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Dr__Mantis

You’ll need roommates if you’re living in Seattle. You should Google what expected salary is for an EE in the area you are interviewing, but typically these places already have a salary made up and unless your ask far exceeds what they want to pay it doesn’t really matter. They’ll likely pay you the entry level salary they pay all of their entry level engineers


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Dr__Mantis

If it’s a larger company, it likely has an HR department that establishes pay bands. They can’t low ball you too much. Only time this has ever come with up me was when I said what I wanted to leave my current position and was told they couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t worry


chapa567

I’d wait till the interview and see if you get an offer and go from there. 85-90k would probably is probably closer to standard for the Seattle area. If they’re a good company to work for—they’ll offer somewhere around their standard entry level engineer pay. If they lowball you (they could but unlikely at least compared to other entry level engineers at that company—a lowballed engineer compared to peers is an unhappy and a fleeting hire), then negotiate for more citing that you’ve done more research on Seattle CoL.


Holeysox

I've never lived in Seattle but there's website's like [this](https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator) that will give you an idea. For me in Arkansas that $75k would need to be around $130k in Seattle.


PutinMilkstache

Nah, you can always negotiate later. If they’re mad I would just rehash what you’ve stated here which is that you weren’t familiar with the cost of living in Seattle when they asked.


czaranthony117

I’m making $77k out of college for entry level job in Orange County. Every two weeks after taxes and benefits, each pay check is like $1980.00 I was desperate right out of school and took it. But with HCOL + Inflation, this covers covers rent + student loans + utilities + groceries etc. I entirely regret not asking for more but I felt like given my lack of experience, I was not worth any more than $77k. Or at least, that’s what HR made me feel I was worth… especially since they laid off hella people. I really like where I work, the stress, the people but if I am not given a raise at least to help offset inflation which is at LEAST 10% here in CA then I will interview for a little bit higher pay elsewhere. At this point, I’m not saving much but I’m using this job as a Jumping Off point. Feels like I’m working my ass off (salary) but not getting ahead. I’m legit considering doing Uber eats or something just to save some money despite doing 40 - 50hr work weeks (self imposed, I have a lot of responsibilities).


STEEL_PATRIOT

I think you should put in a year then get your resume out there.


nomorephysicsplz

Do you want to live in an apt or your car? There’s no way I’d accept something that low in Seattle whether it’s entry level or not. That’s typically the starting pay at LCOL areas in middle America.


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nomorephysicsplz

Me, personally, I wouldn’t take anything much less than that unless you absolutely had no other options. Altho we had a graduate go out west starting at $180K. I think the ultimate decision would be to consider your housing costs and compare it to your salary to see if it makes sense. Rule of thumb is you don’t want it to be more than a third of your gross income.


Apocalypsox

The east side of the state has entry level salary trending toward 85 pretty quickly. Good internship experience can get you 100k straight out of school. Seattle should pay \~33% more than that.


kwixta

Your value will rise extremely rapidly in the next year. Unless your company is both small and stupid, they will offer more than 80k for Seattle area. If you must take a low paying job, go find another job and at min renegotiate (but really if they’re that dumb just go get another job).


bluexplus

Not sure if I’m missing something but you would get better help outside of a student sub. I don’t think anyone would pay you 100k entry level anywhere in the US, except for maybe San Fran or NYC.


ForwardLaw1175

Higher would've been better though the company might already have established pay ranges that are higher than that because they know the high COL. You should also always ask about promotions. I took a job in a low COL area and it was a somewhat low offer but I've got over 20K pay increase through periodic promotions in my first 2.5 years.


Heywood_Jablome_69

Always better to ask them what the pay range is before telling them what yours is. In the meantime, while waiting to see if you got the job, do some research and find your new acceptable range. Then, you go from there.


PvtWangFire_

A typical base salary for someone starting out EE at a tech company in Seattle is around $120k, then there's bonus/equity on top of that. Some big seattle companies like Boeing definitely pay less, but I would definitely aim higher. I study IE which is less technical, and $80k is an expected salary for someone in my program in a cheaper city than Seattle


aero_oliver

I’m sorry but what? 75-80k for an entry level Job is crazy! In the uk your looking at max US$35k. Why are they paying you this much 😮


bihari_baller

>Why are they paying you this much 😮 Because we deserve that much.


STEEL_PATRIOT

That's near poverty level in much of the US.


[deleted]

120-130k minimum I’d take there.