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Old 03-13-2017, 01:42 PM
 
108 posts, read 159,557 times
Reputation: 72

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Quote:
Originally Posted by oddstray View Post
But you (or your parents on your behalf) have been paying taxes, part of which go to fund UK health care, all along. So in effect you already have been "forced" to buy insurance, without even the option to pay the fine instead.

(And I agree that the US would do better to just go to socialized health care instead of inching in its direction with various ThisCare and ThatCare schemes.)
That's true, however like I said, by forcing me to pay the tax for the NHS I also get covered, however I do support people being able to opt-out of it.
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Old 03-14-2017, 09:05 AM
 
334 posts, read 360,953 times
Reputation: 345
Quote:
Originally Posted by aewan68 View Post
You are young and early in your career, so working for less is somewhat expected but keep in mind projected growth in career and salary. What area of the US would give you the best shot at growth and opportunity, are you career focused or just look at is as job and source of income to get by and don't have dreams of material things eventhough they may come in time.
This. As a grad in CS/Eng, san diego probably wouldn't be the top area on my list if I had freedom to go anywhere in the US from a career perspective. I wouldn't rule it out, but other areas have more options and better opportunities.

Also $45k for a bachelors in CS with 3-4 years experiences sounds pretty low.
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Old 03-14-2017, 09:29 AM
 
771 posts, read 832,562 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snpdragr View Post
This. As a grad in CS/Eng, san diego probably wouldn't be the top area on my list if I had freedom to go anywhere in the US from a career perspective. I wouldn't rule it out, but other areas have more options and better opportunities.

Also $45k for a bachelors in CS with 3-4 years experiences sounds pretty low.
It is pretty low. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I'm guessing he/she is basing pay expectations on their home country (UK, apparently) where many services (esp. medical) may not come out of gross/net pay and may be less expensive.
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Old 03-15-2017, 04:04 PM
 
108 posts, read 159,557 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snpdragr View Post
This. As a grad in CS/Eng, san diego probably wouldn't be the top area on my list if I had freedom to go anywhere in the US from a career perspective. I wouldn't rule it out, but other areas have more options and better opportunities.

Also $45k for a bachelors in CS with 3-4 years experiences sounds pretty low.
Honestly I'm not super career orientated and not very materially focused, but I have managed to make good money and so it's never been an issue.

As for the salary, the gentleman below is 100% correct!!! Read below for more details.

Quote:
Originally Posted by someguy10 View Post
It is pretty low. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I'm guessing he/she is basing pay expectations on their home country (UK, apparently) where many services (esp. medical) may not come out of gross/net pay and may be less expensive.
Lol you're totally right about salary... Here in the UK we get paid a lot less than the States... so I'm just converting UK salary to US. I knew there was a difference but I was being ultra conservative by saying 45k... perhaps it would be a lot more in the US.

P.S. (I'm a "he")
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Old 03-15-2017, 10:08 PM
 
480 posts, read 416,440 times
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You can pretty much survive in SD without salary if you have significant savings in your bank account. Assuming you don't have that kind of savings, $45k is doable for a single person. But excluding taxes, your net pay will be much less something like $30k.
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Old 03-16-2017, 07:10 AM
 
771 posts, read 832,562 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Opt_10 View Post
You can pretty much survive in SD without salary if you have significant savings in your bank account. Assuming you don't have that kind of savings, $45k is doable for a single person. But excluding taxes, your net pay will be much less something like $30k.
This is fairly accurate. Keep in mind that in the US, employees are generally afforded at least a little more protection than contractors. If a company doesn't meet its income goals, contractors are usually first on the chopping block. Also, if you are an employee (for I think at least six months) and get laid off (i.e., terminated but not because you did something wrong) you will probably get unemployment compensation while you find new work. If you are a contractor, you get nothing. Finally, employees often get perks like free money provided by the employer toward retirement, paid time off (vacation/sick), maternity/paternity/family leave, and subsidized health insurance. Contractors get no retirement help (since they are self employed), any time off is unpaid as is any leave, and they pay 100% of their health insurance.

For an IT support person with experience and a degree, I would expect $50K salary (employee) or more. If you simply take 50,000 and divide it by 2,000 working hours a year, you get $25/hour. However, given the self-employment tax previously mentioned plus everything above, general rule of thumb is that $25/hour needs to be bumped up by at least 50% to make it "equal". So I would consider $37.50 to be the bare minimum hourly rate I would expect as a contractor if I would otherwise expect a salary of $50K/year as an employee. Many IT people and companies that use IT contractors expect closer to 100% (ie $50K salary = $50/hour).

