Hi all--
I am currently in my last year of College and will be obtaining degrees in Mathematics and Information Technology in May. I recently have been offered a job through a local business that has been expanding. I will be in charge of all of their IT needs. Right now, it isn't too much, just projects here and there but they are hoping to grow as a company quite a bit within the next few months and have had hopes of hiring a Full time IT employee. Anyways, this is a great opportunity for me and for the little work I have done with them I very much enjoy. However, they have asked me to contract my work for them until I am "officially" hired as an employee. They have asked me to set my own wage, which is where I am at a loss. How do I determine what it too much or too little to ask for. I guess, how do I know what I am worth. This is my first job in my field outside of classroom work, and though I have excelled in my classes, how do I know what I will do outside of the classroom. Anyways, any tips and advice is much appreciated! Thank you!
Re: Determining Self Worth
Salary.com is also a good one. You may also want to contact your career placement office to see what similar grads made last year with your degree or similar positions.
Also, when going over your contract, find out if you will be hourly or if they plan on giving you a flat fee (this is unlikely). All the project managers I have ever worked with were paid an hourly fee, but then some had overtime (at time and a half) and some had jobs where the managers just cut them off at 40 hours for that week (so if a contractor worked four 10-hour days, they didn't work the fifth day).