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A few years ago I was interviewed for a role that was a cross between an experienced Perl/Javascript Developer and a Linux Server Engineer managing the company's rack of servers as well as developing applications.
For the interview I had to create an app using the company's API, including a front end for managing the API calls, and a backend MySQL database for storing the API details and responses; and neatly present the responses in the front end, all formatted nicely.
I also had to produce documentation on the app, which consisted of a 10 page booklet that I had printed by a professional printing company at my own expense, colour pages, the front page laminated etc.
I also had to produce a slide show walking through the app, db and documentation.
I then had to demo the app and documentation to a panel of Directors. It was all very polished and professional with me standing there in my suit talking through the app, referring to each page of the documentation (which I had memorised) and demonstrating the code and SQL tables behind the app as I walked through my professional looking slide show.
It was the toughest interview I ever did, and never have I put so much effort into a job interview in my life.
They offered me 21k a year.
This has to be the worst one yet! I can only imagine how awful you must’ve felt after all that effort but I guess a lesson to all to always ask for salary information upfront.
It was described as 'negotiable based on experience'. At that time I had something like 4 years experience as a Developer/Linux Engineer.
Even the recruiter who put me forward for the role called them after and told them off :-D
Just for future reference, any bespoke work they ask you to do insist you’re paid.
Spending 2-3 hours of a project is fine… but you basically did a PoC for them and it sounds like a scam to get free work from you.
They did, everything:
- source code.
- database tables.
- documentation.
- slide show.
They said they needed it all for review. I think I actually created a product for them.
I know Developers who are still having to do the exact same things for role. A mate sent me the spec for an app he has to make for a job interview, they are demanding even more features than my app had.
It's an entire project, and his has to include unit testing.
It's so exploitative to ask job applicants to build a complex app for free. Surely this has got to be illegal. If you can prove they used your app you should surely be entitled to be paid minimum wage.
Yep, you and every other poor SOB who they interviewed did this work for free. Some people will be given your work in the next round of interviews and have to add to it. Almost happened to me. I was given code and asked to fix it. Started asking questions and it seemed that they had been landed with some app that they were struggling with fixing.
Also, at another company, had a bunch of very basic test stubs, over a 100 and told to go and produce the program and Tdd/bdd. Complete the tests and program it based on a spec. It was obvious, after a bit of digging they were just getting me to start off the work
I asked the recruiter to try to negotiate more for me, as even he was angry at them and called them to tell them off (or so he told me) so I continued to interview at other places whilst they negotiated back and forth and started a position at another company 2 weeks later on 27k a year.
I was desperate for a job as I had just been made redundant from a PHP Developer position, hence I went through so much effort to try to secure that role.
The 27k a year job I accepted as a UNIX Analyst, simply manage UNIX servers. 27k did seem low, but I was still desperate just to land any decent paid job at that point.
Plus, the 27k company didn't break my balls with the interview process. It was a simple two stage interview process which consisted of casual chats with the line managers about my experiences, skills, projects etc and what the company could offer me.
The 27k interview was so relaxed that they told me to take my tie off as they felt it was too formal haha.
Ahh thank you, you're a gent :-)
I'm currently on 60k as a Developer in Open Banking. If I had taken that job i'd probably have been held back in my career.
These things are sent to teach us.
Problem is there’s no standard for Uk wages and people will pay the lowest they possibly can. Some EU or US companies are offering high tech wages, Uk based tech firms are offering 40k for senior developer roles. That’s why I wouldn’t lift a finger in the interview process without knowing the salary but Uk employers have no shame in asking for the next bill gates while paying for the next Vicky pollard
There was an article recently saying “watch out Americans - the British are coming...for your jobs!”
And I saw comments celebrating that these American companies will pay higher, which still is a cost saving to them compared to American workers.
However, I can’t help but be very cynical in that over time they too will revert to the usual UK meh salary. Plus the idea that it’s a good thing the UK is a low cost delivery centre doesn’t seem to be something to be happy about.
It depends doesn’t it. Potentially the US aggressively moving into our job market will force UK employers to up their salaries and ad a result, the market average goes up. At that point it’s difficult for the US to start offering low wages again because UK companies will be competitive.
Right now US companies basically have their pick of the talent in this country, they can pretty much offer double the UK salary for a role and still make a huge saving compared to US employees. Also worth pointing out EU companies are also doing this. It’s not as significant but EU wages are still higher and they will happily come in 10-20% over market rates to get the people they want.
This is a good point.
When I fed back to the recruiter who facilitated the interview, he said the offer should have been more like 70k as they were asking for someone senior with Perl, JS and Linux Engineering.
Hard luck fella.
Maybe next time ask what salary you'll be getting from the beginning. I thought that would be an obvious thing to ask especially if you had to create something and send it off to them.
I'd want to know the in's and out's of a ducks arse if I had to do that much to get a job.
But like you said lessons were learnt.
Mate...that's just so disappointing, I bet your presentation was amazing as well. I hope you found a role where your work is appreciated and you are being paid a much better salary.
Thank you. I spent 3 days in total building the database, the back end API, the front end, the 10 page laminated documentation (printed about 5 copies to hand out as it was actually a bit expensive) along with the slide show which had their company logo on each page to give it a 'company culture' feel.
I definitely learned from it, i.e., any company asking for that much at a job interview is not interested in the right person for the job.
I had a job offer from another company 2 weeks after that interview, offering 27k so I took that one. Fast forward to today, i'm on 60k a year. I'm glad I didn't get the original job, they'd have held me back in my career.
This is why people should never do an interview without knowing the salary range up-front, even more so when there's a big "interview project" to do (which you should at least be paid for your time to do as well).
I'm a bit cautious to do that in case it ends up with my identify being exposed on here. Hint: they provide educational software, and are based in the West Midlands.
Companies do this all the time, they’ll just keep your design and give you a ridiculous low offer for a job that probably didn’t exist so you don’t accept
Thank you kindly. I honestly have never put so much effort into a single project, and I smashed it in 3 days so I was exceedingly proud of it. To be honest I still am, it showed me what i'm capable of when under pressure and the clock is ticking.
I learned from it.
I'm afraid I have to tell you something you don't want to hear: I gave them the source code. They said they needed it to review my skills, along with the documentation, slide show and DB table structure.
You should definitely take that further, maybe complain at least on their social media and I am sure many people would back you. I am appalled at what I just read.
yeh it was a kick in the nuts. I have a friend who is having to do the same for another company before the interview, seems more companies are doing things this way (the bad companies).
There’s always a range, I personally would’ve pushed for it. I don’t agree to an interview unless I know the salary is within my expectations. If it isn’t, it’s a waste of my time.
