Money: Today, I applied and was accepted for a part-time network engineering...

By compguy - 25/02/2010 15:39 - United States

Today, I applied and was accepted for a part-time network engineering position. Being contract work they asked me what I charge. I replied, "$12 an hour." After a look of surprise they accepted me for the position and said, "Our last guy charged $200 an hour, you're a bargain." FML

I agree, your life sucks 17 618

You deserved it 34 899

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Same thing different taste

By YankeeDoodle - 04/03/2010 05:30 - Australia

Today, I discovered my employer is advertising for a contractor position within my team performing basically the same role as myself. Except the pay is seven times more. FML

I agree, your life sucks 25 620

You deserved it 2 065

By backtosquareone - 04/04/2017 08:00 - Hong Kong - Central District

Today, after months of searching, I was offered a job. After hearing how excited I was on the phone, HR docked the initial salary offer by 40% in the written contract. She said it was non-negotiable. Guess I'm back to job hunting. FML

I agree, your life sucks 5 622

You deserved it 469

Free market, amirite?

By Anonymous - 08/01/2022 11:01

Today, I work in HR and last week we'd hired an apprentice for our repair shop. He was great. I spent $500 company dollars on his uniform. Later, he called me saying he had been offered a job paying $10 more an hour than what we were offering, as much as our experienced workers make. I either have to match it, or be out a helper. FML

I agree, your life sucks 454

You deserved it 1 062

Seize the means

By Anonymous - 21/06/2022 00:00

Today, the person recently hired to work in my spot during my days off started at a higher hourly rate than me, after I have been here for nearly three years. I asked for a raise and got a dollar more; meanwhile, my regional counterparts make 4 dollars more per hour. FML

I agree, your life sucks 853

You deserved it 146

Exploitation

By Anonymous - 20/12/2021 17:01

Today, after trying so hard to get myself back on my feet, I had an amazing interview and I was hired on the spot. I was so happy, until I read the position I was given, and it turns out I didn't get full-time, I got barely enough hours to even be part-time. FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 053

You deserved it 178

Nepo baby

By WretchedOwls - 03/03/2016 23:59 - United States - Barberton

Today, after weeks of my brother being laid off from work, I was able to finagle him an interview for one of the entry level positions at my work. He got the job, only to refuse it because it doesn't pay enough. I thought 9 dollars an hour was a lot more than 0 dollars an hour. FML

I agree, your life sucks 22 521

You deserved it 1 712

By temp - 21/10/2016 00:36

Today, after working my ass off for 2 months, receiving perfect reviews, and going out of my way to take on extra work to get a job offer from the location where I temp, I finally got an offer for a permanent position. Included in the offer was a $3.00 an hour pay cut and no insurance. FML

I agree, your life sucks 10 921

You deserved it 700

By Anonymous - 04/04/2015 12:42 - United States - Clifton Park

Today, I was forced into accepting a "promotion" for a position that pays less than what I get right now. FML

I agree, your life sucks 31 226

You deserved it 3 087

Cut the crap

By Anonymous - 20/10/2016 17:59 - Singapore - Singapore

Today, as usual, I got to my internship early, did everything my bosses asked. At the end of the day, I was fired after 3 weeks of working unpaid overtime because they found an applicant with more experience for the job I applied to and they wanted to cut costs. FML

I agree, your life sucks 10 959

You deserved it 717

By smidge - 02/06/2009 06:05 - United States

Today, I got a call from an ad agency offering me a job. I was so excited, because I've been looking for work for a few months now and really wanted to work for them. An hour later, they called apologizing, because they'd made a mistake and offered the job to the wrong person. FML

I agree, your life sucks 54 554

You deserved it 2 640

intensitive 11

Thursday 25 February 2010 19:52

How do you be in a position like that and not know how much your competitors are charging?

kikiface 1

Thursday 25 February 2010 19:54

what the hell do you do that $200/hour is an acceptable pay rate? I need to get into that field

Comments

thinknow101 2

Friday 26 February 2010 6:51

must be your first job; clearly a learning experience. take the temp position, get some experience and cash, and quickly move on. go for at least $50/hr next time.

cdilink 0

Friday 26 February 2010 8:10

lol FAIL

chuji 1

Friday 26 February 2010 9:45

I feel for OP. I'm trying to look for a similar position and no one I find wants to pay me what I probably deserve. And, yes, I've looked up average salaries on tech positions and I've never got anything close to it. I hope you get your lucky break and, hopefully, someday I'll get mine.

scythefwd 0

Sunday 28 February 2010 8:31

What you "probably deserve" is not what you feel you are worth but what the market is willing to pay you. Those job offers you are getting that aren't willing to pay you what you "probably deserve" may be low balling you a bit, but it is most likely in the right ballpark. People think a degree or a cert is an automatic big paycheck. Wrong, without experience, you are little better than what you learned in school. That is 4 years experience, and part time at that. You aren't doing your trade day in and day out. What the job offers you are getting are based off of are : 1. How well your resume presents your skills, knowledge, and accomplishments. 2. How well you performed on the interview 3. What the local market will bear (if you are overqualified, they will offer near the middle of their pay scale, you are almost never offered the top end... so you generally have room to negotiate up). If you resume doesn't account for your hobby work (hey.. some people do IT for fun... not just profit) then you need to show that in your resume or interview. Most people don't and it makes them look much less experienced than they are.

revcanon 0

Friday 26 February 2010 18:05

YDI for not knowing your own market value in your industry.

blastvortex 3

Friday 26 February 2010 22:19

You should really know these things before getting into the business. Even if you only get a fraction of what you could — if you don't know how to barter or can only get the average for your trouble — there's no reason you shouldn't have figured this out ahead of time.

ashiiya 0

Saturday 27 February 2010 4:16

Yeah, you could've supposedly asked for more, but it's not like you knew. I'd be freakin happy if I could get the amount of pay I wanted at my job. That in itself is a bargain. And $12? That's lucky.

DDang 2

Saturday 27 February 2010 4:44

Woow, like seriously? I'm still not out of high school yet but I see something completely wrong with that picture. Being an engineer is a high paying job for the most part, so you should know what you are being paid for if going into the position. YDI

AnthonyD86 0

Saturday 27 February 2010 20:14

I have to say YDI. if your out looking for a job in a specific position shouldn't you do atleast a little research to find out what average pay for that position is?

tboudre 0

Sunday 28 February 2010 6:55

you give contractors a bad name. I turned down a job this week that wanted to pay $12/hr, even after the agency told me they would go as high as $13.50/hr. $60/hr is my absolute bottom if I have to pay my own social security tax.