Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with salary and pay

Pay for Flex?

drjimmy11 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:58:42 -0800

What, anecdotally speaking, are Flex developers getting paid right now in Los Angeles or a similar city? I have been to the salary calculators and such, they tend to come back with a number up around $120k or so- but I'm not sure how "real world" that is. I'm a Flex developer with about 2 years experience in Flex, and 10 years programming overall. I consider myself an expert in Flex/AS3 (have written my own framework, used all the major ones, can explain their strengths and weaknesses, and stuff like that).

I'm interested in knowing, if I put myself on the market tomorrow, what salary could I expect to find in Los Angeles for full-time? How about as a consultant? How high is the demand, really? Mostly just looking for anecdotes, but hard data is welcome if it's more specific than those generic salary calculators.

Thanks!

CA Labor Law: Salary to hourly demotion

jenmakes — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:16:12 -0800

CA Labor Law: A friend has been demoted from salaried to hourly after giving notice. Is this illegal? He thinks there may have been a law passed a few years ago banning a salary to hourly demotion. True? My friend was a kitchen manager with no hiring/firing power (in California); he gave notice last month and planned to leave at the beginning of August. Now with about a month to go, he has been demoted to his former position of Line Cook and his pay has decreased and gone from salaried to hourly. There has been no complaint against work.

The person taking over his kitchen manager job has simultaneously been upgraded to salaried and is in training for the new position. His boss essentially just did a switch-a-roo between the two workers.

My friend thinks this may be illegal in CA (possibly a new-ish law). If it is illegal, is there a .gov website that clearly states the law?

Going from full-time to contract work?

um_maverick — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:47:53 -0800

A friend of mine is giving his notice tomorrow due to long hours and high stress not being worth it in the end. He would, however, be open to returning as a contractor or part-time, with limited hours and role. How does this work? The friend is pretty highly credentials (masters in finance and CPA), with both "Big 4" and corporate experience totalling about 6 years. He's fairly indispensable in his current role, which just makes it more stressful. He's already tried to get some of the tasks off his plate (for over a year at this point), with no success, and the company, like many, is in a hiring freeze so there's no relief coming. However, if he could lock in 16-20 hrs/week, maximum, to do the truly important tasks, he'd be ok with that. That being said:

Is coming back as a contractor something he should offer while tendering his resignation, or should he hope that the boss brings it up?
It seems like in this situation, working part time could eventually lead to full-time hours at part time salary, and contracting would be a better way to contain the hours. Is that a reasonable interpretation?
Is it better/easier to contract directly with the company, or go through a third-party firm?
What hourly rate can one expect? He's in a Seattle suburb at a rather large manufacturing company (no, not boeing :)), if that helps.

Thanks all!

Bookselling salary guide?

Miko — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:14:45 -0800

I'm looking for salary guidelines for a job outside my field that I'm interested in -- coordinating events and marketing for an indie bookstore. So I just had some conversations with the owner of an independent bookstore. They're looking for someone to manage events and marketing. The goal is to take the bookstore from its current, basic approach to the newer model of community engagement, frequent instore events, partnerships, big author events, etc. The job would involve the event planning, working with publishers, marketing, managing a presence on social networks, etc. It will also involve serving as the assistant manager, the second of two fulltime staff in the store. About half the time would go to the marketing and events, the other half to bookselling and management tasks. I wouldn't do hiring or payroll.

The store is in an affluent Northeastern college town. The goal is revenue growth through increased event sales, and increased overall sales from newly-built customer loyalty. So there are some success measures that can be built into this job.

It's a newly created job; I would largely define what directions it develops in. I have all the required skills.

We're at the stage where I need to communicate my salary requirements to them. I'm coming from the world of nonprofit management, so it's not like I'm expecting hundreds of thousands; I already work for modest wages. But I'm afraid of both lowballing them, and coming in way too high, and I can't find any references. There's a baseline I need to make, but if I can beat it by a lot, I will definitely try. Does anyone have any idea what a job like this could command?

