Software salaries in the defence sector

[omegared]

Hi

Sorry if this is not the right place to ask this question, I just wasn't sure where else to put it.

Anyway my field is in software and I am considering moving into the defence sector. Defence because I think military hardware is the coolest looking technology around. I also like technology which is used to kill and maime people j/k.

Anyway I have been working as a java developer in a different industry for about 2 years and am earning 30k. In two more years time I could expect to be earning 35-40. Anything above would be 40+.

Now I had been doing some reseach into defence salaries as money is important to me aswell as the job I do. I believe the results show that a software job in defence does not have good pay. I believe the average is roughly:

graduate:20k
graduate +3 yeas experience:25k
graduate +5 years experience: 30k

As you can see the difference is significant, this is meant to be what they pay IT professionals for doing on board aircraft systems in the latest fighter jets etc. I'm suprised they do not try to attract the very best with higher salaries.

Anyway can somebody please confirm this is generally what defence pays.

Cheers

 

[gf0012-aust]

Anyway can somebody please confirm this is generally what defence pays.

Cheers

it really depends on a lot of factors. you may be better off working as a contracted consultant to a mil specialist vendor.

eg in 1999-2000 I was a consultant with SMS. SMS charged out my function to ADF for $1500 per day. 50% of that fee was mine, they got the rest for managing the contract etc...

my contract gave me an annual percentage of the company profits, I received allowances for parking, comms packages and necessary expenses recovery on travel and equipment (computers, mobile phones, ISP fees etc...) superannuation and an annual trip home to a pre-nominated capital city of my choice at their expense. I also had a health plan provided by the company.

I was earning less than the blokes who were loggies and code cutters (they were typically charged out at $2000 per day).

you would never in your wildest dreams command those salaries within ADF to do a similar job.

I suspect that the UK is similar.

 

[adsH]

The Royal Navy Does pay very Well! i mean you can expect to probably start off at around 35-40 i Believe. I'm looking at Software/IS career within the Navy. Plus you get all the Extra benifits of being someone with special skills that allows you to move up ranks quicker then your collegues.

If you don't want to get into the Military then the other Option would be to settle for a civilian job GF is right Consultant always get paid more, partly becasue you can only be a consultant if some wants to consult you. LOL! ie no one is going to come to you for advise if they know you don't have the right experience or if you don't have an established track record.

I believe Defense Jobs are relativly more shielded in the UK, well if you compare it with other unregulated industry jobs i'd say defense related software dev is not Outsouceable to a certain extent!

Also keep an Eye out for Telecoms they're doing pretty well right now, but always stay portable since Industries go through cycles and while one industry shines the other fades away with massive layoffs.

Try moving into software design/system design and project management rather then Just code building, Any IS Skills are always a plus specially since there's a shortage right-now.

Coding is moving away from the UK since a software engineer can be expected to get paid anything upto around 30-50 Grand while an equivalant in India can expect a top Salary of around 4-6 Grand per year.