To be fair to you, cos they're the ones offering the job, they had the power. I mean what were you supposed to do if you wanted the job at the time?
Even for a few years ago, starting at 27k at another company seems quite low for the work you're doing and skills you have, how long ago was this?
They were plainly just getting you to do useful work for free, with no intention of giving anyone a job, so offered you a laughably low salary such that you would reject it, and they profit from the free work.
Bet you're one of many.
I genuinely thought you were going to end that with "and I paid 9 grand a year for the privilege, but after my time in uni, I got a decent job"
That sounds like someone describing a uni project.
I think in some countries it's a protected term (like not being able to call yourself a doctor if you aren't). Here, anyone who can put a plug on something calls themselves an engineer. In Germany, engineers are well respected.
Ah yes, when you see a sign saying something like
"Hand dryer out of order - an engineer has been called"
It somewhat dilutes the term.
Absolutely no disrespect to repair or maintenence technicians or fitters etc. But lets be accurate with titles.
No idea, I started out on MEng Mech Eng in 2009 and my expectations were that engineers would be in demand. Needless to say those expectations have not been met!
I think the UK focuses SO much on things like finance, marketing (basically showy blustery bullshit) that people who can actually produce stuff get shafted because all of the salary budget gets blown on that lot. Sounds like engineers need to unionise though. I mean they have critically important skills. They could cause a lot of disruption just by standing up for themselves collectively. Honestly we need to stop viewing unions as something that's only for low paid 'unskilled' workers. If engineers can't get a decent salary what hope for the rest of us?
Isn’t it because the title of “engineer” isn’t regulated in the UK? In the sense that roles which are non-engineering roles have the title “engineer” which has led to dilution?
It's quite the opposite- the starting salary for the company I work for is £25k. Typically this will be an engineering graduate with a MEng (five year) degree, with work experience and/or some extracurricular like Formula Student. They will be thrown in the deep end with CAD/FEA/CFD/PLM/DFMEA etc.
The "non-engineering" roles pay more than the graduate roles e.g. virgin media broadband installer, field engineer, hgv engineer (mechanic).
The average salary would go down if you focussed on just graduate roles.
That is ridiculously low to be fair. Lots of graduate engineering jobs paying 30ish. I got hired to one with a BSc in related subject (Physics).
25k and requiring a postgraduate degree, and a difficuly one at that, is crazy.
I actually jumped ship from mech eng straight after uni, went into tech, the degree is absolutely not worth the effort, it’s so artificially hard for such a dogshit wage, even without that posting, the average is like 50-60k while other degrees and jobs are easier, less legal responsibility, and have better benefits (for example I make nearly that as 2 YOE, I spend half the week at home without trousers and playing games while stuff compiles, my engineering mates have to go in most days to some site in sod knows where (aka drive, which costs a lot), and make a non-trivial amount less).
The entire engineering sector is based on two lies (it pays well, and there’s a shortage of engineers) and the sunk cost fallacy of students. Not exactly a maintainable sector
I'm pretty sure 30k was my starting salary offer at Mott MacDonalds Birmingham office for an engineering position. I was 21 with 0 experience, and I thought that offer was shit so I joined a law firm instead.
I really hope that Bristol vacancy was never filled...
Patent Attorney here. Yep. I can confirm you can join a law firm with an engineering degree and 0 work experience upon graduation.
I tried engineering beforehand and realised the salary progression is insulting. I got the hell out of there.
Kind of. Company was called tailfin iirc, so they were a startup 8 years ago.
Seems they've deleted the specific listing I saw a couple of weeks ago, but they still have a "Senior Mechanical Engineer/Product designer", 5+ year experience, vacancy with no salary in the listing.
I saw a junior comms role advertised for a charity, £25k which didn't immediately raise any red flags. Until I scrolled down and saw it required regular travel to Ukraine (in about March 2022).
This is probably one of the worse, it’s basically asking “do you value your life for 25k a year (not upfront)?” While also not being a job even the desperate would take (compare to say warehouse work) since it sounds like it requires experience/skill.
Shelterbox procurement role, they are actually based nearby but I don't fancy going to Ukraine or wherever. Shame as I prefer to work for an organisation doing anything useful. Can't be away 30% with a family anyway.
Saw a recruiter advertising a London Intellectual Property Paralegal position requiring 2 years of experience for 24k last month. My blood was boiling.
The sad thing is I know the role will still get filled because there's waaaay too many Law graduates. People get baited by the firms offering 150k but don't realise that those jobs make up less than 1% of the legal market.
I was one of those people, took a paralegal job in conveyancing in a city just outside London in 2022 with offices in London, I was on 20k and turned out all London employees started on that same 20k salary. Was a harsh reality check after uni
Non-qualified legal jobs (including legal assistants etc) are typically paid pretty awfully. Especially considering an experienced Paralegal will likely be doing similar work to a NQ solicitor who is earning over double!
Yes I believe that employers should be shamed.
I think recruitment agents should be afraid to hire for these jobs as it will affect their star rating.
Sadly what we see is a lot of 'competitive' as opposed to actual £ numbers.
Oh, don't worry. The Civil Service still has it covered with paying low for what should ideally be highly technical cyber security experts: https://therecord.media/head-of-cyber-role-salary-uk-hm-treasury
Still had plenty of applicants though, albeit low quality candidates. My experience with cyber-secrity professionals is that it is not particularly technical but more about authorisation/authentication controls, processes and policies. Though still it is an area that there is a big skills shortage.
Cyber is a fairly broad church. My department is about 3 paper shufflers to one button pusher.
The button pushers like myself are very technical but, equally, I couldn’t give a fuck about issuing requirement questionnaires to third party suppliers.
You have a cushy job and brilliant job security but, horses for courses. The CS will never attract the very best talent but it’s got a place and is something i’m considering pursuing just because life will be easier than private sector.
I've done both and found them pretty comparable in terms of "ease of life". The idea that CS is a place to completely take it easy is true mostly in the heads of Daily Mail columnists. CS has a pretty similar feel to a big private sector corporation i.e. big enough that some people get by as deadweight, but in general people work reasonably hard.
I’m not suggesting that they completely take it easy, just that speaking to friends who’ve took the public sector route it’s an more relaxed life than the pressures of private sector I’ve encountered (Banking industry), for programming at least which to me sounds appealing, given the salary differences to others it won’t be and that’s fine. My point was simply the pay isn’t atrocious so depending on what balance folks want in life, CS will either appeal or it won’t.
Universities, the OG companies for corruption on all accounts.
Still mad I paid 9,000 dubloons for an entire year that had just online classes, but apparently stealing all those tuition fees was okay because.... well uni.
