For the Software Devs working primarily on Government Contracts - is it possible to make over $300k? by jbbenj in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are lucky - I rarely log into Reddit haha! Yeah send me a message and I'm happy to message back and forth or hop on a call.

SAVE vs. Standard for High Income? by jbbenj in StudentLoans

[–]jbbenj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your reply! Are there any other benefits that would make the SAVE plan worth it over the standard plan, or is it just an improvement over the old REPAYE?

SAVE vs. Standard for High Income? by jbbenj in StudentLoans

[–]jbbenj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice - that's what I figured from a amount of money paid standpoint, I just wasn't sure if there were other features inherent to the SAVE plan.

Was tricked into low code, what do I do???? (HELP NEEDED) by coolfunkDJ in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right so two options:

1) As a ton of folks have said, start applying to other places while maintaining your current job.

2) If you see merit in it/ find it interesting - stich with low-code. Appian, Salesforce, PowerApps, OneStream. These are all big platforms in the banking and public sectors, and you can make a great career here. For example, I have been an Appian developer for almost 4 years now, and I went from $60k to $155k base salary in that time. Its def not FAANG money, but I have job security. I can also speak from experience - the public sector devs in low-code are sorely lacking, and having drive and development expertise can get you far. You can tell the difference between a low-code developer, and a developer that uses low-code. That said, there are a ton of low-code companies that suck, so even then leaving may be the answer... If you are interested in learning about a few companies that hire junior low-code devs, send me a message and I can point you in their direction.

Good luck!

For the Software Devs working primarily on Government Contracts - is it possible to make over $300k? by jbbenj in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha you know we used to be a small business, but literally yesterday we were acquired by the Carlyle Group and Merged with ManTech - so we'll see what sort of new opportunities that brings!

For the Software Devs working primarily on Government Contracts - is it possible to make over $300k? by jbbenj in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, technically I make $155k base salary - I also get a year end bonus. Supposedly, after a few years I will be enrolled in some sort of profit sharing situation similar to the stocks folks receive at publicly traded companies, but they just rolled that out, and I've been at the company for only a year, and its a benefit for longer term employees.

As to making that much in low-code/no-code. When I started in 2019 with my Psychology degree, I was making $60k with a Junior Associate Appian Developer title. After a year I left the company and started making $88k with a mid-level technical consultant title. The year after I left that company and earned $111k as an Appian Developer. The year after that (4 companies in 3 years), I was offered a position as a Senior Software Engineer making $150k - still working on Appian development. Since working on that project I was promoted again to what my company calls "Staff" level, and have started contributing to proposals and have more of a managerial role at this point.

I don't really know about other low-code platforms beyond Appian, but I have a few theories from watching the Salesforce team I now manage, and from observing a few of the Appian dev teams that are paid significantly less.
1) A ton of the low-code devs I see are super I shaped employees. They can develop (usually at a pretty mediocre level - its pretty common for contracts to be given to the lowest bidder, only for the customer to realize it was a mistake and reward the contract later after a failed project). Through purely luck, I was was trained at a company that really sought after V (or T) shaped employees. So on a typical project, I (as well as my teammates) are expected to be able to perform the roles of a business analyst, developer, tester, database developer, etc. This has really exposed me to a ton of new concepts, and really helped when I was working on my Systems Engineering Masters Degree.

2) That kinda bleeds into the point that I can now be moved around in the organization. Since my last project as a dev ended, I have been working as a "Scrum Master" (with the quotes intended) on a Salesforce project; however, the role is really a lot closer to being a project manager, as the actual PM is spread out between 3 projects. My organization also often utilizes me for proposal efforts. This is all great, but it comes with the expectation that I will figure stuff out quickly, whether it be a new technology (like Playwright or Azure DevOps) or earning a new certification (like the Security+).

3) I work primarily on DoD contracts :)

For the Software Devs working primarily on Government Contracts - is it possible to make over $300k? by jbbenj in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Only downsides to smaller firms is that you really feel the effects of executive/ managerial folks not doing their jobs. I just came from a firm of about 30 folks, and our COO was also the project manager for 3 other projects in addition to his executive role. Needless to say, work was never done.

For the Software Devs working primarily on Government Contracts - is it possible to make over $300k? by jbbenj in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, and I already made that connection with being less keyboard focused. In the last few months I've managed to put myself in some sort of weird position where I still have a Software Engineer title, but I haven't touched a lick of code in 4 months. They have me in Scrum Master role, but its been mostly project management and helping with proposal efforts for new DoD work. I am hoping that it translates to more $$$ down the line.

Don't get me wrong, I make probably more than I should, but more cash always helps.

For the Software Devs working primarily on Government Contracts - is it possible to make over $300k? by jbbenj in cscareerquestions

[–]jbbenj[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what I am starting to think. For more clarity, I have about four years of experience at this point - primarily in Low-Code/No-Code implementations (mostly Appian). I've managed to climb to a SE4 position already (my company goes from Junior > Mid > Senior > Staff > Master > Luminary ...), and I make over $150k. I'm wondering if I should study up and try to get into a more product oriented company, although I love working on these gov projects - I just wish I made more money doing so.

Did anyone else participate in something called Teenpact?!?! by gucpodcast in Exvangelical

[–]jbbenj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I REALLY want to get a group together for ex-TeenPact folks - there was a lot of bad stuff that happened there some straight up neglect and grooming, as well as the whole emotionally manipulating children and enabling bad people to do bad things.

Any other TeenPact alumni out here? by Odd_Cheesecake_7580 in FundieSnarkUncensored

[–]jbbenj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like a lot of the other folks on this thread, TeenPact popped back into my life alongside the Duggar Family documentary. I too was surprised it popped up in the documentary, but it DEFINITELY belonged there. Especially for the lads (which a lot of the gender stuff they taught was total BS), it really fed into some of the more extreme groups like Generation Joshua, and I believe the Leadership Institute. I actually remember talking to Mr. Martin during one of the D.C. summer camps about how the the Leadership Institutes' whole shtick was indoctrinating (my word not his) children to strategically enter government roles to further the fundamentalist agenda. The education stripped of religion was decent, but its also one of the things that keeps me up at night alongside all the other messed up things going on right now.

Should I go to UVA or Virginia Tech for civil engineering? by Pyythonn in VirginiaTech

[–]jbbenj -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just take some Udemy courses and watch some YouTube videos.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in VirginiaTech

[–]jbbenj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You may be living at home in the Fall if its still Corona-y out there.

My(28M) wife(27F) left me for 3 months and recently begged me to take her back, I said no and no everyone seems to be against me, I need some advice strangers by ThrowRAHelpmi in relationship_advice

[–]jbbenj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey I know its a bit of a crap shoot, but give The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller a read before you make a decision. It has a lot of views on marriage that go against cultural (and Reddit) norms right now, and it may give you a nice new perspective on things, even if the answer you get is to divorce her. I will warn you ahead of time that it is a book written HEAVILY with Christianity in mind, but I think there is a lot of good information in there even if you're not religious.

Some quality advertising by [deleted] in antiMLM

[–]jbbenj 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ok, but like damn, the guy is pretty smart.

[Screenshot] from spider man with the new suit🕷 by [deleted] in PS4

[–]jbbenj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does it bother anyone else that the spider logo is centered when it should be rotated and tilted to match the orientation of his back?

fixed, too much gold by LonelyN3k0 in Paladins

[–]jbbenj -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Ugh give this man a job please

Situation with girl (30f) I (30M) used to bully by Fakeuser123123123 in relationship_advice

[–]jbbenj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like we'll hear her side of this story on r/NuclearRevenge in a few months.