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Another question:
 
Does the hourly billing rate have any effect on what they offer?  I know they bill out “newbies” (i.e landscape designers) at $85-95 an hour for most types of services.  Standard practice in determining these things is to triple what you are paying your employees right?  Obviously they’re not going to be paying us a third of…[Read more]

Yeah, I have been considering applying to other firms to see if I could get an offer and then I could relax a little bit about things.

Negotiating a pay rate is like making an offer on a house and applying for a mortgage. You need a credit rating and money in the bank. The more you have of each, the stronger you are.
Most importantly and not talked about so much is that having alternatives strengthens your position whether you are the buyer or the seller (employer or employee).…[Read more]

If all the new grads started asking for six figures there might actually be some opportunities.

Large engineering firms typically pay more in my limited experience. The trade off is working for engineers, lol.
 
Probably better to know your potential worth than always stuck with the mindset that you owe someone a favor for your hard work.
 
Just go for what you think you’re worth. I thought, and still do think I am worth a lot more than w…[Read more]

If you read me listing my skills as self-aggrandizement then that’s your prerogative, but it’s puzzling to say the least.  
 
I have read far more self-aggrandizement coming from you in a different thread, where people suggested you start your own company since you already do everything better and know more and find your boss so incompetent…

Where I worked none of the younger workers ever worked very much overtime.  Only occasionally to finish a looming deadline in time, but that was pretty rare.  However, the associates and partners worked 24/7 it seemed.  
 
There was a 3 week stretch where I was working on a project that required 12+ hour days, which I loved because it felt imp…[Read more]

Craig, I agree completely.  Looking at senior members I have worked with, they might not have the latest software experienceor be the fastest all the time, but they have *people* and *project* and *problem* experience – which is ultimately the more important skill set when push comes to shove.

I have never said I am not grateful.  I have also said that I am past the interview stage – there will be no interview, they told me they want me back, it’s not word of mouth.
 
It’s starting to sound like you don’t think I should negotiate at all and that you don’t think I have any reason to accept anything than what they offer me.
 
As for ba…[Read more]

Yukon,
 
If you do well for them, if they do not have many people capable of doing the work that they’ll have you doing in that area, and if it is as “out there” as you implied, there is no way that they will not pay you what you are worth no matter whether you are male, female, black, white, or striped.  Just give them a chance to see how you wo…[Read more]

ok well it’s good to hear they’re getting $ 40,000 out in California…after all the low figures I’ve been seeing on here.  
 
I think the difference in economic health between the two countries, the cost of living, and currency differences are skewing things here, and I am beginning to think I should be taking all this number talk with a grain o…[Read more]

I should add that the office is in a fairly remote location of the province, not a popular or populated area to live in so I think salaries are maybe a little bit higher because of that as well.

I was told I have a job if I want it, I don’t have to interview, they want me to come back…we just haven’t discussed anything in detail yet. 
 
Really I’m the furthest thing from a prima donna. It’s not like I am expecting/demanding that they listen to me, I was wondering if asking them something like this would be acceptable.  And yeah I ca…[Read more]

Raising the issue of pay is risky. Raising the issue of only wanting to work for certain people within the firm … fatal.

You’re last paragraph has sort of hit on a major point for me – I think I am trying to squeeze more money out of the deal here because I know that one of their main areas of focus (just because of one partner at the office) is not at all what I want to be doing for the rest of my career (in fact it makes me sad to be implementing projects like…[Read more]

Don’t accept anything less than six-figures 😉

I don’t know what the acceptable range is in Canada, but in the US a general rule of thumb for negotiation is +/- 10%~20% difference in numbers is the range when people are not offended (either being offered too low or too high).
 
I agree with much of those posting above:
 
1) don’t bring it up unless asked; and when asked try to have them make a…[Read more]

Here is my take on the reception! http://lenischwendinger.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/21st_cent_parks/

Thanks Nick!

Higher salary expectations are ultimately good for all of us in a sense.
 
It sounds like you have a lot to offer and a good idea of your true value to an employer. I would go with that, even over some published statistics, which are probably outdated anyway.
 
Good Luck.