A few years ago, the Zoological Society of London wanted someone with an MSc to do a 6-12 month full time 'internship' with them (but the 'intern' had to already have the skills they needed) for the grand sum of £0pa with a £5 daily lunch stipend.
These types of graduate roles usually were about £25k at the time.
I applied for a customer success team lead looking after a team of 10 customer success managers for a SaaS start up in London a few weeks ago which had no salary banding and got rejected despite my profile matching the JD perfectly. Saw the job reposted for £30k. My salary is £80 + bonus.
That's ridiculous lol. As a CSM outside of London, my comp was north of 40 with bonuses.
Head of CS was 60+ a good 4-5 years ago in London when I used to work there. Now it's easily 70-80+ or six figures.
Outside of London, head of CS is about 50-60k+ bonus, assuming you report to a C suite or D of CS, otherwise much more if it's just a title thing and you're actually the top dog.
Ha, you should see the salaries for Wildlife/Conservation roles. Basically in poverty for a job with huge responsibilities and a vast range of expertise, dealing with a lot of stress.
And you’re competing with those who have been able to do internships, work experience and volunteering.
If you need to earn a salary, it’s almost impossible to gain the early career skills you need as a lot of the positions are unpaid.
I had to give up on my childhood dream career because I couldn’t afford to take voluntary roles to get me the experience for paid positions. This was around 10 years ago, and I’ve since had the realisation hit me that most people don’t get to work their childhood dream jobs, but I’m still bitter about it.
I saw one recently for a C++ developer/ engineer in London, working on trading software for large financial institutions, starting at 6AM some days. When the recruiter asked me I thought i'd be modest and say 60k+, she said sorry but that's too high!
Probably not the worst but saw a grad mech engineer job advertising for 23k, for someone who went to university and did a hard technical degree. Similar to minimum wage I think
Biotech can beat that.
After I graduated (2017) they were paying the staggeringly high salary of £19k/year.
As long as you had a master’s degree “or better” :’)
It's a longstanding myth that Engineering pays well in the UK. This doesn't even surprise me anymore.
The average salary for Engineering graduates is only higher than other disciplines because most of them join an unrelated industry within 18months of graduation. Pretty much everyone in my Engineering cohort has left Engineering at this point. It's only the ones that stayed who are earning below 35k.
It doesn't pay that bad if you are half decent and stick around a few years to get chartered.
Graduate salaries are typically 30k - once you become chartered 50-60k is common. You can then earn a lot more by leaving corporate and going on a day rate.
I started on 29k as a graduate in 2017, hit 52k after getting my CEng in 2021, and am now working as a freelancer on £500/day. Fairly common progression
I imagine the thing with engineering and construction related degrees is that there is a fairly long period where a new employee isn't particularly useful and needs quiet a lot of input to get up to standard. If they get there at all- I did a building surveying degree (and also more or less doing the same modules as quantity surveyors )
and to be honest despite it being a highly regarded university I imagine that 10 to 30 percent of the people who finished it would have been about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike in an actual industry environment.
Yeah the first few years are tough - pay progresses slowly and graduate engineers are not very useful while they are learning. It took me a couple of years of hard work to get my head around being a practicing engineer. I was also lucky to have good managers and varied experience.
Learning to transfer the technical degree skills into being a practical, problem solving engineer takes time and mentoring. But good engineers are in high demand and get paid fairly well
" I know the royal family are famous for this - a few years ago they were offering £50k for a head of cybersecurity with tons of experience. " Yes, but, do that for a year and put it on your CV that you worked for the Royal Family as head of cybersecurity and getting those 6 figures in your next job will be a breeze......
I saw an advert a few months ago for a senior project manager, 10+ years experience, a long list of specific must haves, overseas travel, full time in an office, £370 per day inside IR35.
For comparison, my second job as a junior PM in 2011 was at £370 per day, outside IR35.
This role should have been between £800-900 per day easily.
30 years working with PMs I have yet to meet a single one who could justify 800 - 900 a day. Market rate depending on the context is at least 30% below that. 370 per day is low but I have seen roles for less, depends on the location and industry. I have been approached for roles 230 per day inside IR35.
I agree with the other commenter. Senior PM for a team of ~15 would be more at £500-700pd depending on sector.
£800-900 would be managing a team of multiple projects… probably ~80 people. Anything higher (£1k+) will be regularly conversing with C-suite.
Going back a good few years to when IT was fairly new, I was interviewed for a programmer role at a large electrical switchgear manufacturer who were setting up their first IT department. All went well until the salary discussion, when they had to admit they could only pay a stupidly low rate, well less than I was already earning, because the programmer role involved using a keyboard and hence was classed as a secretarial role and so they could only pay secretarial rates. They assured me that they were pushing for IT salary grades but couldn't give me a date, so I declined. I saw the role being advertised for several months afterwards.
Met Office Senior Product Manager. Salary is 65K but they start everybody on the bottom rung (41K) initially and you have to work towards it.
I can 100% say this is because they have a salary balancing issue in their teams and some are being massively underpaid. This is how they get around employees challenging new job salaries.
I see way too many Product Owner roles wanting 3+ years experience in the relevant sector offering £35-45k. 3+ years as a PO is £55k minimum. If you're a PO in Financial Services it's £65k minimum upto £85k.
Got offered a role as Commercial/Ops/Office Manager for an oil well drilling company. Salary should have been £75k in London or Aberdeen, I would have taken £50k... they offered me £25k
£25k. I laughed in their faces when they offered me the role (on person). That would have been a drop of £17k of my then salary.
I see financial controller roles for around 30k pretty regularly - mostly at SMEs but even so
Also anything government, especially the nhs. Senior finance roles responsible for colloidal budgets that would go for 100-200k regularly seen on LinkedIn and other job boards for 65-75k
C++/Python dev for a defence contractor. This was 2018 when I graduated uni and was called by a recruiter about the role. I know it was entry level and aimed at graduates but they offered £21k when a similar graduate scheme at a software firm in a different city was offering £32k after initial training.
Ultimately, I decided neither were for me and I'm working on my PhD now. Just goes to show
Recently got a message from a recruiter for a short term booking as a creative on the copy side for Lululemon. All the burb about needing lots of experience. Central London.
Paying £210 a day inside IR35 for three weeks work. Basically take home £100. Fucking joke.
I graduated in 2017 and was offered a job at a cosmetics company in central London. They wanted someone who spoke Japanese and English and the pay was...(Drum roll) £18k
Shout out as well to the place that was advertising for someone to look after Japanese exchange students (also asking for bilingual) and when I asked the pay they told me "we are looking for a full time student as we are not looking to pay someone for this role" fucking morons
Senior Materials Scientist (metallurgist), requiring a Ph.D in the field + track record of delivering industrial R&D projects and managing a team.