They want their money back - but should they get it? (UK)

almostwitty — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:31:32 -0800

My British employer overpaid me back in June 2008 to the tune of £1k. I pointed this out at the time, but never heard from anyone. Now it's December, and they want the money back. However, I've heard that I can contest this, on the grounds that the employer made a mistake, and that it's illegal to force employees to rectify companies' mistakes. Is this true? And what legalese can I quote? :)

What should I expect at an annual review?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:42:21 -0800

My first annual review is coming up at my first real job. What do I expect, especially regarding discussion about pay/raises? I am an internal tech support guy (with a few other tech-related responsibilities) for a medium-sized business. This is my first "real" job. (I've only worked in huge chain retail and restaurants and whatnot before this.) My very first annual review is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Seeing as this is my first annual review in any job, I just want to mainly know what to expect. What kind of things are we going to talk about? What will they say? What should I say? Most importantly, what about a raise or discussion over compensation? What is a standard raise, and do I have any negotiation power?

I really like my job, and my benefits are great, but I feel like my base compensation is not quite what it should be. I've done a bit of poking around on salary websites and have talked to a couple people in my field, and from what I've seen it looks like I'm getting paid probably about $6000 less per year than I "should" be. I think part of this is that, again, this was my first real job. The second part is that I'm relatively young for this job. Both of these things were made clear when I got hired as reasons I was somewhat "on probation," if that makes sense.

I have a really good relationship with my direct manager and the rest of the chain of command, and I don't want to spoil this by being greedy or seeming ungrateful. So what can I expect, and what can I do to best prepare?

Why does her colleague get paid more?

hatmandu — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:52:35 -0800

My wife has a salary review coming up. A few months ago a colleague doing the same job as her revealed his wage was £1000 a year more, though he has been there for a shorter time. Should she mention this in her meeting? Background:
- she's been at the company for four years
- she's going to be taking maternity leave in the autumn, but wants to return to her job
- the other guy does the same job; he started after her and took a year out, negotiating the current deal on his return
- both are good at what they do and liked/appreciated for it
- he's a good negotiator; she is not confident with that sort of thing

Is it sexism in the workplace? Is it just 'you get what you ask for'? And how should she approach asking for it...?

(I anticipate some people might say: 'Are you sure she's as good at the job, aren't you biased?' Let's assume for the sake of argument she is: the key thing is to help her negotiate upward!)

A year ago, gas was 2.70/gallon

Anonymous — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:20:43 -0800

My salary increase is less than inflation. I'm making less than the previous year for two years in a row now. How can I bring this up to my employer? Has anyone been successful in getting an emergency cost of living increase. I've cut out extras, decreased driving, and eating less food whether I go out or go grocery shopping. I'm starting to have problems meeting my bills. I am meticulous about where my money goes, but I just don't have enough of it anymore. Please assume changing jobs is not an option at the moment.

Can my employer paid everyone else overtime but me?

boognish — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:11:03 -0800

Everyone in my department at work (desktop publishing) is paid overtime except me (I'm salaried) and we all have the same job title and responsibilities. Is this legal? I used to be hourly but then was promoted to a salaried position about a year ago. Then around the beginning of 2008, my position was eliminated and I was placed back into my old department and given the same position as everyone else but I was never switched back to hourly. Then we got busy and I worked a lot of "overtime" that I never got paid for. Do I have to be paid hourly like everyone else since we all have the same position, and if so, am I entitled to the overtime money I should have received?

Am I being underpaid?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:35:24 -0800

Am I getting screwed by my employer with regard to pay? I really like my job. It’s everything I want it to be and my employers seem to be pleased with me as well and tell me they have big plans for my future. I’ve worked here for three years and though I started on a pretty low salary (considering my age, experience and university degree), I was willing to accept it as I had no formal qualifications in my field and I was fine with the idea that I needed to prove myself. So the last three years I have spent studying and taking exams. I will get the results of my final exam in a few weeks (I expect to pass) and then I will have a qualification which is probably the highest qualification in my line of work and highly regarded. However, ahead of my results, they decided to give me an unofficial promotion and basically pass the new job responsibilities over to me that I was promised once I passed all my exams (which I was very happy about, it’s what I had been working for).

