertised as a senior / lead position.

I just don't know what to expect, and if it's not high enough, it's really not worth it to make the move even though they're very interested in me, I have family in the area, and I freakin' miss snow.

posted by SpecialK to work & money (3 comments total)

a bunch of industry groups and analysts publish salary survey data that should help you calibrate. I don't know about the quality of any of the US surveys, but googling should point you at some ballpark numbers.
posted by russm at 10:08 PM on April 1

and while you're at it, complete a survey or 2 as well - the more data goes into these things, the better for all of us...
posted by russm at 10:14 PM on April 1

indeed.com has the salary survey du jour, but I think salary.com still does theirs as well.
posted by rhizome at 10:40 PM on April 1