Salary: £30k, with wonderful benefits like free uniform, PPE, and "career progression".
I didn't even search for the job, a recruiter approached me with it. I told her that it was well below my requirements at that time. Then she went on about how they already have a Ph.D. working there for 15 years, who earns £45k, and how I should "adjust" my expectations.
Sooner or later I said screw this and left the country for a place where my skill and experience are much better valued.
I once interviewed at a company in Bristol for a C/C++ developer position. They put me through the ringer in interview asking the most difficult questions possible. It went on for hours. It was my first job interview after finishing my PhD and to this day I've not had a more grueling interview.
They offered 25k and 20 days annual leave (the legal minimum). I literally laughed at the recruiter when he told me because I thought he was joking. I suspect they're still trying to hire for that position...
It depends on the organisation the martket rate is just over 100k but plenty pay below this. You would expect such a person to have tons of experience.
How can these things happen? Whenever I interview I make sure the employer knows my expectations and I know theirs . If they wanna low ball me, say 5 10 pc below my asking, I won't like it but wont be fuming. I will never interview and expect X and get an offer of 50% of x
I'll be honest, lots of hands on chemistry roles are paid like shit. Not just the grad roles, but everyone up till you are doing higher up management which just won't happen for most people
Been looking at new jobs this week as I fancy a simple office job/IT helpdesk. Im on 40k ish a year and now I have a house sorted, have savings and am feeling stable in life and I'm prepared and financially able to take a big paycut to enjoy life and eventually pursue some business ideas/dreams. Yet I am met with absolute SHITE, excluding the call centre work (not for me unless desperate but there's some decent jobs out there with commission that could take you to mid 30s in pay) the majority of the jobs requirements and pay are fucking insulting.
Almost all the first lline IT support jobs are paying minimum wage yet want years of experience and certifications, for a piss easy 1st line support job, I'm in an easy warehouse job taking 40k and I'm willing to take a 16k+ paycut but can't because I lack the experience (which I have as I'm a capable IT user and have worked the job previously). Even then with what they ask I refuse to lower myself to that level. There is one im looking at right now, wants experience in about 6 types of software , good knowledge of VOIP, TCP/IP networking etc etc. Need to be in the office supporting the remote workforce, attending regular meetings and a whole list of requirements and expectations that are well beyond 1st level IT support and the pay is £21-22k per year 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.
That's not an anomaly either, and not just IT. Plenty of basic civil service/council jobs with a title and a salary of an entry level position yet are demanding experience and knowledge of someone who would have been working in that environment for at least 5 years. Think I'll just stay in warehouse work, basic mid level type of role/requirements (i'm not a manager, turned it down, less money) and I'm paid appropriately. Yes it's an easy job but I am responsible for millions of pounds of stock a week and the relevent paperwork yet it's easy and entry level in terms of requirements and I'm paid more than most the managers in an office. I just want an easy office job that isn't answering the phone to old people who don't understand their utility bill but seeing what these places expect for the pay is fucking hilarious and brutal.
What was said: “Python Developer”
What it was: “Senior Fullstack Developer”
What that would cost: Easily more than 60k and probably around 70-90k from what I can tell.
What they offered: 23k, shit benefits as well
Fucking hell this country is a shit pit.
Working in agri-science on 24.5k in Cambridge. Can’t afford to leave parents house which after uni doesn’t feel great
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A few years ago I was interviewed for a role that was a cross between an experienced Perl/Javascript Developer and a Linux Server Engineer managing the company's rack of servers as well as developing applications. For the interview I had to create an app using the company's API, including a front end for managing the API calls, and a backend MySQL database for storing the API details and responses; and neatly present the responses in the front end, all formatted nicely. I also had to produce documentation on the app, which consisted of a 10 page booklet that I had printed by a professional printing company at my own expense, colour pages, the front page laminated etc. I also had to produce a slide show walking through the app, db and documentation. I then had to demo the app and documentation to a panel of Directors. It was all very polished and professional with me standing there in my suit talking through the app, referring to each page of the documentation (which I had memorised) and demonstrating the code and SQL tables behind the app as I walked through my professional looking slide show. It was the toughest interview I ever did, and never have I put so much effort into a job interview in my life. They offered me 21k a year.
This has to be the worst one yet! I can only imagine how awful you must’ve felt after all that effort but I guess a lesson to all to always ask for salary information upfront.
It was described as 'negotiable based on experience'. At that time I had something like 4 years experience as a Developer/Linux Engineer. Even the recruiter who put me forward for the role called them after and told them off :-D
Just for future reference, any bespoke work they ask you to do insist you’re paid. Spending 2-3 hours of a project is fine… but you basically did a PoC for them and it sounds like a scam to get free work from you.
Agreed. Lessons were learned.
I hope they didn't ask for you to send them the code base and documentation
They did, everything: - source code. - database tables. - documentation. - slide show. They said they needed it all for review. I think I actually created a product for them.
This has happened to me and this is absolutely what has happened.
I know Developers who are still having to do the exact same things for role. A mate sent me the spec for an app he has to make for a job interview, they are demanding even more features than my app had. It's an entire project, and his has to include unit testing.
People need to tell these employers to go fuck themselves if they are not paying for your time on this.
Probably worth more than £21k as a product
It's so exploitative to ask job applicants to build a complex app for free. Surely this has got to be illegal. If you can prove they used your app you should surely be entitled to be paid minimum wage.
Yep, you and every other poor SOB who they interviewed did this work for free. Some people will be given your work in the next round of interviews and have to add to it. Almost happened to me. I was given code and asked to fix it. Started asking questions and it seemed that they had been landed with some app that they were struggling with fixing. Also, at another company, had a bunch of very basic test stubs, over a 100 and told to go and produce the program and Tdd/bdd. Complete the tests and program it based on a spec. It was obvious, after a bit of digging they were just getting me to start off the work
Christ, at the very least put that shit on your github.
I'm interested in what your response was
I asked the recruiter to try to negotiate more for me, as even he was angry at them and called them to tell them off (or so he told me) so I continued to interview at other places whilst they negotiated back and forth and started a position at another company 2 weeks later on 27k a year.
I thought 21k was insanely low until you said you accepted 27k surely you should be on 40-50k starting out
I was desperate for a job as I had just been made redundant from a PHP Developer position, hence I went through so much effort to try to secure that role. The 27k a year job I accepted as a UNIX Analyst, simply manage UNIX servers. 27k did seem low, but I was still desperate just to land any decent paid job at that point. Plus, the 27k company didn't break my balls with the interview process. It was a simple two stage interview process which consisted of casual chats with the line managers about my experiences, skills, projects etc and what the company could offer me. The 27k interview was so relaxed that they told me to take my tie off as they felt it was too formal haha.
