Maximum PC

How much such a C++/VB.net programmer get paid starting? For example a student thats fresshed out of college with a bachelor of CS degree.

The depends entirely on the location of the job .. salaries vary greatly depending on where you are.

A programmer in C++ / .NET would start in Halifax in the low 40k range. The same job in Toronto would be in the mid-50s and in Vancouver in the high 50s. Hopefully, others will chime in with their knowledge of American cities.

There are also several online resources that you can use to compare average salaries by occupation and geography.

This site lists average national salaries based on occupation, education, and experience.

There are a lot of depends in there...

Did you go to Stanford Univ or Stratton JC?
Do you live in an area where companies must compete for talent?
Do you have some additional specialized knowledge that is in demand?
Are you talented and ambitious or just a video gamer who ended up in CS because you couldn't decide on a major?


In the LA area, there are quite a few aerospace companies competing for people (with each other and other industries). Interns start in the 40K to 55K range, coops in the 50K to 60K range, entry level employess in the 60K to 70K range. If you're not making over 70K by your 3rd year, you should probably get off your duff and find a job elsewhere.

Just happened to run across this checking some stats on grad school...

US News
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I live in New York City.

http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm#NY

Forget the American cities... tell us more about Canadian cities! JK

Where is the equivalent of Silicon Valley in Canada?

How do Edmonton, Calgary, Quebec and Montreal compare to the cities you listed?

Ottawa has a very strong corporate IT market ... Nortel, Cisco, ATI, IBM, Novell ... IT in suits, basically.

Vancouver has a very strong developer IT market ... lots of game companies have studios there, for instance, and there are lots of start-ups that pop up in that area.

Halifax is a largely a support market, but some game studios are here and big corps are starting to look at Halifax as a cheap place to put a bunch of developers in a room.



Edmonton and Calgary have strong IT markets .. largely supporting the huge oil industry and banking. Montreal was once a great IT market, but the federal gov fucked them over by offering very cheap real-estate in Ottawa with tax incentives ... ATI and Corel are just two of the companies that moved to Ottawa from Montreal around the turn of the century.