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How can I determine a reasonable salary to ask for?

As a Junior Software Developer I don't yet know enough about my industry to know what kind of pay to expect (although I have an idea what people in my own workplace are on - it's a limited sample size). Unfortunately this makes it difficult to know whether I'm being paid fairly or not.

As I expect this varies heavily based on location, this seems to be a fairly tricky subject to answer with a Google search. So, how do I find out how much I'm worth? Is this simply something you learn with experience or could I approach a recruitment company for some advice on this matter?

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hmmm, although similar, I think it's kinda different. The approach to find one's worth will be different to the one to find out what a given company will pay. – Michael Durrant Aug 4 '12 at 12:59
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@MichaelDurrant Hm, although I agree with you that the questions could be interpreted differently, your answer is almost exactly the same as the top voted answer in the other question. Two questions getting similar answers -> duplicates. – Yannis Aug 4 '12 at 13:54
It is simple, like anything that you are selling; Your product is worth what someone is willing to pay for it and nothing more. – Jarrod Roberson Aug 4 '12 at 14:50
@JarrodRoberson is right. Stay at your first employer for 1-2 years and then switch companies. The more offers you get at one time the better you will see what employers are willing to pay to have you. If you switch jobs every couple years, you will see that number go up over time (likely much more than the typical annual raise). – coder Aug 4 '12 at 16:32

marked as duplicate by Oded♦, Michael Durrant, Yannis, Jim♦, Rarity Aug 4 '12 at 15:43

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1 Answer

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  1. Use web sites such as http://salary.com , http://glassdoor.com/ , http://www.indeed.com/salary

  2. Talk to recruiters. Reach out to them for a change.

  3. Talk to friends in the industry.

  4. Look at locally advertised jobs that give salary ranges with job descriptions that match your knowledge and experience.

  5. Join local groups, e.g. thru meetup.com and quietly ask the senir folks there what they think for a given level of knowledge / number of years experience.

Make sure that when presenting a resume, it has as many specific accomplishments and achievements as possible - not just a list of positions or projects.

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Can I talk to recruiters without having intent to leave (I'm more wanting to know what I'm worth to ask for at annual reviews at my current workplace)? Am I not then wasting their time? – ElvisLikeBear Aug 4 '12 at 13:08
Absolutely you can talk to them. They spend all day trying to reach out, contact, cold call, etc. so they would be happy to have that reversed. Obv. they will want to ask you q's and what you would like but good local ones can be very clued in to rates. – Michael Durrant Aug 4 '12 at 13:11

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