
Ask HN: What did I get into by accepting this job? - eaf2131
I&#x27;m going to be as anon as possible. I&#x27;ve been interviewing a lot, since I need a job out of school. I recently finished interviewing with a company in NYC. The job description was essentially for a fullstack JavaScript Software Engineer.<p>I passed the interviews. Before the interviews, I stated I was looking at $50k to $60k (come on, that&#x27;s not a lot for NYC). They said they&#x27;ll try to do their best.<p>Today I got the offer: 3-month contract (no staffing firm&#x2F;recruiter involved) at $30k&#x2F;year with no benefits.<p>It&#x27;s a late stage startup owned by a parent company. I&#x27;m accepting it, because unemployment sucks. But come on, $14&#x2F;hr for a CS graduate with lots of responsibilities is much less than I pay my barber.<p>Does anyone have advice on how I can make the most out of this? I really can&#x27;t comprehend how I ended up with this. There was a whiteboarding interview, so it&#x27;s not like anyone would be accepted. I don&#x27;t even know what the expectations are, when the salary is so low.
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cjbprime
Run away. Perhaps you're not aware; being a contractor _also_ opens you up to
paying an extra ~14% in self employment taxes. This is no kind of living wage
and you are absolutely being exploited.

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JamesBarney
Take it!

In 3 months you will have "Fullstack Javascript Software Engineer" on your
resume and it will be much easier to find a better job.

"$14/hr for a CS graduate with lots of responsibilities is much less than I
pay my barber."

I was real bitter when I started my career after getting a 4 year degree in a
CS from a reputable institution and was making less money than my friends who
were waiters. It only made me miserable so my advice is to let it go. Also in
5 years your barber will still be supporting his family on measly $20/hr and
you'll be pulling in 100k+.

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nostrademons
This is absolutely ridiculous on their part, but like you say, unemployment
sucks, and it sounds like you're fresh out of college. Accept it, get some
experience, put it on your resume, and keep looking for more jobs. Oh, and no
matter what you do, _don 't reveal your present salary to new employers_.

My first programming job (out of high school, not college, and it was 2000
when dollars were worth a bit more) was also for a $15/hour 3-month contract.
And then I doubled it with every job change, and it kept doubling far longer
than I would've expected, until money was no longer a significant problem. I
have friends that did similar - $15/hour webmonkey job to $75/hour contractor
to $100K/year salary to...well, lots. It's not unusual (unreasonable perhaps,
but not unusual) to start out like this, but you don't want to _stay_ at this
level unless you really don't value yourself.

Edit: Just realized that your contract may preclude you from taking other jobs
during the 3-month period. If that's the case, seriously consider not taking
it. You can probably get better offers in NYC even as a junior developer.

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JSeymourATL
> Does anyone have advice on how I can make the most out of this?

First jobs just out of school often suck. Mindset is vital: Understand that
your story has now changed from unemployed job-seeker to 'I'm a full-stack
engineer with a promising startup'...

Think of this as a paid practicum, get some forward career momentum going. Use
this time to practice your craft, add to your portfolio, and build up
professional contacts. Tough it out for 6 months, certainly no longer than a
year.

Also, stay visible-- start regularly attending local Meet-ups. That's where
you'll connect with hidden job opportunities. > [http://www.meetup.com/NY-
JavaScript/](http://www.meetup.com/NY-JavaScript/)

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avifreedman
If you want to be local/in-office vs remote work:

\- Ping Jon Lehr @ the VC work-bench \- Ping Kris Beevers at nsone, Zac Smith
at packet, and other local CEOs who are hiring or know those who are

Happy to connect you if you like - avi at kentik dot com.

And -

Question for everyone - is there a resource like Old Geek Jobs
([https://oldgeekjobs.com/](https://oldgeekjobs.com/)) but for fresh grads /
self-taught?

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angersock
_Get away._

> _It 's a late stage startup owned by a parent company._

Then they should be able to pay you more than peanuts--note that a single
quarter payment under that scheme is going to be about 7.5K pre-tax; which
you'll have to pay.

Get a job as a barista or plumbing assistant or something, because this is you
getting taken for a ride.

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natangelillo
Move to Seattle. We are hiring at OfferUp and it's a fantastic place to work.
Benefits and comp are great. Most importantly you'd be part of a fast growing,
well funded startup that's transforming local commerce.

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cauterized
1) Start interviewing for something better immediately. It might be a while
before something catches, but for many people, interviewing is a skill that
doesn't come naturally and can only be improved by practice. Your salary is
ridiculously low; there should be no reason for you to have any loyalty to
your current employer.

2) There's still plenty to learn in an awful, underpaid job. First off, of
course, practicing and honing your skills. Writing the best code you can
within real-world time constraints. Reading other people's code and
understanding a legacy code base.

Then there's logistical and interpersonal stuff. Working on a real-world team,
and how it uses an issue tracker, version control, etc. Getting code review
and learning to give good code review. Office politics.

In an office that's underpaying you that much, it's quite likely that a lot of
things are insanely dysfunctional. That's OK! All offices are dysfunctional in
one way or another. Learning to work around it is a good thing.

Just make sure that whatever the environment is around you, and as difficult
as the people are to get along with, you're still being excellent to them. And
try not to pick up really bad technical habits -- when you move on to the next
thing, be as open as you can to learning better ways of doing things.

3) Go to tech meetups and network. You want to meet both senior engineers and
people in engineering management positions. The former are great for
networking and mentorship (and often refer people they know to others who are
hiring); the latter are constantly hiring, especially those whose companies
are in expansion modes.

4) Ask your senior engineering mentors to do mock interviews with you and help
you understand where you might be running into problems with both technical
and non-technical rounds.

5) Research which startups raised a major funding round 1-12 months ago.
They're usually the ones in expansion mode. They're typically looking for
oodles of junior engineers to place under the leadership of a smaller number
of senior engineers.

6) Find yourself a recruiter. They've got clients desperately begging for
javascript engineers (as I can attest, having recently been in the market to
hire a front-end engineer), and it's in their interest to get you the highest-
paying job you're anywhere near qualified for. The better ones may also be
willing to help you practice non-technical interviews and offer feedback.
Because it makes it easier for them to sell a client on you.

Yes, some recruiters are the scum of the earth, but there are also a lot of
decent ones and a handful of great ones. If you've got a bit of skill and a
non-toxic personality, even the halfway decent ones will find you a much
better deal than you're currently getting.

(Just make sure that it's also a fit for you - obvious you want a salary
around market rate, but don't let the recruiter shoehorn you into a high-
paying position where you'll be miserable because of culture or other
reasons.)

7) Practice negotiating!

