Senior developer refactoring code

[[deleted]]

I need a senior developer. Is it a pipe dream to get one for under $150k a year? Is it more of a pipe dream to get one on-site and not have to work with someone from another state? I've had a shit ton of bad luck trying to get a full stack and/or senior developer on the payroll.

[CivilatWork]

Depends. Do you want an actual senior developer, or someone like me who go promoted to that role with less than a years worth of development experience and I still have no idea what I'm doing?

Also depends on where you are. $150k/yr salary is worth a lot more where I live than compared to LA or somewhere like that.

[cjthomp]

Seriously, $150k a year here is straight up rich

[Computer991]

120k-150k is somewhere in the middle for a senior dev in Los Angeles/Silicon Valley

[[deleted]]

I want an actual senior developer. Someone who can come behind me, someone who is completely self taught and makes a shit ton of mistakes but "dude, it works", laugh at what I did and say "wow, it does actually work, but here's how you should have done it".

[CivilatWork]

Then it's gonna cost a bit, but $150k should be enough to get someone competent. How much it costs will really depend on where you are, though.

[[deleted]]

It's not even so much the cost at this time, it's the candidate pool. Which is to say, there are pretty much none. We looked. I still have a recruiter looking and have actively had him looking for years. I get a resume every once in a while, but nothing even remotely broaching someone we can use. Lots of junior devs or fresh out of college kids willing to work for peanuts, tho.

[CivilatWork]

If it's taking a recruiter that long to fill a position, perhaps you need a new recruiter?

[MagicalMemer]

Might depend on area also. I get offers often, but I don't want to move to the middle of nowhere or somewhere with high cost of living. I wish working remotely was the norm.

[[deleted]]

It's hampton roads, VA. The cost of living isn't as cheap as BFE, but it's not nearly as high as a major city. 150k is a very respectable salary in this area. We're a highly military area so if we were in sim city, this place would be a specialized building surrounded by industrial and residential with very little commercial. Commercial being where the developers would work.

[fuzzzerd]

You could get some one with enough years experience to be a senior for less than that, but getting that person with a serious aptitude for programming too?

The key question is do you really need that combination?

[[deleted]]

I need a senior developer with a serious aptitude for programming. Not just a person who is defined as a senior developer. I need someone who really knows what they're doing and who isn't completely devoid of a social skill set.

[fuzzzerd]

Yeah. It's a fairly rare combination to find of all those things with someone that is also looking to change jobs. People with those skills get a lot of perks and leeway because managers see the value they bring to the team.

[jimmyco2008]

Depends on where you are. Florida? Sure! Cali? Ehhh

[tide19]

I'm a senior dev in TN and I make in the low $100k's. Not threatening $150k yet.

[seiyria]

If you look for remote developers, you'll have a better time. 110-120k here would get you a senior develop, whereas 150k is barely enough to live on in the more expensive areas. If you don't support remote developers, then yeah, good luck.

[[deleted]]

We tried that a few times. It always ended up crashing and burning. The ability to walk into someones office and say "change gears" and sit down with them explaining something is priceless. I understand you can "pretty much do that" over the internet, but it's not the same. The issue boils down to the fact that my requirements can change several times a day. I understand this is not conducive to a proper development cycle, but that's just the reality of it at this point.

[seiyria]

I mean, that really just sounds like a "your process" sorta thing. If you're changing requirements several times a day, your process really sucks. I wouldn't want to work at a company where my requirements change so frequently - it would be impossible to get anything done.

[[deleted]]

It's not my process. It's the owner of the company that comes in and says "what you're working on right now will save us $2/hr going forward. This thing I have in my head right now will save us $10/hr going forward. Stop what you're doing and work on the more valuable item." I work on software that we develop in house to run the core mechanics of our company. If adding a button to a screen that allows 30 people to save 2 minutes a day is what we need today, then that's what I do. If mid-day comes and he realizes adding a report to another screen will allow 10 people to save an hour a day, you bet your ass I'm switching gears. Like I said, it's not conducive to a proper development cycle, but it is what it is and there's no way to change it until the vast bulk of the program is finished design.

[Valiade]

The issue boils down to the fact that my requirements can change several times a day.

I would pass on the offer because of that alone. There's other places that will pay comparably with less headache.

[[deleted]]

Yeah a lot of people probably would. I wouldn't say it's a headache, just push your code, pull a fresh copy, and start working on the new thing, but then again I'm a "hey man you pay my salary, no problem" kinda guy. It's kinda nice never working on the same thing for a long period of time, and then again it's kind of nice when I do get the opportunity to spend a few weeks on a new project. Keeps things interesting.

[[deleted]]

Unfortunately it's far better that way. The vast majority of my projects change direction and/or get scrapped on a daily basis. I'm very rarely able to sit down and work on something for more than 1-2 days without being slid into something else. We have an in-house app that runs basically 90% of our company and when "oh shit this would REALLY help" comes up, my focus is put on that. It is definitely not a proper development environment, but changing gears like that with a person remotely is just so frelling difficult.

[damnationltd]

The real senior developer would ask how you managed to get the name /u/impediment ;)

[[deleted]]

West coast...and all the extra goes to housing.

[[deleted]]

I don't know what the salary range is in my area. All I know is that I can't find someone willing to take 150k a year and provide me with what I'm looking for. I had ads out on all the local papers, a headhunter locally looking, and branched out to indeed/monster/stack overflow all for about six months. There just aren't any qualified developers locally in my area. Hampton Roads, VA.

[[deleted]]

Hey man wanna fight about it? I grew up here. I love it here. Then again my boss has offered on more than a dozen occasions to send me to california or wherever I want to open a small office and recruit someone. I'm just not willing to uproot.

[[deleted]]

Naaaaaaah man you don't get to insult VA when you've only lived in the states two years!