Reasonable salary for sr IT in Cap Fed

[dageeza]

I am now being offered a number of interviews (I am in Ireland) for Sr IT positions in Argentina, and without exception, they ask what you would be looking for in terms of salary. I know the rates have gone down a lot in last couple of years, but at the same time I am going to need to earn enough to live pretty comfortably.
I am looking for an idea of what to look for. I have had "acceptance" from a couple of consultadoras of AR$ 8000 (NETO), but others are offering 5000 or even lower, so I am a bit lost on what to make a reasonable starting point. I don't believe 7000 to be unreasonable ?

Thanks in advance for all help.

 

[RobDana]

I am an experienced php developer from the US living in BsAs. I went on a total of one interview about 18 months ago and was offered a project manager position for 2500 pesos. I stopped looking then and there and have been freelancing since for US clients. Best decision I ever made. It can be difficult to compare different skill sets and this was over a year ago, but I hope it is of some use to you. Feel free to pm me for more details.

Rob

 

[igor]

I believe that for Java/.Net developers with, say, 5 years of experience ARS 4,500 is OK if they hire you as an employee and around 7,000 if they hire you as an independent contractor.

 

[ghost]

beware of these offers, there are many catch 22s involved in working in Argentina. If the company is IBM or such, then maybe you will have a real job. Otherwise beware.

 

[JHB1216]

I think that you are hearing the reality of the job market in Argentina. IT positions for 5,000 pesos a month GROSS seem to be typical. The job market here is saturated with young educated professionals here and a lot of them speak English. So it is typical to expect Argentine wages working in Argentina. The standard of living here is much lower than what you might be accustomed to there.

 

[wnewman7]

I am an American who worked for a year at IBM in Argentina as a sort of "walk-in" after getting my job at a job fair here in Buenos Aires. Even working for a big firm like that expect bad pay (less than 4,000 gross), very little responsibility and snail-slow career progression. I was at the job for less than a year before moving onto greener pasteurs at another company but bottom line is that you will experience a significant drop in your living standard if you do not have a suplementary source of income. And adding to a point made above: Argentina is known for producing extremely talented IT people (I know of a few US online startups who run their operations from Argentina for that reason) so unless you have extremely specialized and indespensible skills expect to make local wages.


That being said, if you are looking to tune your spanish and put international experience on your resume its a good bet, but if you are thinking of being here long term you may want to re-evalute the financial reality of that decision.

 

[superpacko]

Hey! im an Argentinian C++ / Java developer.. im currently working for a Banking/Financial company .. i've been working for 3 years, im making ARS 4600 gross, which is 4000 in hand.
You can get higher salaries, but it depends on your skills, php, asp, stuff like that doesnt pay that much, on the other hand, c++ and Java are well payed. So if u have 3 or more years you should expect a salary between 3500 and 5000 gross for a Ssr.
and i wouldnt recommend companies like IBM or ACCENTURE, low pay, extremely demanding with no proportional relation with the offered salary and not so flexible.

 

[P&J]

Hey there

We moved down a couple of months ago from Dublin and we were also a little anxious about what it would really cost to live. As a rule of thumb I'd say its about a third as expensive as Dublin if you'd like to maintain a similar lifestyle. I wrote up a summary of our first months spending at ...

http://www.jameskennedy.ie/2009/08/08/double-your-money-move-to-ba/

I have no experience of working for a company here but I would tend to agree that if you can, freelancing over the net is the way to go. We brought a blueface phone with us and I've been doing bits and bobs for people with no problem (assuming you can get over the 4hr time difference).

If you have any nixers on the go I'd try and ramp them up where possible. There appears to be a massive culture or continual education here and I'd say there is a lot of competition for work - which will drive down prices. You might be at an advantage being a native English speaker and will be dealing with clients in the UK/Ireland. I'm not sure how I'd rate it as a 'career move' but as a great place to live - it rocks.

Hope this helps.

James

PS: Ignore all this advice and do it anyway. When is the next time you'll have a chance like this? You can also slither back if it doesn't work out.