delirial

By the end of September 2006, my career as a student was coming to an end and the search for a job was inevitable.

I went to my college’s ‘Job Fair’ armed with a kickass resumé and over three years of part-time experience under my belt. Landing subsequent interviews and, eventually, job offers wasn’t too much of a problem because my research experience and part-time jobs really worked in my favor. I did my fair share of research about the companies that would be visiting us. Among the top contenders featured: IBM, HP, Microsoft, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Goldman Sachs and Allstate.

One of the companies that caught my attention was Cascades Technologies (CTi): a Virginia-based company that was moving part of their development to Puerto Rico. Some of their clients include:

• Department of Labor
• Department of Health and Human Services
• National Institutes of Health
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• General Services Administration
• Department of Justice

I handed the CTi representative my resume (hot chic, btw), she seemed interested in my merits. That noon I received a call from them asking me to go in for an interview the next Wednesday. I had already been called by Raytheon, Allstate, HP and Microsoft, but this was the first company that wouldn’t require me to relocate. I was thrilled!

Almost two weeks later, I arrive at the office where they were conducting the interviews. As I sat down, I heard one of their employees talking about how Puerto Rico was great for handling their development operations because it was so close to the States and local colleges give you a very solid background on electronics engineering, as opposed to focusing only on the Computers Science part. I guess that should have given the hint that they were just looking for quick way to shave their development costs, but I was excited and I really wanted to land the job.

I went in and did my interview. The lady from HR mentioned several times during the interview how impressed she was that I had that amount of experience at such a young age. I felt pretty confident that the job was mine.

One week later I receive a call saying that I had been hired and, three weeks later I receive my contract.

The company, which is not ashamed to mention in their front-page that they are recognized as one of Virginia’s “Fantastic 50″, offered me a whooping $11/hr (around $22,000/year) and, since I would be working under a contract, I had no right to receive additional benefits.

I decided to write them an email regarding their “Fantastic” offer. I included a number of local statistics that included average salaries for Software Engineers with 0-2 years of experience (around $40,000), and graphs comparing the costs of life in both locations. I also mentioned how the offer was not competitive in comparison with my other offers (from Raytheon and Allstate). Hell, I made more working as a bagger in a local grocery shop and back then I hadn’t even graduated from high school.

The HR guy who was in charge of hiring me felt insulted by my saying that the salary was not competitive, and mentioned several times that in order to stay in business they always made sure their salaries were adequate. He also made a load of emphasis on the fact that I was not a Software Engineer. According to them I was a ‘Junior Developer’ (whatever that means). My experience (yeah, the same experience the HR lady said was impressive) was not ‘real’ experience (I figure according to them one could also have ‘virtual’ experience).

I forgot to mention, he did thank me for such an informative and well-written email.

I understand that companies are making an effort to reduce the operational costs, but don’t try to take an Engineer (who spent 5 years getting his degree) for a fool and then try to make it sound like you are doing him a favor. If a company like Raytheon is willing to offer me a job in a group that develops the President’s Red Phone and give me over $55,000 for it, why would I work for a company that is unwilling to recognize my merits and calls me a ‘Junior Developer’?