OK, down to business.
Everyone knows that salary negotiations are hard, especially for us introverted types. I figure that one reason why I personally suck at them so bad is that I don't have any real idea of how much other people (employers in particular) see my worth. It's tough, but that's how it is.
So what I want to do here is get a little equaliser in my pocket; I want to find out how much people would actually be willing to pay me, so that the next time I go into a salary negotiation I know when I'm getting low-balled, and how far I can push.
Of course, this will change with location, job, etc. but I just want your honest opinion. If you were to hire me, based on the work I can show you, what would be 1. Your opening offer, 2. The lowest you would expect to get away with, and 3. The maximum that you would pay. Optionally; 4. What could I do to improve this?
Just so you're not making random guesses, here's some background on me:
- I work primarily in PHP and JavaScript, but have had (commercial) experience with Python (Pylons/Repoze.bfg/Pyramid; Django; Zope/Plone) and Java.
- I've spent most of my years filling the roles of both a Software Developer and a secondary server administrator.
- I've started an Open Source project (http://www.samuellevy.com/mico) which, while not huge, has a couple of translations provided by users (Russian and Spanish), and is being used by a couple of hundred businesses.
My website: http://www.samuellevy.com
tl;dr: I want you to pretend that you're going to hire me, and then tell me what you would offer me.
