Study Predicts 9% Drop In Salaries of New CS Grads This Year

Jim_Austin writes: The first report on the class of 2015 from the respected National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which conducts surveys of employers' hiring intentions throughout the year, projects a 9% drop in the salaries of new computer science bachelor's degree graduates, from $67,300 in 2014 to $61,287 this year. Reader phantomfive sends this news on a related subject: The Brookings Institute has released a report showing where the tech jobs are in the United States. Of course, San Jose comes in first, but Kansas is high up in the list. Michigan and Utah also were surprisingly high. On the other hand, if you live in Minnesota and you think there are no tech jobs, you are probably right.

Comments

Insourcing

[Anonymous Coward]

The vast majority of CS grads are coming out of state and public colleges in areas with a cheaper cost of living than your typical NY/LA/SF setup. Companies are taking advantage of this. I may make $10k less than someone on the coast, but my net income is higher.

Minnesota - No Tech Job? Huh?

[Kagato]

I've work in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market for over a decade. I get calls from recruiters daily. Clients can never find enough experienced people. There's tons of H1Bs working in the market. It's been like that for since about 2006. It can be hard as a college grad to find a job because some bean counter is weighing paying an experienced H1B worker a similar wage as a college hire (and the H1B can't easily leave without obtaining a new sponsor.) But, as the H1B cap have tightened it's forced companies to invest in college workers like they did in the 90s.

To summarize, MN's general unemployment rate is 3.9%, it's tech unemployment rate is a fraction of a percent. It's jobs, jobs jobs if you know computers.

Re:Good

[cayenne8]

If you're in CS...out of school, take the jobs you can get, learn, get resume experience and NETWORK with people.

Once you've paid your dues doing this awhile....incorporate yourself and contract. Especially if you can get into Federal Contracting, the money is good, you often can get on LONG term projects, the bill rate is much better, and it also helps discriminate in favor of being a US citizen, especially if there is a clearance required, no H1B's or other foreigners allowed in many of those positions.

That is where the money is at these days.

But, incorporate yourself so you can work corp-to-corp and they won't be scared of you having to be a W2 employee. I myself prefer the S-Corp, saves you a fortune of employment taxes (SS/Medicare) in that you don't have to pay that on all money billed, only a portion of it.