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The short answer is, please first see my answer to the question,
would you consider full-time employment?
The long answer is...
$80,000 in 1996:
According to "Engineers' Salaries: Special Industries Report 1996, Engineering
Workforce Commission of the AAES, 1996, pp. 20-22", average engineers in "permanent"
non-supervisory positions, with both doctorate degrees and 10 years experience after
getting their bachelor's degrees, made $80,000 per year.
$103,000 in 1996:
According to the same source, in the same year, average engineers in "permanent"
supervisory positions, made $103,000 per year.
Every market is different.
I don't have a one-size-fits-all salary
for all markets, all employers, all states, all
positions, and all job descriptions.
My salary depends on what 'kind'
of work it is, 'where' the job is, and 'who'
the client is. My salary is negotiable
depending on current market rates,
expenses, location, and position. I'm
aware of what the current salaries are
nationwide, and expect offers within
those market salaries for the area. I will
negotiate with you on most items. But,
"negotiate" doesn't mean "give away"!
Negotiating leverage.
I no longer disclose my salary expectations in advance.
When I disclosed it in advance, I gave up my negotiating leverage,
and also ended up with relatively low salaries in relatively high cost of living areas.
It's never a good idea to give up negotiating leverage.
When I did that, I ended up earning 'less'
than guys working next to me, doing the exact same job that I was doing!
The math:
To figure my salary expectation, I use a simple formula.
If my long-term contract rate for the client's
area is X [$/hour], then I'll need X [$/hour] * 170 [hours] * 10 [months]
in the first year.
I use a 10-month rule, because 12 months minus
one month (for vacation, sick leave, and benefits)
minus one month (for risk) equals 10 months.
Your benefit:
You'll receive up to $30,000.00 cash, upon my hiring, in return for little or no work!
Why? Because recruiters are given a percentage of my starting salary! Thus, it's in
your best interest to negotiate the highest possible salary. This fee
sounds like a lot, but, amazingly, many customers will pay it, to save on the
cost of reviewing thousands of "wrong" resumes, and spending hundreds of management
hours on meeting the "wrong" candidates.
My loss:
Even if a "permanent" opportunity meets my minimum requirements,
sometimes my level of interest is still low, because when I look beyond
claims, like, "this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and "the fastest
growing company in the southwest", I see a large investment (of time and
effort) and a low return (of a relatively low salary of a perm position).
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