Are Irish developers underpaid?

ChRoMe

dazberry wrote: »

Unfortunately not all experience is created equal.

True, however anything is better than nothing in that context.

Thats not to say I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy by the way.

COYW

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Seriously 19k? What kind of graduate is he? He should be looking to move if he isn't already.

Computer Science graduate, four years in uni. At first I thought it would be lower level support in a small team but he is going out to clients on his own, configuring mail servers, active directory work (setting up users etc), SQL Server admin (creating users, role etc).

He is getting ridden but he had to take it as a start. Once he gets a year under his belt, he will be gone in a flash. One of his colleagues, who started 7 months ago, asked about a rise in his six month review and was told that they couldn't afford it. They have put thousands into training them, apparently. The training consisted of one week at the start reading bookmarked online (FREE) tutorials.

irishguy

I would say Irish developers (java devs anyway) get paid fairly well by international standards. I also looked at moving to London before and I would get the same in GBP as I would in EUR in Dublin for a permenant java dev role. Contract roles and some perm jobs in the city would pay more than here at the higher end, but London is a good bit more expensive than Dublin. I would say your looking around the low 30's for a starting dev role now. Java contracting in Dublin now with 5/6 years experience you would get €400ish a day and save quite a bit on tax too. With 10 years java experience you would get 450/500 pd (up to 550 or more with certain companies) depending on how good you are as a systems architect

Sparks

COYW wrote: »

He is getting ridden but he had to take it as a start. Once he gets a year under his belt, he will be gone in a flash.

Having been in the same situation in my first year, I would really advise him to feck off at the six month mark and to be sending out CVs now. This whole "you need a year of experience so we get to bend you over a table for free for that year" business model isn't something I'd recommend buying into. If I could wipe that first year from my CV I would do so in a heartbeat for reasons I can't go into in public but which boil down to "it's just not ****ing worth it to buy into that notion".

Seriously, IBM's hiring, so are a bunch of other places (and the larger multinationals aren't as averse to new grads as you'd imagine). They might not be flash sexy startups where you can play with anything anyway you want to, but it pays a tad more than 19k and you do have the advantage of being surrounded by a lot of people who've been doing this for a while, some of whom are pretty seriously competent (yes, they're not perfect; feck it, statistics alone says nowhere's sunshine and roses all the time, but compared to what you're describing? Far better to be in a big soulless boring place!)

Manach

The multi-nats are hiring and are great for a structured way to gain experience and training but tend to develop into a very corporate worldview. Still, it is up to the individual how they wish to progress their career.

COYW

Sparks wrote: »

Having been in the same situation in my first year, I would really advise him to feck off at the six month mark and to be sending out CVs now.

I have seven years experience myself, as a software developer and I totally agree with you. I have told him so but he has this notion in his head that he needs to get a year under his belt with this company. He will have to learn the hard way.