knock myself down

11/1/2010 12:07:29 AM

Quote :

"Benefits: Medical/Dental(deducted), 3000 shares stock(not public, yet), 21 days generic PTO, awesome company culture(beer/wine at work - usually after 5pm once or twice a week, go out for dinner, lots of company events, very young company)"

Just who I want to do business with, a bunch of drunks on the job, over/under on when this business will go under?

11/1/2010 12:46:05 AM

I have to say, the number of vacation days is pretty surprising to me. Most places you don't see 5 weeks of vacation until quite a few years in, at least you didn't used to.

11/1/2010 1:05:08 AM

^agreed, but i'm not complaining. I feel like if you're single with no kids it's hard to take off enough days for 5 weeks lol. You'll take off for random days throughout the year when all your friends are at work

11/1/2010 1:39:57 AM

Major: Computer Science
Job/Employer: SAS Institute
Starting Salary: It doesn't matter. See below.
Benefits: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/snapshots/1.html
Negotiate offer:
Location: Cary, NC
Hours per week: 35

11/1/2010 4:35:24 AM

I'm in that picture

11/1/2010 5:48:12 AM

yea, for me the 5 weeks vacation and our work schedule is a HUGE benefit for where I work.

11/1/2010 8:19:34 AM

I love SAS employees and their benefits package koolaid.

I mean, im sure its a fine place to work ... but there's not much you could offer me that would make me take 20k less than another place, assuming similar size company and job security.

11/1/2010 12:39:40 PM

^

+1

Quote :

" Just who I want to do business with, a bunch of drunks on the job, over/under on when this business will go under?"

you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, as usual.

[Edited on November 1, 2010 at 12:50 PM. Reason : .]

11/1/2010 12:50:22 PM

Quote :

"Just who I want to do business with, a bunch of drunks on the job, over/under on when this business will go under?"

We have beer fridays too now, and it's not uncommon to enjoy a beer in the office every couple of weeks at lunch or whatever. I wouldn't put my money on my company going under either.

11/1/2010 1:23:08 PM

i too have experienced friday afternoon beers at work

though it was usually accompanied by a message of "sorry we're gonna be a little late on your paychecks this month"

11/1/2010 1:41:00 PM

this thread is full of BS. Starting undergrad non-engineering majors making 60k+ and a bonus and 5 weeks vacation? This isn't Harvard. Notice practically no one listed the employer, which there is nothing wrong with listing a specific company if it has more than 250 people working there...

11/7/2010 1:33:12 PM

^eh, pretty much what I'm getting...



[Edited on November 7, 2010 at 3:14 PM. Reason : /]

11/7/2010 3:13:36 PM

^^ Ha, I actually got that impression as well. I chalked it up to (a) people most likely wont post their salary unless it's a good one, (b) the internet. I was personally psyched to 60k after my master's (econ / statistics) with no work experience. I work for a medium sized IT company and my only other 2 offers were from Geico (generic insurance analyst positions) that started around 52-55.

I'm honestly not that familiar with engineering-type positions so I cant speak to those, but, some of the more generic majors sounded rather high.

11/7/2010 3:31:27 PM

Major: BS Statistics 2006
Job/Employer: Statistician/NCSU
Starting Salary: $32k
Benefits: Standard gov't
Negotiate offer: no
Location: Raleigh
Hours per week: officially 40 but really much less

Major: MS Analytics 2009
Job/Employer: Analytic Engineer (I love that title) / SAS
Starting Salary: $60k
Benefits: Pretty good from what they say.
Negotiate offer: no
Location: Cary
Hours per week: officially 35 but really much more

Quote :

"I love SAS employees and their benefits package koolaid. I mean, im sure its a fine place to work ... but there's not much you could offer me that would make me take 20k less than another place, assuming similar size company and job security."

Shrug, it was by far my best paying option considering I wanted to stay in central NC.

11/7/2010 4:05:05 PM

Quote :

"this thread is full of BS. Starting undergrad non-engineering majors making 60k+ and a bonus and 5 weeks vacation? This isn't Harvard. Notice practically no one listed the employer, which there is nothing wrong with listing a specific company if it has more than 250 people working there..."

What the hell are you talking about? ITT, I found only one undergrad non-engineering person making $60k (not more; nor am I shocked that his major is Finance).

In fact, several people had the balls to post that they made less than $15/hour starting out.

Also, I did list my first employer. They have 175,000 employees.