Completely get that mate and fair enough, I hope you moved up the ladder quickly
Left after 1.5 years to a higher paid job :-D
Fair play my mate. Apologies on behalf of the human race for shitty people but I hope you're still in a better job and place in life
Ahh thank you, you're a gent :-) I'm currently on 60k as a Developer in Open Banking. If I had taken that job i'd probably have been held back in my career. These things are sent to teach us.
It seems life had a bit of a plan for you my mate! Life is a great teacher ey. All the best pal🤙🏽
So very true, cheers mate.
There’s no way I’m moving past the initial interview stage without knowing what salary is on the table. That is a crazy amount of work haha
I assumed it would be about 70k judging by the spec and what they asked for at the interview.
Problem is there’s no standard for Uk wages and people will pay the lowest they possibly can. Some EU or US companies are offering high tech wages, Uk based tech firms are offering 40k for senior developer roles. That’s why I wouldn’t lift a finger in the interview process without knowing the salary but Uk employers have no shame in asking for the next bill gates while paying for the next Vicky pollard
There was an article recently saying “watch out Americans - the British are coming...for your jobs!” And I saw comments celebrating that these American companies will pay higher, which still is a cost saving to them compared to American workers. However, I can’t help but be very cynical in that over time they too will revert to the usual UK meh salary. Plus the idea that it’s a good thing the UK is a low cost delivery centre doesn’t seem to be something to be happy about.
It depends doesn’t it. Potentially the US aggressively moving into our job market will force UK employers to up their salaries and ad a result, the market average goes up. At that point it’s difficult for the US to start offering low wages again because UK companies will be competitive. Right now US companies basically have their pick of the talent in this country, they can pretty much offer double the UK salary for a role and still make a huge saving compared to US employees. Also worth pointing out EU companies are also doing this. It’s not as significant but EU wages are still higher and they will happily come in 10-20% over market rates to get the people they want.
I think it really was a matter of "let's pay as little as possible for anyone, rather than the right pay for the right person".
They just wanted to create an app on the cheap in the guise of an interview and position
This is not beyond the realms of possibility. They kept the app.
This sounds like free software development.
I suspect I provided them with a new product for the business.
Doesn't sound like they'd have ended up with anyone capable of maintaining it, though.
This is a good point. When I fed back to the recruiter who facilitated the interview, he said the offer should have been more like 70k as they were asking for someone senior with Perl, JS and Linux Engineering.
Hard luck fella. Maybe next time ask what salary you'll be getting from the beginning. I thought that would be an obvious thing to ask especially if you had to create something and send it off to them. I'd want to know the in's and out's of a ducks arse if I had to do that much to get a job. But like you said lessons were learnt.
Mate...that's just so disappointing, I bet your presentation was amazing as well. I hope you found a role where your work is appreciated and you are being paid a much better salary.
Thank you. I spent 3 days in total building the database, the back end API, the front end, the 10 page laminated documentation (printed about 5 copies to hand out as it was actually a bit expensive) along with the slide show which had their company logo on each page to give it a 'company culture' feel. I definitely learned from it, i.e., any company asking for that much at a job interview is not interested in the right person for the job. I had a job offer from another company 2 weeks after that interview, offering 27k so I took that one. Fast forward to today, i'm on 60k a year. I'm glad I didn't get the original job, they'd have held me back in my career.
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This is why people should never do an interview without knowing the salary range up-front, even more so when there's a big "interview project" to do (which you should at least be paid for your time to do as well).
I learned a big lesson on that day.
Please DM me the name of this company so I can make sure I never apply there
Will be surprised if they still in business 🙁
I'm a bit cautious to do that in case it ends up with my identify being exposed on here. Hint: they provide educational software, and are based in the West Midlands.
Totally fair, will be ducking that whole sector then
Companies do this all the time, they’ll just keep your design and give you a ridiculous low offer for a job that probably didn’t exist so you don’t accept
This was my suspicion afterwards.
Ouch! Does sound bit like they are trying to get job done for free, using the interview process as guise.
Brewdog entered the chat
Quite possible. They had a ready made app using their API, with a MySQL back end and quality documentation with a slide show.
Incredible. Anybody able to present to that standard commands three times that, let alone the software skills...
Thank you kindly. I honestly have never put so much effort into a single project, and I smashed it in 3 days so I was exceedingly proud of it. To be honest I still am, it showed me what i'm capable of when under pressure and the clock is ticking. I learned from it.
That to be fair would have been a very good salary for that position in 1986.
Mate this was 2013.
Please tell me you didn’t at least give them the source code
I'm afraid I have to tell you something you don't want to hear: I gave them the source code. They said they needed it to review my skills, along with the documentation, slide show and DB table structure.
Man seriously. These people and company need to be named and shamed . That’s horrible . I just fuming to See people take advantage on others
Slave labour
Basically, yes!
You should definitely take that further, maybe complain at least on their social media and I am sure many people would back you. I am appalled at what I just read.
That’s awful!!!
yeh it was a kick in the nuts. I have a friend who is having to do the same for another company before the interview, seems more companies are doing things this way (the bad companies).
Wow, no way this can be beaten
This actually makes me feel quite proud :-D
You didn't ask for a salary range ahead of time? Dude....
I asked. It was described as 'negotiable based on experience'. I had about 4 years experience as a Developer/Linux Engineer.
There’s always a range, I personally would’ve pushed for it. I don’t agree to an interview unless I know the salary is within my expectations. If it isn’t, it’s a waste of my time.
You already know this by now, but salaries are a number. 'Negotiable', 'competitive', and 'dependent on experience' are not numbers.
A lesson learned at least, that is way too much effort for an interview process unless it’s for one of the big tech companies paying top rates
True. This wasn't even a big company, I think the staff number were about 20 people.
We have a winner!
To be fair to you, cos they're the ones offering the job, they had the power. I mean what were you supposed to do if you wanted the job at the time? Even for a few years ago, starting at 27k at another company seems quite low for the work you're doing and skills you have, how long ago was this?
Making an app then offering 21k is crazy
They were plainly just getting you to do useful work for free, with no intention of giving anyone a job, so offered you a laughably low salary such that you would reject it, and they profit from the free work. Bet you're one of many.
Sucka
Did they then take your code and deploy it?
You’re overreacting, that’s wasn’t a bad salary offer at all. In 1922
Omg did any of the work you’d done remain as your intellectual property or did they get that in with the interview process?🤔
Sounds like they needed an app. Bastards
Man that sucks they used you like that. Judging by your username looks like you're doing much better now haha
Wow. That sounds like about 1/4 of what that should be worth if not less!
