salary in IT, how much?

salas · Post by **salas** » Tue May 04, 2010 6:24 pm

Hello,

New in finland, just got a job offer as a Network Engineer, for a permanent position.
Could you kindly let me know about the range of salary I might ask. (25k/30k/35K/40K a year?)

FYI, Master's degree in IT, 1.5 years of experience in the field, job in hki metrop area.

Thanks for yr help!

**Sponsor:**

dave071061 · Post by **dave071061** » Tue May 04, 2010 6:45 pm

You can ask for whatever you want, What you will get will be whatever the hiring manager has in his budget for the position.

Network Eng, anywhere from 2-4K per month depending on how senior the position and which company.

salas · Post by **salas** » Tue May 04, 2010 7:54 pm

thanks for your reply Dave.

International company: 10000+ employees
Position is let's say requires several Core Network and Linux skills / Testing and maintenance management.

Seeing the living expenses in FI, 2k seems a bit low for an engineer in IT, no ?

One can always reasonably negotiate the salary, budget can follow when there is need and potential candidate.

finlandforumuser · Post by **finlandforumuser** » Tue May 04, 2010 8:21 pm

http://www.payscale.com/research/FI/Cou ... and/Salary

PS: I am quite a long time in Finnish IT. The salaries in HEL is about 4k per mo for senior dev 5+ years experience. Dev Lead gets from 4.5 and above, 6 K is extreme but possible. For PM 5.5 is normal salary.

Also all this depends on your local experience, reputation/references, easiness of find replacement locally or in India.

finlandforumuser · Post by **finlandforumuser** » Tue May 04, 2010 9:02 pm

salas wrote:Hello,

FYI, Master's degree in IT, 1.5 years of experience in the field, job in hki metrop area.

Sorry, didn't notice your experience. Yes, 1.5 years - 2 k is max but unlikely you get the job, since there are tons of fresh grads around. It was (and it is) long hire freeze as results fresh graduates were not consumed by market since Oct 2008. Nowadays, it comes about 300 resumes per any opening.

paulrenn · Post by **paulrenn** » Tue May 04, 2010 9:21 pm

I think Salas already has the job offer - so well done for that!

Yeah 2K is quite little if you're not living at home with parents or something. I'd probably try 3-3500/month gross and see if they blink...if it is way out of the ballpark they will probably say so. Try to let them know you're flexible, in case there are other (cheaper!) candidates. If you're their preferred candidate then they should be willing to negotiate somewhat.

anas465 · Post by **anas465** » Tue May 04, 2010 10:07 pm

Im in the field too.
3K would be fair enough, go ahead and congrats!

mdn · Post by **mdn** » Thu May 06, 2010 3:16 pm

paulrenn wrote:Yeah 2K is quite little if you're not living at home with parents or something. I'd probably try 3-3500/month gross and see if they blink...

Yes, exactly. Ask to increase the offer by 50-75% and do not worry when they decided to choose more realistic candidate.

salas wrote:Position is let's say requires several Core Network and Linux skills / Testing and maintenance management.

If you think that these skills are difficult for anyone - a quote from Wiki: "In 1991, in Helsinki, Linus Torvalds began a project that later became the Linux kernel".
Be realistic, you are chosen for this position as a "cheap solution", if you try to significantly increase the received offer - it is better to do an offer to any of "300" competitors (with fluent Finnish/basic Swedish).

nismo · Post by **nismo** » Thu May 06, 2010 4:18 pm

I wouldn't get out of bed for 2k a month

Ah, just saw that your new to Finland... Fair enough. Carry on!

Being new and not having a great deal of experience is really the issue here. I remember when they always used to ask me if I was definitely staying in Finland. You could maybe negotiate the 2k starting wages and make a deal for around 2.5 - 3k after a certain period of time once you have proven yourself.

nismo · Post by **nismo** » Thu May 06, 2010 4:30 pm

mdn wrote:
salas wrote:Position is let's say requires several Core Network and Linux skills / Testing and maintenance management.
If you think that these skills are difficult for anyone - a quote from Wiki: "In 1991, in Helsinki, Linus Torvalds began a project that later became the Linux kernel".

Don't get this at all. Network and Linux skills require a certain proficiency and interest, as does most work. It is by no means easy. What does Linus Torvalds have to do with it?

salas · Post by **salas** » Thu May 06, 2010 5:03 pm

mdn wrote:that these skills are difficult for anyone

Nismo, good points you raised!

victorg · Post by **victorg** » Thu May 06, 2010 5:55 pm

Hi all,

I have the question from the same topic so in order not to create the new thread, will try to ask the question here.
Currently live in Denmark now (expat), work for IT company in engineering department in senior position. Have got a job offer within the company, the job is in Finland with a very good promotion from career point of view.
Spoke with my potential manager about the compensation, he mentioned that I would not get any salary raise (at least for the first time) as the salaries level in Denmark are quite high. And relative to the cost of living, taxation system etc. in Finalnd vs. Denmark keeping the same gross income level could be considered as an increase

Should I buy this point of view?
Speaking in absolute numbers -- my current gross income is 75K Euro per year plus company car. Is it considered OK? (position level is something like country sales manager -- I mean the proposed one in Finland).

thanks in advance for your inputs!

mdn · Post by **mdn** » Thu May 06, 2010 9:44 pm

nismo wrote:Don't get this at all

Main keyword there - 'Helsinki'.
Linux is well known for a lot Finnish IT students - and Helsinki's students work on Linux since 1991.
"Master's degree in IT, 1.5 years of experience in the field" - as I see most Finnish IT students with Master Degree have at least 2-3 years experience in the field.

mdn · Post by **mdn** » Thu May 06, 2010 9:52 pm

victorg wrote:Speaking in absolute numbers -- my current gross income is 75K Euro per year plus company car. Is it considered OK? (position level is something like country sales manager -- I mean the proposed one in Finland).

Is it salary or not? If salary -
Your taxes will be about 40%.

paulrenn · Post by **paulrenn** » Thu May 06, 2010 11:58 pm

mdn wrote:
paulrenn wrote:Yeah 2K is quite little if you're not living at home with parents or something. I'd probably try 3-3500/month gross and see if they blink...
Yes, exactly. Ask to increase the offer by 50-75% and do not worry when they decided to choose more realistic candidate.

Hmmm, this is all theoretical; it is not "increasing" the offer by 50%, because there has not been any such monetary offer, only offer of employment.

mdn wrote:Be realistic, you are chosen for this position as a "cheap solution", if you try to significantly increase the received offer - it is better to do an offer to any of "300" competitors (with fluent Finnish/basic Swedish).

By your reasoning, then 2000 euro might be too much. Better to try 1500, or 1000, those are cheaper, so more chance to get the job, right? Hell, it's Linux, he can work for free - only evil people take money! As an IT worker in Finland, are you happy to work for 2000/month, are you able to cover all your living costs, and still have anything left over at the end of the month? I bet your employer has a massive grin on his face every time you turn up to work knowing that you'll happily grab your own ankles for that amount, and consider yourself grateful!

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