11/7/2010 4:48:49 PM

Major: BS Electrical Engineering
Job/Employer: Army Officer
Starting Salary: With BAH/BAS, about 47.5k
Benefits: Lots
Negotiate offer: Bahahahaha
Location: OPSEC
Hours per week: 60-80. =(

11/7/2010 9:38:28 PM

Major: BS in Computer Science
Job/Employer: Software Engineer
Starting Salary: $52k
Benefits: 100% health (lots of options with different premiums/yearly max), vision, dental, life, 401k, 3 weeks PTO
Negotiate offer: No
Location: Centennial Campus
Hours per week: 45-50

11/8/2010 1:02:48 AM

Major: BS in Meteorology, Minor in Oceanography
Job/Employer: Weekend Meteorologist/KSWO-TV (ABC)
Starting Salary: $24k
Benefits: Vision, dental, life, 401k, 2 weeks PTO after 1 year of work, Cell phone and cable paid, deals/discounts with sponsors, clothing allowance
Negotiate offer: No, but negotiated reimbursement for moving
Location: Lawton, OK (Market #149 out of 212 TV markets)(1 hour SW of Oklahoma City)
Hours per week: 30 (6 shows, not including school talks, storm chasing, or covering shifts)

11/8/2010 6:41:59 PM

Major: Accounting
Major: Operations/Supply Chain
Job/Employer- Financial Analyst
Starting salary- $50k
Benefits- Automatic 4% 401k, up to 6% match (so 10% if you put in 6%), 5% bonus, (HSA match up to 100$ each month) 3.5 weeks vacay, 10 holidays
negotiate offer: naw son naw
Location: Downtown greensboro -
hours per week: like 35-40

11/8/2010 7:00:42 PM

As I just got hired yesterday...

Major: ECE
Job/Employer:IT security for a very big tech company
Starting Salary:56k + bonuses
Benefits:med, dental, 401k, PTO, flex work time, bunch of other stuff (which is why Im working for them)
Negotiate offer:no
Location:Raleigh
Hours per week: Fulltime/Salaried

11/9/2010 2:48:31 PM

^congrats! SAS?

11/9/2010 5:08:53 PM

Quote :

"ITT no one with crappy starting jobs has posted."

allow me...

Major: BS in Computer Science
Job/Employer: Assistant college bookstore manager
Starting Salary: $25k + bonus
Benefits: health, vision, dental, life, 401k, 2 weeks vacation
Negotiate offer: No
Location: Charleston, SC
Hours per week: 40 most weeks, 60-70 during buyback, rush

11/9/2010 5:49:06 PM

Man, look at all these people making $40-$60K! Yes, I've always dreamed of having my job and I love what I do, but I never imagined I'd be eating ramen 3 days out of the week.

11/9/2010 6:23:08 PM

^loving your job > making lots o' money. Cliche, but true.


Major: CPE/EE
Job/Employer: Electrical Engineer (Nuclear industry)
Starting Salary: $56k + bonus
Benefits: health, vision, dental, life, 401k, 3 weeks vacation
Negotiate offer: was offered $52k, squeezed an extra $4k
Location: Charlotte, NC
Hours per week: 40

11/10/2010 11:37:38 AM

I was stuck with this before I got a full time offer at IBM.

Major:Computer Science
Job/Employer:Application Developer for MCI/Verizon via some contracting firm
Starting Salary:$28.27/hour
Benefits:none
Negotiate offer:yes
Location:Cary
Hours per week:40

11/10/2010 11:48:54 AM

Quote :

"loving your job > making lots o' money. Cliche, but true."

No way. I'd never do a job I loved if it paid minimum wage. I'd much prefer being at a high paying job where I am content. That way I can really enjoy my free time.

11/10/2010 11:52:20 AM

^ Agreed.

I switched careers because I hated living on $1,500 per month. While it's not hard to live on that amount of money, it's also difficult to splurge on special things, like the occasional vacation or special gift for a friend. While work was rewarding, I wanted a work-life balance. I wanted to be able to do what I wanted outside of work, like go to the beach with girlfriends or fly home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It's nice to have savings and not live paycheck to paycheck.

[Edited on November 10, 2010 at 12:14 PM. Reason : ,]

11/10/2010 12:13:22 PM

^^it's nice when you can have both

11/10/2010 12:39:38 PM

Quote :

"No way. I'd never do a job I loved if it paid minimum wage. I'd much prefer being at a high paying job where I am content. That way I can really enjoy my free time."