We got our annual pay reviews today and I got the lowest possible increase that I was expecting. I was thinking in a range and the figure I got was the lowest end of my range. My boss told me that our parent company generally uses a 1.5% increase per year as guidance, and takes into consideration all of our benefits, which are quite good. He said that I had gotten one of the highest percentage increases of all the staff (10%). However, despite me having a university degree and now one of the highest qualifications in my field and having lots of new, major responsibilities, I don’t even make the national average salary. And I’m not in a low paying field - I work for a large multi-national bank in what should be a decent paying job.

I’m pretty confident that with my qualification I could get a job with a higher salary. I believe I could make at least 20% more. Can you please give me some perspective? It seems like a huge insult that in my 30’s and with the education and qualifications that I have that I would not even make the national average. I feel like I’ve had a carrot dangled in front of my face since I’ve started here and that once I gained all my qualifications I would be rewarded, and I don’t think I have. Well, I have in the sense that I have a lot of new responsibilities that I’ve been clamoring and working for since I started, but seemingly not the salary to back the extra work.

I have no idea how the whole process works and I may be over-reacting but I just feel hugely insulted. I’m hoping that someone who knows a little bit more about the process may be able to shed some light for me. If I am out of line, please let me know. If you think I should be looking for a new job, please let me know that too. I didn’t say anything at the time of the review - would talking to my boss about my dissatisfaction help? I have always gotten good performance reviews, my boss has let me know that they’re really looking forward to advancing me over the coming years. But they’ve been saying this since I’ve started and while they have done this (paying for training, giving me new responsibilities etc), I don’t think my salary has reflected this. Also, once the salaries are decided as far as I know they cannot be changed, so I don’t think it’s a matter of asking for more. Thanks in advance for any help.

Policy Analyst getting low-balled?

divka — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:13:16 -0800

What salary should a policy analyst working for a non-profit research institute in D.C. expect? The details: applicant has a Master's of Public Administration and four years experience working for state government as a policy analyst. He has to relocate to the D.C. area from a considerably cheaper area of the country where he is making $43,000 +30% fringe.

The employer is a non-profit research institute, sort of like the Kaiser Foundation or Urban Institute.

Just looking for some guidelines for my boyfriend to start salary negotiations as we can't any similar positions online with a salary range posted (ditto for salary.com--there wasn't anything too similar). We'd appreciate knowing what he should consider insultingly low and how high he can suggest without insulting them!

And what exactly is my salary??

Evan Gaffney — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:10:05 -0800

I am a full time college student right now and have just gotten a job at a bicycle shop. The problem is, I have no idea what I am being paid. When I inquired about employment I was initially turned down, saying that there was not any positions currently available. After some pleading and explaining my passion for bikes the manager entertained the idea. During the interview he asked me when I was looking to make. This question somewhat blind-sided me as I didn't want to give too high of a number and leave a bad taste in his mouth or worse, lose the job. I told him that pay was really not important to me and just working with bikes and learning was the most important aspect of the job. Long story short I got the job but we have yet to discuss salary I have been working there for the past few days and I still don't know what I am being paid. I do like the job very much. It's casual and fun and I am learning a lot about bicycles. What I told the manager was true about pay not being that important to me but I must admit that I am curious. So now I am in a bit of a tough spot. I want to get in good with the shop and show that I'm passionate about the work. I also know that I am in a probationary period. I'm apprehensive to rock the boat by getting into a salary negotiation that will make me come of like a greedy jerk. What should i do? How should I approach this? If I do get into a negotiation how should I handle it. I worked for five years at staples selling furniture (head of furniture department) so I have experience selling high ticket items, albeit not bicycles. I feel kind of silly in this situation but I really wanted to work at a bike shop. Should I just say the hell with it and see how it plays out? Money isn't that important right now, I don't really have any expenses, it's just going to be spending money. Should I take what they give me and show that I'm worthy of more in the coming months? Thanks in advance

What is the pay rate for an Information Architect in Seattle?