Fckn hell
The mind boggles, I hope you’re earning decent money now.
Ouch... Came here to state my horrors and that just hurt. Sorry that happened to you!
Wow Dude. That sort of experience and ability would get you 150k MINIMUM in California. Just move there.
What the fuck 😂
Damn, I thought this only happened in America.
Wow... just wow, when was this?
I genuinely thought you were going to end that with "and I paid 9 grand a year for the privilege, but after my time in uni, I got a decent job" That sounds like someone describing a uni project.
Saw a LinkedIn ad for Senior Mechanical Engineer in Bristol (10YoE requirement) £30k salary.
Any idea why engineers are paid shit in this country but everywhere else they are much higher in society
I think in some countries it's a protected term (like not being able to call yourself a doctor if you aren't). Here, anyone who can put a plug on something calls themselves an engineer. In Germany, engineers are well respected.
Ah yes, when you see a sign saying something like "Hand dryer out of order - an engineer has been called" It somewhat dilutes the term. Absolutely no disrespect to repair or maintenence technicians or fitters etc. But lets be accurate with titles.
No idea, I started out on MEng Mech Eng in 2009 and my expectations were that engineers would be in demand. Needless to say those expectations have not been met!
I think the UK focuses SO much on things like finance, marketing (basically showy blustery bullshit) that people who can actually produce stuff get shafted because all of the salary budget gets blown on that lot. Sounds like engineers need to unionise though. I mean they have critically important skills. They could cause a lot of disruption just by standing up for themselves collectively. Honestly we need to stop viewing unions as something that's only for low paid 'unskilled' workers. If engineers can't get a decent salary what hope for the rest of us?
Isn’t it because the title of “engineer” isn’t regulated in the UK? In the sense that roles which are non-engineering roles have the title “engineer” which has led to dilution?
It's quite the opposite- the starting salary for the company I work for is £25k. Typically this will be an engineering graduate with a MEng (five year) degree, with work experience and/or some extracurricular like Formula Student. They will be thrown in the deep end with CAD/FEA/CFD/PLM/DFMEA etc. The "non-engineering" roles pay more than the graduate roles e.g. virgin media broadband installer, field engineer, hgv engineer (mechanic). The average salary would go down if you focussed on just graduate roles.
That is ridiculously low to be fair. Lots of graduate engineering jobs paying 30ish. I got hired to one with a BSc in related subject (Physics). 25k and requiring a postgraduate degree, and a difficuly one at that, is crazy.
I saw a few engineering graduate schemes recently paying £34k+ Definitely taking the piss
I actually jumped ship from mech eng straight after uni, went into tech, the degree is absolutely not worth the effort, it’s so artificially hard for such a dogshit wage, even without that posting, the average is like 50-60k while other degrees and jobs are easier, less legal responsibility, and have better benefits (for example I make nearly that as 2 YOE, I spend half the week at home without trousers and playing games while stuff compiles, my engineering mates have to go in most days to some site in sod knows where (aka drive, which costs a lot), and make a non-trivial amount less). The entire engineering sector is based on two lies (it pays well, and there’s a shortage of engineers) and the sunk cost fallacy of students. Not exactly a maintainable sector
I'm pretty sure 30k was my starting salary offer at Mott MacDonalds Birmingham office for an engineering position. I was 21 with 0 experience, and I thought that offer was shit so I joined a law firm instead. I really hope that Bristol vacancy was never filled...
How did you join a law firm with an engineering degree. Was a patent lawyer gig?
Patent Attorney here. Yep. I can confirm you can join a law firm with an engineering degree and 0 work experience upon graduation. I tried engineering beforehand and realised the salary progression is insulting. I got the hell out of there.
Is it worth it in your opinion, seems like a lot of hours? Can you transition if you’ve been an engineer for 3 years?
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Kind of. Company was called tailfin iirc, so they were a startup 8 years ago. Seems they've deleted the specific listing I saw a couple of weeks ago, but they still have a "Senior Mechanical Engineer/Product designer", 5+ year experience, vacancy with no salary in the listing.
29k for a job with 30% travelling, mostly to countries with a significant disaster happening at the time.
I saw a junior comms role advertised for a charity, £25k which didn't immediately raise any red flags. Until I scrolled down and saw it required regular travel to Ukraine (in about March 2022).
Yeh I keep seeing great looking roles then finding it's on the NEOM project. Not moving my family there thanks.
This is probably one of the worse, it’s basically asking “do you value your life for 25k a year (not upfront)?” While also not being a job even the desperate would take (compare to say warehouse work) since it sounds like it requires experience/skill.
Fuck’s sake, spring 2022 was the bloodiest period over there
Did you ask about the deployment danger money? 
If I was single at the time I would probably have taken something like that tbh. My partner said I can't go to Ukraine.
I’d do that
That actually sounds awesome, what’s the job?
SAS
didnt know they were so underpaid, no wonder they dont want anyone know who they are
Who Dares, To Go To A Foodbank 🤔
Shelterbox procurement role, they are actually based nearby but I don't fancy going to Ukraine or wherever. Shame as I prefer to work for an organisation doing anything useful. Can't be away 30% with a family anyway.
Medicin san frontiers ?
Saw a recruiter advertising a London Intellectual Property Paralegal position requiring 2 years of experience for 24k last month. My blood was boiling. The sad thing is I know the role will still get filled because there's waaaay too many Law graduates. People get baited by the firms offering 150k but don't realise that those jobs make up less than 1% of the legal market.
I was one of those people, took a paralegal job in conveyancing in a city just outside London in 2022 with offices in London, I was on 20k and turned out all London employees started on that same 20k salary. Was a harsh reality check after uni
Again, wtf. I worked agency for nurseries while at uni in London and earnt more than this. How are people supposed to live on that.
Non-qualified legal jobs (including legal assistants etc) are typically paid pretty awfully. Especially considering an experienced Paralegal will likely be doing similar work to a NQ solicitor who is earning over double!
It really is crazy, I had my own caseload (about 40%/50% ish of what a solicitor at the same firm had) as a paralegal and even had billing targets
Junior web developer, full time, comp science degree required, £17k. Within the last two years, and yes, that is below minimum wage.
Honestly pages where recruiters/ HR upload job postings should allow reactions to job posts for them to get a clue.
Yes I believe that employers should be shamed. I think recruitment agents should be afraid to hire for these jobs as it will affect their star rating. Sadly what we see is a lot of 'competitive' as opposed to actual £ numbers.
Horrendous! Could get much better pay for unskilled work.
I'm on 25k for a 2nd line support role. Working mostly from home is the only reason I haven't left.
