SW Developer - what salary to negotiate before moving to NYC (New York: rent, school)

[functionmania]

Hello City-Data!

I'm a Comp Sci graduate about to accept a software development position in New York City. I've gathered that living in New York City can be expensive, via Craigslist postings (ex. a share of a room going for $1000 in Brooklyn, a studio for 1500). I don't really have any qualms about the borough where I'd live if I move, but I'd prefer to live reasonably close to a subway station to avoid long-ish commutes.

I have bare-minimum experience in my field (zero internships, but some university research + personal projects), and graduated from a state school, so I don't really feel like I have much of a leg to stand on. If anyone has experience negotiating for a position similar to mine, does 35-45k sound right, or am I pushing my luck? Should I negotiate for more?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MikeNigh]

I think atleast 50-60. but don't worry too much about your first job, take a new one after a year (take your time to find whoever offers most) and just use it as a way to get moved into nyc.

[jeffcon0]

It depends on what industry of software dev, what sort of development you'd be doing, and what your job responsibilities are but 35-45k would be very much on the low end. 55-65k is closer to a standard starting salary for software dev here and it can often go up from there.

[babo111]

Originally Posted by functionmania

Hello City-Data!

I'm a Comp Sci graduate about to accept a software development position in New York City. I've gathered that living in New York City can be expensive, via Craigslist postings (ex. a share of a room going for $1000 in Brooklyn, a studio for 1500). I don't really have any qualms about the borough where I'd live if I move, but I'd prefer to live reasonably close to a subway station to avoid long-ish commutes.

I have bare-minimum experience in my field (zero internships, but some university research + personal projects), and graduated from a state school, so I don't really feel like I have much of a leg to stand on. If anyone has experience negotiating for a position similar to mine, does 35-45k sound right, or am I pushing my luck? Should I negotiate for more?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Living cost in NYC is expensive. Rent takes biggest chunk of your monthly pay along with NYC income tax (2-4%). 35-45k sounds is on low end and you'd be best to do some salary check online as high level baseline to negotiate.

That said. Good software engineers are in hot demand and honestly most places don't care too much about where your education was from. Its about how smart you are combined with experience. Better the school is known of their program, obviously better shot you will have at not being filtered out. However bottom-line is that there is a shortage of good software engineers in NYC and it's quite cut throat right now. Not to mention NYC is hotbed for tech start-ups again.

If you want to take a shot to get your foot through the door, gain experience, learn a lot, work your butt off, and then apply for another place to get the pay bump. Go for it. Personally if you just graduatated recently, think long-term. 35-45k is and may seem low to start with in NYC, if you put in the work and focus on your career. Hitting 100k in mid-late 20s is not hard as software engineer in NYC. But more than that, if you want to try your luck at start-up. That's feasible too.

Please note though, if it turns out that you aren't a good software engineer. Then it's going to be rough, while there is high demand for the role you are looking to be hired for. There is set expectation on quality and caliber of individual companies hire here for most part.

This is my two cents as software development project manager.