Salary Negotiation Advice

ramrunner800

For a bit of baackground, for the last 4 years I've worked as an analyst for a federal contractor in the NoVA, completely outside the IT field. I make decent money (70k) and have good benefits (23 days PTO, all the insurances, tuition reimbursement, etc), though I'm younger than most of my colleagues (I'm 2 and I make considerably less than they do.

I have wanted to get into IT security for a long time, and have taken lots of classes at my local college, gotten A+/S+/CCENT/C|EH, and have been working on OSCP. Tonight, my hard work paid off, and I got an offer for a position as a junior analyst on the Incident Response team of a small IT security contractor. They seemed really excited to have me, which is a great change of pace from where I am now. They said that they will have a compensation/benefits package for me early next week. My question is, what is a reasonable number to negotiate for in this position? Salary.com shows DC Incident Response salaries between 75k-95k, but the sample size is small. Any advice on this, or anything else I may not have even thought of, is much appreciated. Thanks for reading!

networker050184

Don't be surprised if you have to take a pay cut for a junior level position. Slaries are higher than the national average in the DC area, but there are so many factors involved it would be hard for anyone to give you any accurate number without a lot more information. $70k, espeicailly considering your 23 days of PTO, would definitely seem on the very high end for any kind of junior position though IMO.

dankentucky75

I find $75-95K range a little ambitious, but there is no harm in asking. They can always counter. A colleague recommended Salary Fairy to get more salary points, but I haven't tried it yet. In salary negotiations what I've seen is that after telling them your salary requirement, you need to convince them why they should pay you that. What makes you different than an average candidate?

N2IT

23 is a lot! I got 20 at my new job all paid in up front and I was shocked at that. Our higher level managers get 24 when starting off.

Krones

Junior positions pay way less than their counterparts. Hard to say, it doesn't hurt to aim high as the worst they can do is counter, but try to keep your expectations in check. :P

ramrunner800

Thanks for the replies folks, I appreciate you taking the time. I know that it's a junior position, and that the data I was able to find online doesn't seem like it will be a useful predictor for this situation, which is why I came here. I'm really excited to have found a position that's directly working in security right off the bat, and am really excited for the experience.

tprice5

Krones wrote: »

Hard to say, it doesn't hurt to aim high as the worst they can do is counter

This is not accurate. They could stop negotiating at that point and rescind the offer. If it's too high it could make you look like a joke and worsen your bargaining position.

Food for thought.

ramrunner800

tprice5 wrote: »

This is not accurate. They could stop negotiating at that point and rescind the offer. If it's too high it could make you look like a joke and worsen your bargaining position.

Food for thought.

True, but I think the proposal would have to be truly outrageous (I would consider $90k+ to be outrageous). I'm pretty sure if I asked for a reasonable number they couldn't match they'd simply counter with a lower offer. Also, I spoke with the Program Manager for the prime (this position is with a sub) what the salary level was, and he said that while he couldn't tell me because it will be handled by the subcontractor, he didn't think there would be any problems. He knows how much I make now.

Like I said though, I'm just happy to be jumping into the field. I've wanted to for about 3 years, and I'm glad to be able to start moving up the ladder towards the skills and positions I really want to be in.

tprice5

ramrunner800 wrote: »

True, but I think the proposal would have to be truly outrageous (I would consider $90k+ to be outrageous).

NoVa = DC right? If so, $90k DOESNT seem outrageous to me. It's well below what I would accept to work there.

EDIT: Fixed ^ that. Apologies for confusion

ramrunner800

Yeah, NoVa = DC, and around here $90k is significantly below median income, but I would think that for a junior position it would be outrageous to expect. If not, I'm all ears. I understand junior positions pay less, but I also don't want to low-ball myself.

tprice5

ramrunner800 wrote: »

Yeah, NoVa = DC, and around here $90k is significantly below median income, but I would think that for a junior position it would be outrageous to expect. If not, I'm all ears. I understand junior positions pay less, but I also don't want to low-ball myself.

I hear ya. I'm sure you have done your homework on average salaries for positions and such. Just a quick search, Indeed.com puts a junior SysAdmin at $64k. Also be prepared for there not to be very much wiggle room. Companies don't seem to inclined to bargain when they are under the impression that you could easily be replaced.
I still think you should ask for 10% more than what you think they will accept. It's not an outrageous amount more.

ramrunner800

That's really great info! I didn't know you could use indeed for that, and that tool is great. I've been running different permutations of the search all morning. Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated.

ramrunner800

Thanks for the help everyone! I got an offer this morning, and countered, and eventually negotiated a salary match. The benefits aren't quite as good, but that's to be expected at a small company where I haven't logged any time yet. Way psyched to be starting my infosec career!

tprice5

ramrunner800 wrote: »

Thanks for the help everyone! I got an offer this morning, and countered, and eventually negotiated a salary match. The benefits aren't quite as good, but that's to be expected at a small company where I haven't logged any time yet. Way psyched to be starting my infosec career!

Congrats. How much more were you able to negotiate up?

ramrunner800

They initially offered 65, and I got them up to 70, so an 8% increase or so. I think maybe there was a bit more room I could have gone for, but I didn't want to go too far. I'm extremely happy with where it ended up, though my benies will take a bit of a hit, but that was to be expected when moving to a small company. They made it clear that there's lots of room to grow into salary-wise.

tprice5

ramrunner800 wrote: »

They initially offered 65, and I got them up to 70, so an 8% increase or so.

Good work, man. You should be proud of yourself. I've come to learn that salary negotiations are a big deal as you may have been waiting another 2 years to see that extra 8%.

Just keep climbing, friend.

ramrunner800

As a quick update, I was able to use this offer to get an additional 10k in negotiations with another company, along with a signing bonus. It involves a relocation to the Bay Area from DC, so it's about the same level of wealth when you compare cost of living, but pretty exciting to me for my first IT job. I should say both jobs were attracted to my past experience, despite the fact that it's not IT experience, so I don't know that it's a true reflection of straight entry level work. Still, I feel like I'm walking on air.

coreyb80

Congrats on the offer and the move!

thekid007

damn dude you are 20 and making 70k? congrats and damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!

tprice5

70k in the bay area doesn't go far. It varies a lot from San Francisco to Sunnvale but it is certainly not cheap to live there.
If you're working in IT or development though, it is definitely the place to be. It is a very cool feeling to drive down the road and see the HQ's for LinkedIn, Cisco and other technology companies; surrounded by like-minded individuals. I hope to be there at some point.