A number of companies in the US have cut staffing costs by releasing employees and them "rehiring" them immediately as contractors but without an appropriate 50% bump as described above.
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Old 03-16-2017, 09:29 AM
 
Location: San Diego
50,153 posts, read 46,811,218 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by someguy10 View Post
This is fairly accurate. Keep in mind that in the US, employees are generally afforded at least a little more protection than contractors. If a company doesn't meet its income goals, contractors are usually first on the chopping block. Also, if you are an employee (for I think at least six months) and get laid off (i.e., terminated but not because you did something wrong) you will probably get unemployment compensation while you find new work. If you are a contractor, you get nothing. Finally, employees often get perks like free money provided by the employer toward retirement, paid time off (vacation/sick), maternity/paternity/family leave, and subsidized health insurance. Contractors get no retirement help (since they are self employed), any time off is unpaid as is any leave, and they pay 100% of their health insurance.

For an IT support person with experience and a degree, I would expect $50K salary (employee) or more. If you simply take 50,000 and divide it by 2,000 working hours a year, you get $25/hour. However, given the self-employment tax previously mentioned plus everything above, general rule of thumb is that $25/hour needs to be bumped up by at least 50% to make it "equal". So I would consider $37.50 to be the bare minimum hourly rate I would expect as a contractor if I would otherwise expect a salary of $50K/year as an employee. Many IT people and companies that use IT contractors expect closer to 100% (ie $50K salary = $50/hour).

A number of companies in the US have cut staffing costs by releasing employees and them "rehiring" them immediately as contractors but without an appropriate 50% bump as described above.
Ya, pulling that contractor crap without a pay increase is serious bad juju but I've seen it happen. 50 bucks an hour is pushing 100K so I'd be ok with that.
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Old 03-16-2017, 01:25 PM
 
771 posts, read 832,562 times
Reputation: 823
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer View Post
Ya, pulling that contractor crap without a pay increase is serious bad juju but I've seen it happen. 50 bucks an hour is pushing 100K so I'd be ok with that.
Agreed that it's BS. I haven't seen it as much in IT, especially software dev, since in many places there is a shortage of good people and because that is a job well suited to remote working. Working from home removes the direct expense of commuting plus lost time, and incidentals like work-appropriate clothing and can easily be worth 10% of salary in my experience. Since contractors are supposed to be less structured in their work requirements (e.g., where/when they work), going contractor if allowed to work from home can be a big offset to the other negative financial factors.

But a support person like OP is a lot more likely to require being onsite all the time.
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Old 03-16-2017, 02:43 PM
 
108 posts, read 159,557 times
Reputation: 72
Quote:
Originally Posted by someguy10 View Post
This is fairly accurate. Keep in mind that in the US, employees are generally afforded at least a little more protection than contractors. If a company doesn't meet its income goals, contractors are usually first on the chopping block. Also, if you are an employee (for I think at least six months) and get laid off (i.e., terminated but not because you did something wrong) you will probably get unemployment compensation while you find new work. If you are a contractor, you get nothing. Finally, employees often get perks like free money provided by the employer toward retirement, paid time off (vacation/sick), maternity/paternity/family leave, and subsidized health insurance. Contractors get no retirement help (since they are self employed), any time off is unpaid as is any leave, and they pay 100% of their health insurance.

For an IT support person with experience and a degree, I would expect $50K salary (employee) or more. If you simply take 50,000 and divide it by 2,000 working hours a year, you get $25/hour. However, given the self-employment tax previously mentioned plus everything above, general rule of thumb is that $25/hour needs to be bumped up by at least 50% to make it "equal". So I would consider $37.50 to be the bare minimum hourly rate I would expect as a contractor if I would otherwise expect a salary of $50K/year as an employee. Many IT people and companies that use IT contractors expect closer to 100% (ie $50K salary = $50/hour).

A number of companies in the US have cut staffing costs by releasing employees and them "rehiring" them immediately as contractors but without an appropriate 50% bump as described above.
That's very, very informative, thanks again. I'm not sure if you work in IT or are familiar with it, but I'd be working in 3rd line/ sysadmin or a senior 2nd line role.
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Old 03-16-2017, 02:46 PM
 
108 posts, read 159,557 times
Reputation: 72
Quote:
Originally Posted by someguy10 View Post
For an IT support person with experience and a degree, I would expect $50K salary (employee) or more. If you simply take 50,000 and divide it by 2,000 working hours a year, you get $25/hour. However, given the self-employment tax previously mentioned plus everything above, general rule of thumb is that $25/hour needs to be bumped up by at least 50% to make it "equal". So I would consider $37.50 to be the bare minimum hourly rate I would expect as a contractor if I would otherwise expect a salary of $50K/year as an employee. Many IT people and companies that use IT contractors expect closer to 100% (ie $50K salary = $50/hour).
.
By the way, where do you get that 2,000 hour number from? I'm guessing that works out to roughly 8 hours a day? Just curious
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