Who said anything about minimum wage? I didn't say money doesn't matter. Obviously, like most things in life, it's all about balance. Taken to the other extreme, would you spend your life doing a job you absolutely loathed just for the money? Probably not.

Personally, I would gladly take a paycut for the chance to work on something I was a little more passionate about.

[Edited on November 10, 2010 at 12:52 PM. Reason : l]

11/10/2010 12:48:19 PM

there's definitely gotta be a balance.

I could work towards joining the upper management ranks and make untold shitloads of money if I was successful.

But, I'm pretty damn comfortable now, and I would not want to put in the hours that our VPs have to. I like spending time with my wife and kid.

11/10/2010 12:53:28 PM

Quote :

"Taken to the other extreme, would you spend your life doing a job you absolutely loathed just for the money? Probably not."

Right, that's why I said a job where I was content. Obviously if you want to kill yourself after work every day it's not worth the money.

11/10/2010 1:19:29 PM

Quote :

"it's nice when you can have both "

I suppose, but I'm always weary of people who say they "love" their job. I mean, I could find something else to do I'd like more than my current job, but I don't see myself ever doing anything 40+ hours a week for a living that I would love.

[Edited on November 10, 2010 at 1:21 PM. Reason : stupid phone]

11/10/2010 1:21:21 PM

^ agreed.

I "like" my job, but I don't "love" it, nor is there any job out there that I would love so much that I'd also do it for free.

11/10/2010 3:24:23 PM

ClassicMixup thanks!

Na. I think bigger. They deal with more hardware than software.

But ya, I think this job will be a nice balance with hrs and pay. Ive done crazy hrs before (sometimes have a habit of it) and will probably have to sometimes with this job, but I know Im getting paid for it, and can sit down and say no if it gets too bad. VP, you really cant short of finding a new job (and it wont be doing the same thing then.

11/10/2010 5:03:29 PM

Unless someone was willing to pay me to play golf 3 times a week, ski on the weekends all year round, and sit at home and work on side projects, then I dont think I will ever be paid to do what I LOVE...

That said ... I can enjoy ANYTHING that meets the following:
Pays at least 90k
Requires no more than 50 hours a week
Requires no more than 75% time at work actually spend working

Hard for me to see myself switching jobs considering I currently exceed all areas above, to my advantage.

11/10/2010 10:34:47 PM

Quote :

"ITT no one with crappy starting jobs has posted."

I'll post mine -- this is my 'first real job' and my current job. I don't get paid much but I do have good health coverage and I occasionally get to travel.


Major: BA in History
Job/Employer: Admin/Data entry/whatever for a small engineering firm
Starting Salary: $30k
Benefits: 100% medical/dental/eye coverage but I'd pay out the ass to cover my wife if she wanted to be included on the policy. We also get disability and a small life insurance policy. ~1 week paid vacation.
Negotiate offer: No
Location: Apex
Hours per week: 40-80 depending on what needs to be done.


I started here at $10/hour doing data entry the summer of 2009; it was all I could find at the time. That project ended and they kept me on doing basic administrative work, then put me on salary and bumped my pay, several months later.

Now I still do occasional data entry work (which makes me hate life) but sometimes I get to do cool stuff like fly all over the country to help some of our engineers in the field. Every so often, I get to climb cell phone towers to help with inspections, or help do rooftop inspections. Honestly I don't have a true "job description" since I do so many varied things.

Sometimes the boss brings in donuts, and if the company meets the weekly invoicing goal we'll have beer on Fridays around 4:30.

Being a small business they're pretty understanding if a personal emergency arises and you need to run out real quick, which can be nice. As long as you get your job done they're not really worried about it.

When I get to travel, the job can be fun -- otherwise it is a lot of bitch work. Hopefully my next job will be in networking.

