Room for RoraΖ and Mark Buffalo

Mark Buffalo

17:12

Hai

RoraΖ

Hey

Do you mind telling me what city you'll be working in?

Mark Buffalo

Suitland

RoraΖ

ah ok

So I'm not as familiar with VA

And it really depends on your salary. Not sure where you're coming from but it's extremely expensive to live in the area.

But I think I can make some suggestions.

Mark Buffalo

Sure

RoraΖ

Oh suitland's in MD, ouch that commute could be rough

Mark Buffalo

17:20

Yeah, I mean, it's in that area. So I could live nearby, not exactly in the city.

RoraΖ

Yeah, it's just at an awkward place on the beltway.

So I don't know about schools or anything like that. But Burke, VA is a fairly nice familiy friendly area.

It'd be roughly 30m drive to work.

Mark Buffalo

Ah.

So nobody wants to live in suitland...?

RoraΖ

Columbia Maryland has a Costco, you're looking at a 40-50m commute.

that's across the river... there's not a whole lot there.

Across the harbor anyway

Actually suitland is farther south than I thought, there are quite a few nice homes there. But extremely expensive.

That would be more towards Capitol Heights

Mark Buffalo

Interesting

RoraΖ

Burke is probably more affordable, and closer to a Costco.

Arlington/Alexandria would be nice as well, but Alexandria would be on the pricier side.

There is nothing cheap about the area.

Suburb 1BR apartments start at $1300 a month. And that's cheap.

Mark Buffalo

17:27

What kind of salary would I go for? Contracting. Security, pentesting, programming. Etc

RoraΖ

Homes, the average price is probably in the $400k range.

How many years of experience?

Mark Buffalo

A mix. 18 years programming... but much less full time

And the security and hacking stuff... much longer, but not full time

Off and on mostly

But let's go with 3. For full time stuff

RoraΖ

7 years of professional experience you should be looking at $120k on average.

3 years... you're looking around $100k, could get as high as $110k.

This is gov't contracting

Mark Buffalo

Yeah it is

Also, uh.. hm.

RoraΖ

Yeah those numbers should be around what you'd be looking at.

Mark Buffalo

17:31

That means no benefits, etc?

Seems like a downgrade to what I have now. By a bit.

RoraΖ

I have full benefits, 401k matching

profit sharing

Depends on the company and what they offer.

Mark Buffalo

Even as a contractor?

RoraΖ

Private contractors

Mark Buffalo

Yeah, that's what these guys are

RoraΖ

yeah they should take care of you

You probably don't want to mention which contractor

But if you have legit 10 years of experience, you can probably get ~150k base salary

Especially if you have a master's degree.

Mark Buffalo

17:35

No degree, actually

Haven't finished it

RoraΖ

18 years of general experience, 3 years of professional experience. Yeah somewhere between 110k and 125k. Just depends on how you negotiate, and the company.

Take into account days off you would get etc.

I would use this site to try and ballpark what you're willing to take.

money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living

Mark Buffalo

Hm

There's really no upgrade at 110k

It's a complete downgrade

:/

RoraΖ

Including their benefits package?

Mark Buffalo

Yup.

I already have amazing benefits

RoraΖ

Gotcha

Well my company's base salary wasn't the largest, but with their profit sharing 401k contributions, and bonus it ends up adding around 15-20k a year.

Mark Buffalo

17:41

I'll have to wait and see how it goes.

RoraΖ

Have you interviewed yet?

Mark Buffalo

Not yet

So who knows

Should have one soon

RoraΖ

Cool, good luck man. If you have the option to find a job elsewhere I'd do that.

It's so damn expensive to live here. I'll be out in about 1.5 years. lol

Mark Buffalo

Thanks

Lol

Transcript for

Room for RoraΖ and Mark Buffalo