DCTapeworm — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:43:45 -0800

What is the current pay rate for an information architect in the Seattle area? Hi there,

I'm currently in the Seattle job market, looking for positions involving Information Architecture. I've had a few interviews so far, and when I'm asked what my pay rate is, I usually quote 45 an hour.

A fellow IA I talked to this weekend told me I was nuts to quote that low, and should start the rate around 55-60. The rate I was quoting was more inline with what a Junior Information Architect might be expecting. Apparently 55 is the norm, while 70 and up are reserved for Senior IA's who have at least 5-7 years in the field.

I've been to a couple of salary sites that are supposed to track this sort of thing, but I've found nothing conclusive.

Can anyone help me figure out what I should be telling contracting companies (or even human resource departments) what my hourly/yearly salary requirements are?

How do I negotiate for a better deal?

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 21:33:10 -0800

I asked for too little during the job interview. How do I push for more if I get an offer? I work in a creative industry where people earn more prestige and more money by moving to bigger employers, and this sometimes requires big moves.

I'm one of the top-two candidates for a job 3,000 miles from where I live right now.

I currently make US$27,000. They said they wouldn't accept candidates who did not include salary requirements in their letters, so I asked for $33,000. My potential-future-boss let it drop that the budgeted salary for the job is $36,500.

I'm pretty confident that if I get it, they'll offer me $36,500. How can I successfully negotiate for more money? I'd like to try for $38,000, for the fuzzy feeling I'd get if I found myself getting a 40-percent pay boost. At the very least I'd like $37,000. I will be supporting my significant other until he finds work, so more money will matter a great deal in the short run, less in the long run.

Also, I told them that I would be able to start 30 days after accepting an offer. Now that I consider the repurcussions of giving two weeks notice, taking one week to pack up everything I own here into a van, driving it across country over five days, and then only having two days to adjust to a different city and a different climate ... it doesn't seem like enough time. Any tips on negotiating for an extra week or two?

How much can I fudge my salary history?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 09:35:47 -0800

Relating to yesterday's credit check question, how do you reply to a prospective employer who wants your salary history in a way that's fair to your value? So many IT/Web type jobs over the past few years have seen pay rates chopped down. If they ask, and A) I know my former employers don't give out salary information; and B) they don't require some sort of three year old pay stub - then why can't I just fluff it up to my true value again? I don't want to get in trouble, but I'm sick of getting low-balled. There's no way I can let them continue to get away with this! Do you just lie? What's the system?

Boing! Boing!

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 19:15:32 -0800

The paychecks from my employer are bouncing. I live hand to mouth. Does that qualify me for unemployment in California? If I walk away from the company, does that mean I have quit and I am ineligible? Or am I laid off and eligible for benefits? The CA website is next to useless, and the phone number is consistently "busy" with a pre-recorded message stating that due to the volume of claims and calls, we need to try and call back later. What would you do?

Looking for a dull well paying job with good hours

b1tr0t — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:33:23 -0800

Since the cool jobs suck and pay badly, which less exciting jobs pay really well and have decent hours? Do you have to move to Nebraska? [please add comments so there will be more inside]

Going Permanent

amberglow — Sat, 13 Dec 2003 09:38:30 -0800

Ok, so I'm going permanent at this place I've been freelancing for 3 years (it's been a regular gig--2-3 wks/month)--I negotiated a good salary, and an extra week of vacation for the permanent position, but I've never ever liked being permanent and have always felt trapped. Any tips and tricks to help make it psychologically more bearable and cushion the loss of my freedom? a little more inside I'll admit i've been spoiled, but worked hard to arrange my life the way it was--maybe i should have just left instead of going permanent? I know all the people and like them, and like my work, but cherished my time off--I could travel, and relax, etc...Any Freuds in the crowd or Lucy from Peanuts, please help!