Salary Expectations (UK IT)

[MikeTimbers]

@arty look me up on LinkedIn and message me. I am not a recruiter.

 

[arty]

Thanks, but I don't use LinkedIn.

Edit - sorry, that came across a bit rude. I’m not looking to change job right now, thanks - just thinking about the future

 

[MikeTimbers]

Thanks, but I don't use LinkedIn.

Edit - sorry, that came across a bit rude. I’m not looking to change job right now, thanks - just thinking about the future

not trying to get you a new job, was only going to offer advice on the salary. LinkedIn was just a way for you to contact me more privately. I am a freelance consultant with 40 years in IT with similar experience to yours so can offer advice on what you are worth.

 

[HangTime]

However, you've presented yourself as a do-it-all generalist. This might end up not playing to your advantage as the current market values specialisation far more than being a jack of all trades.

Bear in mind that I'm not an expert in anything at all; I'm 'good' in a number of areas, and 'competent' in lots more, but I've always gone for a generalist approach. Perhaps I should specialise.

I think it depends a bit on the organisation, in smaller orgs having a generalist who can cover a lot of bases (at a reasonably high level of seniority and competent) is probably really useful. Bigger orgs might have half a dozen people managing that stuff. It sounds like the sort of realms you are operating in, being a generalist isn't necessarily bad thing, but might limit your options if looking for a role in bigger orgs.

I do have similar considerations personally, in that within my field (Data Engineering / Warehousing / BI) I am struggling to really pin down what roles I should be targeting. I'm not a pure techy (no developer/architect background) but I have reasonable tech skills and can write functional code. For example, I wouldn't see myself sitting down for 3 days and designing a technical solution, I'd be more kicking the tyres on it, being a sounding board for tech leads and offering feedback, setting the priorities, resourcing/budgeting, making it presentable to business stakeholders etc. There are quite a lot of senior roles now that are expecting more of an architect or lead/principal engineer background. I position myself as more of a hybrid that is an interested in how the organisation will leverage the data as much as what the technical solution is but sometimes I feel this means I'm neither one thing nor the other when it comes to organisations weighing up where I fit in (I've had feedback from interviews/screening calls in the past that my background is too much in IT, and then on the flipside for other roles that I don't have the deep tech experience.

 

[arty]

not trying to get you a new job, was only going to offer advice on the salary. LinkedIn was just a way for you to contact me more privately. I am a freelance consultant with 40 years in IT with similar experience to yours so can offer advice on what you are worth.

Ah, fair enough. I'd certainly value your advice, but I'm not sure of the best way to communicate given that they've got rid of the Trust system on here, and I'm loath to put contact details in a forum thread. Sorry!

I think it depends a bit on the organisation, in smaller orgs having a generalist who can cover a lot of bases (at a reasonably high level of seniority and competent) is probably really useful. Bigger orgs might have half a dozen people managing that stuff. It sounds like the sort of realms you are operating in, being a generalist isn't necessarily bad thing, but might limit your options if looking for a role in bigger orgs.

I do have similar considerations personally, in that within my field (Data Engineering / Warehousing / BI) I am struggling to really pin down what roles I should be targeting. I'm not a pure techy (no developer/architect background) but I have reasonable tech skills and can write functional code. For example, I wouldn't see myself sitting down for 3 days and designing a technical solution, I'd be more kicking the tyres on it, being a sounding board for tech leads and offering feedback, setting the priorities, resourcing/budgeting, making it presentable to business stakeholders etc. There are quite a lot of senior roles now that are expecting more of an architect or lead/principal engineer background. I position myself as more of a hybrid that is an interested in how the organisation will leverage the data as much as what the technical solution is but sometimes I feel this means I'm neither one thing nor the other when it comes to organisations weighing up where I fit in (I've had feedback from interviews/screening calls in the past that my background is too much in IT, and then on the flipside for other roles that I don't have the deep tech experience.

In general I've enjoyed working at smaller companies more, but sometimes the lack of resources and occasional fire-fighting can feel a bit limiting.

Funnily enough we're trying to recruit a semi-technical BI / data science specialist at the moment, but I won't turn this into a recruitment thread!

 

[ultralaser]

I also tend to agree with some of the others on specialisms tending to attract the higher pay levels at the moment, but even that said I think £80K in the South of England (especially Cambridge) seems a bit low for your level of experience (but not massively so). In my experience there are large numbers of low-mid range jobs available and a smaller number of high quality / high paying roles. I do think it is really key to build a strong network so you get keyed into when high quality / high paying roles become available.

 

[EvilRob]

S

Assuming you haven't exaggerated your skillsets, as others said unless you're getting a substantial equity in the business, £80k is on the lower side. I expect people like you to be getting a TC of £150-200k.

However, you've presented yourself as a do-it-all generalist. This might end up not playing to your advantage as the current market values specialisation far more than being a jack of all trades.

Agree with this, seems like working for a tech company in a mid senior role in London is at least £100k total comp now. If you are getting more senior roles or even C level would expect anything from £150-300k.