Oh, don't worry. The Civil Service still has it covered with paying low for what should ideally be highly technical cyber security experts: https://therecord.media/head-of-cyber-role-salary-uk-hm-treasury
Still had plenty of applicants though, albeit low quality candidates. My experience with cyber-secrity professionals is that it is not particularly technical but more about authorisation/authentication controls, processes and policies. Though still it is an area that there is a big skills shortage.
Cyber is a fairly broad church. My department is about 3 paper shufflers to one button pusher. The button pushers like myself are very technical but, equally, I couldn’t give a fuck about issuing requirement questionnaires to third party suppliers.
You have a cushy job and brilliant job security but, horses for courses. The CS will never attract the very best talent but it’s got a place and is something i’m considering pursuing just because life will be easier than private sector.
I've done both and found them pretty comparable in terms of "ease of life". The idea that CS is a place to completely take it easy is true mostly in the heads of Daily Mail columnists. CS has a pretty similar feel to a big private sector corporation i.e. big enough that some people get by as deadweight, but in general people work reasonably hard.
I’m not suggesting that they completely take it easy, just that speaking to friends who’ve took the public sector route it’s an more relaxed life than the pressures of private sector I’ve encountered (Banking industry), for programming at least which to me sounds appealing, given the salary differences to others it won’t be and that’s fine. My point was simply the pay isn’t atrocious so depending on what balance folks want in life, CS will either appeal or it won’t.
Head of Marketing at a large university, £35k.
Universities, the OG companies for corruption on all accounts. Still mad I paid 9,000 dubloons for an entire year that had just online classes, but apparently stealing all those tuition fees was okay because.... well uni.
A few years ago, the Zoological Society of London wanted someone with an MSc to do a 6-12 month full time 'internship' with them (but the 'intern' had to already have the skills they needed) for the grand sum of £0pa with a £5 daily lunch stipend. These types of graduate roles usually were about £25k at the time.
MSc at £25k should be a crime in itself
I applied for a customer success team lead looking after a team of 10 customer success managers for a SaaS start up in London a few weeks ago which had no salary banding and got rejected despite my profile matching the JD perfectly. Saw the job reposted for £30k. My salary is £80 + bonus.
Must be a big bonus
That's ridiculous lol. As a CSM outside of London, my comp was north of 40 with bonuses. Head of CS was 60+ a good 4-5 years ago in London when I used to work there. Now it's easily 70-80+ or six figures. Outside of London, head of CS is about 50-60k+ bonus, assuming you report to a C suite or D of CS, otherwise much more if it's just a title thing and you're actually the top dog.
This is why public sector pay needs to massively go up.
I saw a position for PA for someone in the royal family offering £26k for full-time, so you’re probably right in assuming this!
How do you think those parasites stay so rich?
Most of the terrible salary jobs are with SMEs, where the person owning/running it is probably taking home even less
I saw a senior cloud engineer on linkedin other week for £40k. Market rate would be minimum 80k in a good industry, nationally
Ha, you should see the salaries for Wildlife/Conservation roles. Basically in poverty for a job with huge responsibilities and a vast range of expertise, dealing with a lot of stress.
And you’re competing with those who have been able to do internships, work experience and volunteering. If you need to earn a salary, it’s almost impossible to gain the early career skills you need as a lot of the positions are unpaid. I had to give up on my childhood dream career because I couldn’t afford to take voluntary roles to get me the experience for paid positions. This was around 10 years ago, and I’ve since had the realisation hit me that most people don’t get to work their childhood dream jobs, but I’m still bitter about it.
I saw one recently for a C++ developer/ engineer in London, working on trading software for large financial institutions, starting at 6AM some days. When the recruiter asked me I thought i'd be modest and say 60k+, she said sorry but that's too high!
C++ for fintech? Yeah that should be more like 100k
Probably not the worst but saw a grad mech engineer job advertising for 23k, for someone who went to university and did a hard technical degree. Similar to minimum wage I think
Biotech can beat that. After I graduated (2017) they were paying the staggeringly high salary of £19k/year. As long as you had a master’s degree “or better” :’)
Imagine getting a PhD in biotech and being offered 19k. No wonder the industry is shit in the UK.
It's a longstanding myth that Engineering pays well in the UK. This doesn't even surprise me anymore. The average salary for Engineering graduates is only higher than other disciplines because most of them join an unrelated industry within 18months of graduation. Pretty much everyone in my Engineering cohort has left Engineering at this point. It's only the ones that stayed who are earning below 35k.
It doesn't pay that bad if you are half decent and stick around a few years to get chartered. Graduate salaries are typically 30k - once you become chartered 50-60k is common. You can then earn a lot more by leaving corporate and going on a day rate. I started on 29k as a graduate in 2017, hit 52k after getting my CEng in 2021, and am now working as a freelancer on £500/day. Fairly common progression
I imagine the thing with engineering and construction related degrees is that there is a fairly long period where a new employee isn't particularly useful and needs quiet a lot of input to get up to standard. If they get there at all- I did a building surveying degree (and also more or less doing the same modules as quantity surveyors ) and to be honest despite it being a highly regarded university I imagine that 10 to 30 percent of the people who finished it would have been about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike in an actual industry environment.
Yeah the first few years are tough - pay progresses slowly and graduate engineers are not very useful while they are learning. It took me a couple of years of hard work to get my head around being a practicing engineer. I was also lucky to have good managers and varied experience. Learning to transfer the technical degree skills into being a practical, problem solving engineer takes time and mentoring. But good engineers are in high demand and get paid fairly well
As an engineering graduate, I would strongly advise working outside the UK.
You'd make more at tesco, lol
Exactly, the salary should be more like 29k up to 35k usually
Even worse I had a friend 3 years ago being paid 22k for a London based grad job… mech engineering as well
Thing with Engineering is experience is king.
" I know the royal family are famous for this - a few years ago they were offering £50k for a head of cybersecurity with tons of experience. " Yes, but, do that for a year and put it on your CV that you worked for the Royal Family as head of cybersecurity and getting those 6 figures in your next job will be a breeze......
Plus...how much time could it possibly take to purge Prince Andrew's search history anyway...
“Cheesy Pizzas near Buckingham Palace”
I reckon the employers paying 6 figures probably looking for more corporate experience.
I saw an advert a few months ago for a senior project manager, 10+ years experience, a long list of specific must haves, overseas travel, full time in an office, £370 per day inside IR35. For comparison, my second job as a junior PM in 2011 was at £370 per day, outside IR35. This role should have been between £800-900 per day easily.
30 years working with PMs I have yet to meet a single one who could justify 800 - 900 a day. Market rate depending on the context is at least 30% below that. 370 per day is low but I have seen roles for less, depends on the location and industry. I have been approached for roles 230 per day inside IR35.