11/11/2010 9:47:15 AM

bump

12/10/2010 9:03:07 PM

Major: B.S. and M.S. in Meteorology
Job/Employer: Private weather forecasting company
Starting Salary: $34,000
Benefits: 401k, medical, life, dental
Negotiate offer: nope
Location: Norman, OK
Hours per week: 40 (10.5 hours a day for 4 days a week)

12/11/2010 1:06:36 AM

when i graduated in 2005:

Major: B.A. in Communication & B.S. in Business
Job/Employer: Caterpillar - Technical Marketing (official title I was hired under)
Starting Salary: $50,500 (approx, I know it was just over the $50k mark)
Benefits: 401k with 6% match, medical (highly discounted), generous dental, yearly bonus, 2 weeks of vacation and +1 week for every 5 years of service (no roll over) and "unlimited" sick days
Negotiate offer: nope
Location: Peoria, IL initially with promise to move several times
Hours per week: 40, more or less


now:

everything is the same except the salary and location. the company has been pretty good about steady increases in salary grade and promotions but the last 2 years have been cut back a little because of the economy so i am making less than i would have, all else constant in a "normal" economic time

also i have had a company car for about 3 years which means i dont have a car payment, insurance payment nor do i have to pay for gas or maintenance. this saves me more money than i ever thought possible!! i dread the day i own a car again. i never want to own a car ever again!


also, just my personal advice for anyone out there still in undergrad or maybe even finishing a masters program... consider leaving NC. it can greatly impact your starting salary. i know many people have strong ties but you can always move back! if you start out low, you have a much larger gap to close over the course of your career. i'd love to move back some day when i have kids but for right now, i am over the moon about my decision to move the fuck out of there for a salary i couldn't dream of making in NC with the degree i had (durka durka CHASS and college of management!)

[Edited on December 11, 2010 at 1:26 AM. Reason : jdekjdfk]

12/11/2010 1:23:03 AM

Major: BS Mechanical Engineering (2009)
Job: Buisiness Consulting
Salary: $63,500 + $11,500 Signing Bonus
Benefits: Health, Dental, 401K, 5 Weeks Vacation, Life/Disability Insurance, Work from Home Sometimes
Negotiate Offer: No.
Location: Charlotte, NC (Travel - Can be 100% Depending on Project)
Hours per Week: 40 - 60

12/11/2010 10:26:13 AM

^what company? PM if you don't want to put it all over the internetz?

12/11/2010 10:52:47 AM

PM sent.

12/11/2010 11:17:18 AM

Major: Microbiology
Job/Employer: Paradigm Genetics / Icoria
Starting Salary: $33k
Benefits: medical, dental, vision, PTO, holidays, 401K, stock options
Negotiate offer:
Location: RTP
Hours per week: 40

I started making a lot more money when I got out of my field and got into sales

12/11/2010 12:03:47 PM

Major: BS Biology, BA Chemistry (though i haven't really tried to leverage that one much)
Job/Employer: Duke / Data Management for HIV research groups
Starting Salary: $14.50/hour+ (something like this, when i left it was at 15.80/hour) (34-42k /year about... after bonuses and such)
Benefits: deducted but pretty good, never paid more than $50 for anything really (other than nice glasses)
Negotiate offer: not really, but looking back at their spectrum bands i should have
Location: Durham
Hours per week: 40

I went back to school, (law school) to become a patent/IP lawyer, or something at least tangentally related that pays at least twice as much starting.

I think I'd probably like some sort of think-tank consulting more than anything. shrug.

[Edited on December 11, 2010 at 12:57 PM. Reason : bits]

12/11/2010 12:56:28 PM

Major: B.S. in Meteorology
Job/Employer: Private weather and EM company
Starting Salary: $12 per hour
Benefits: none
Negotiate offer: nope
Location: NC
Hours per week: Typically less than 20 (Have yet to find full time in the field 1.5 years past graduation)

12/11/2010 3:55:42 PM

Dropout
Sales
~$45,000yr (fluctuates month to month wildly)

12/12/2010 12:05:28 AM

Major: B.S. in Civil Engineering; M.S. in Environmental Engineering
Job/Employer: Mechanical Engineering company, but contracted out to a civil engineering company
Starting Salary: $60,000
Benefits: 23 days of PTO, insurance reimbursement up to $400/month; should become official employee of the civil company i'm contracted to at the end of 2 years.
Negotiate offer: yes
Location: NC (parent company is in NYC)
Hours per week: 40

12/12/2010 12:20:16 AM

2009 Job right out of college:
Major: B.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Job/Employer: R&D with a Medical Device Company (promotion 1.5 yrs later!)
Starting Salary: $48k
Benefits: 15 PTO, 12 Holidays, Health/Dental/Life insurance, IRA (traditional and Roth) with match
Negotiate offer: No way, not after a month of searching and my only other option at the time was an offer in Middle-of-nowhere, SC!
Location: NC
Hours per week: 40

12/13/2010 7:04:19 AM

bump

8/9/2011 2:42:12 PM