There's no right answer to "should you be paid more" - either you can get someone to pay you more or you can't, and the only way to find out is to go and ask for it. Your salary is whatever you can negotiate, no more or less.
A quick glance at GlassDoor's salary data is that $75K is pretty typical for someone with your experience, skillset, and location.
Not sure about GlassDoor but according to salary.com and payscale.com and a search on "Software Developer III" or "Software Developer IV" (titles that closely match my job description) the median salary for NoVa is believe it or not, around 100k. Even a search for "Software Developer II" comes up to be around 85K. I think the problem here is that I have few years of experience (2 years) but my job description matches more of SDIII or SDIV which is about 5-10 years of experience. But I don't trust the accuracy of these sites hence why I created this post so i can get answers from real people. I appreciate your input.
You mentioned that the company you work for is a government contractor. Is it a product company or a support services company? If it is the latter, then 1)the rate that the company can bill you out at is determined based on years of experience and not what you actually do and 2) the government is clamping down on companies rates and many are in a pay freeze right now. If it is a product company they have more latitude, although not as much as you would think.
100k for 7-10 years seems right for the area, especially if you are in the government contracting realm(contrary to popular belief, government contractors are paid well below market). A company that competed in the private sector could probably pay more. 85K for about 5 years seems a touch low for an average, but no incredibly so. 75k for 2 years is probably a touch above average, although not incredibly so.
It is a support services company. I am still not sure why a company would pay just based on years of experience as opposed to performance, but thanks for your input.
Comments
There's no right answer to "should you be paid more" - either you can get someone to pay you more or you can't, and the only way to find out is to go and ask for it. Your salary is whatever you can negotiate, no more or less.
A quick glance at GlassDoor's salary data is that $75K is pretty typical for someone with your experience, skillset, and location.
Not sure about GlassDoor but according to salary.com and payscale.com and a search on "Software Developer III" or "Software Developer IV" (titles that closely match my job description) the median salary for NoVa is believe it or not, around 100k. Even a search for "Software Developer II" comes up to be around 85K. I think the problem here is that I have few years of experience (2 years) but my job description matches more of SDIII or SDIV which is about 5-10 years of experience. But I don't trust the accuracy of these sites hence why I created this post so i can get answers from real people. I appreciate your input.
You mentioned that the company you work for is a government contractor. Is it a product company or a support services company? If it is the latter, then 1)the rate that the company can bill you out at is determined based on years of experience and not what you actually do and 2) the government is clamping down on companies rates and many are in a pay freeze right now. If it is a product company they have more latitude, although not as much as you would think.
100k for 7-10 years seems right for the area, especially if you are in the government contracting realm(contrary to popular belief, government contractors are paid well below market). A company that competed in the private sector could probably pay more. 85K for about 5 years seems a touch low for an average, but no incredibly so. 75k for 2 years is probably a touch above average, although not incredibly so.
It is a support services company. I am still not sure why a company would pay just based on years of experience as opposed to performance, but thanks for your input.