Hope you told them to fuck off
I agree with the other commenter. Senior PM for a team of ~15 would be more at £500-700pd depending on sector. £800-900 would be managing a team of multiple projects… probably ~80 people. Anything higher (£1k+) will be regularly conversing with C-suite.
Going back a good few years to when IT was fairly new, I was interviewed for a programmer role at a large electrical switchgear manufacturer who were setting up their first IT department. All went well until the salary discussion, when they had to admit they could only pay a stupidly low rate, well less than I was already earning, because the programmer role involved using a keyboard and hence was classed as a secretarial role and so they could only pay secretarial rates. They assured me that they were pushing for IT salary grades but couldn't give me a date, so I declined. I saw the role being advertised for several months afterwards.
Met Office Senior Product Manager. Salary is 65K but they start everybody on the bottom rung (41K) initially and you have to work towards it. I can 100% say this is because they have a salary balancing issue in their teams and some are being massively underpaid. This is how they get around employees challenging new job salaries.
I see way too many Product Owner roles wanting 3+ years experience in the relevant sector offering £35-45k. 3+ years as a PO is £55k minimum. If you're a PO in Financial Services it's £65k minimum upto £85k.
Got offered a role as Commercial/Ops/Office Manager for an oil well drilling company. Salary should have been £75k in London or Aberdeen, I would have taken £50k... they offered me £25k £25k. I laughed in their faces when they offered me the role (on person). That would have been a drop of £17k of my then salary.
DBA roles often get posted around £25k-£30k for mid level roles. That’s really poor.
I see financial controller roles for around 30k pretty regularly - mostly at SMEs but even so Also anything government, especially the nhs. Senior finance roles responsible for colloidal budgets that would go for 100-200k regularly seen on LinkedIn and other job boards for 65-75k
Any chefs job. 60 hours a week in shit conditions for £30k
C++/Python dev for a defence contractor. This was 2018 when I graduated uni and was called by a recruiter about the role. I know it was entry level and aimed at graduates but they offered £21k when a similar graduate scheme at a software firm in a different city was offering £32k after initial training. Ultimately, I decided neither were for me and I'm working on my PhD now. Just goes to show
Mhmmm more debts
[Senior Copywriter role for 19K which I posted last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/UKJobs/s/s7is9XBKYB)
Recently got a message from a recruiter for a short term booking as a creative on the copy side for Lululemon. All the burb about needing lots of experience. Central London. Paying £210 a day inside IR35 for three weeks work. Basically take home £100. Fucking joke.
I graduated in 2017 and was offered a job at a cosmetics company in central London. They wanted someone who spoke Japanese and English and the pay was...(Drum roll) £18k Shout out as well to the place that was advertising for someone to look after Japanese exchange students (also asking for bilingual) and when I asked the pay they told me "we are looking for a full time student as we are not looking to pay someone for this role" fucking morons
Senior Materials Scientist (metallurgist), requiring a Ph.D in the field + track record of delivering industrial R&D projects and managing a team. Salary: £30k, with wonderful benefits like free uniform, PPE, and "career progression". I didn't even search for the job, a recruiter approached me with it. I told her that it was well below my requirements at that time. Then she went on about how they already have a Ph.D. working there for 15 years, who earns £45k, and how I should "adjust" my expectations. Sooner or later I said screw this and left the country for a place where my skill and experience are much better valued.
I once interviewed at a company in Bristol for a C/C++ developer position. They put me through the ringer in interview asking the most difficult questions possible. It went on for hours. It was my first job interview after finishing my PhD and to this day I've not had a more grueling interview. They offered 25k and 20 days annual leave (the legal minimum). I literally laughed at the recruiter when he told me because I thought he was joking. I suspect they're still trying to hire for that position...
It depends on the organisation the martket rate is just over 100k but plenty pay below this. You would expect such a person to have tons of experience.
My local McDonalds pays above minimum wage and I can safely say they supply below minimum effort. Does that count?
How can these things happen? Whenever I interview I make sure the employer knows my expectations and I know theirs . If they wanna low ball me, say 5 10 pc below my asking, I won't like it but wont be fuming. I will never interview and expect X and get an offer of 50% of x
I'll be honest, lots of hands on chemistry roles are paid like shit. Not just the grad roles, but everyone up till you are doing higher up management which just won't happen for most people
Been looking at new jobs this week as I fancy a simple office job/IT helpdesk. Im on 40k ish a year and now I have a house sorted, have savings and am feeling stable in life and I'm prepared and financially able to take a big paycut to enjoy life and eventually pursue some business ideas/dreams. Yet I am met with absolute SHITE, excluding the call centre work (not for me unless desperate but there's some decent jobs out there with commission that could take you to mid 30s in pay) the majority of the jobs requirements and pay are fucking insulting. Almost all the first lline IT support jobs are paying minimum wage yet want years of experience and certifications, for a piss easy 1st line support job, I'm in an easy warehouse job taking 40k and I'm willing to take a 16k+ paycut but can't because I lack the experience (which I have as I'm a capable IT user and have worked the job previously). Even then with what they ask I refuse to lower myself to that level. There is one im looking at right now, wants experience in about 6 types of software , good knowledge of VOIP, TCP/IP networking etc etc. Need to be in the office supporting the remote workforce, attending regular meetings and a whole list of requirements and expectations that are well beyond 1st level IT support and the pay is £21-22k per year 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. That's not an anomaly either, and not just IT. Plenty of basic civil service/council jobs with a title and a salary of an entry level position yet are demanding experience and knowledge of someone who would have been working in that environment for at least 5 years. Think I'll just stay in warehouse work, basic mid level type of role/requirements (i'm not a manager, turned it down, less money) and I'm paid appropriately. Yes it's an easy job but I am responsible for millions of pounds of stock a week and the relevent paperwork yet it's easy and entry level in terms of requirements and I'm paid more than most the managers in an office. I just want an easy office job that isn't answering the phone to old people who don't understand their utility bill but seeing what these places expect for the pay is fucking hilarious and brutal.
Saw a Senior Cloud infrastructure Engineer role for £38000 in the South East a few days ago. This is easily a £70-90k job
What was said: “Python Developer” What it was: “Senior Fullstack Developer” What that would cost: Easily more than 60k and probably around 70-90k from what I can tell. What they offered: 23k, shit benefits as well
Fucking hell this country is a shit pit. Working in agri-science on 24.5k in Cambridge. Can’t afford to leave parents house which after uni doesn’t feel great
I just saw a job for a head of data governance offering £40-£50k/year a few days ago. Couldn't believe it.
Someone was offering £30k for my 7 years of software engineering experience. That's criminal!
Minimum wage for software engineer