Hiring Software Engineers

[Ben Reece]

> You understood me.  If you want a good engineer you should expect to
> pay him more.  The guys I knew in college who I'd say were good
> engineers (though less experienced, as you say) made more than 40k
> when we graduated two years ago and housing and fuel costs have gone
> up a lot since then.  Some of us did, anyway, and we all deserved to.
>
> Unless you consider campus jobs and internships to be real experience
> (I believe it is) but generally nobody seems to think so.
>
> Thanks very much for posting the target salary though, I think we all
> appreciate that.
I agree -- I wouldn't expect to pay the low end of that range to a 
graduate.  We didn't want to exclude anyone (current students) by 
placing our starting range higher than they'd apply for.  We currently 
employ a student who's working on his degree part time and working full 
time, and he's done a great job, and is nowhere near the bottom of that 
range, because we recognize his skill as an engineer and his value to 
the company.

Entry-level wage (for recent graduates) software engineers last year was 
~50K, so I'd expect it to be a bit higher than that this year, as you 
point out.  You're right, though, that the higher end of that range is 
low -- that's my mistake.  Like Jesse pointed out, good engineers are 
well worth the money.  We're always flexible with pay when we find 
someone we like.