Ask HN: What did I get into by accepting this job?

My first programming job (out of high school, not college, and it was 2000 when dollars were worth a bit more) was also for a $15/hour 3-month contract. And then I doubled it with every job change, and it kept doubling far longer than I would've expected, until money was no longer a significant problem. I have friends that did similar - $15/hour webmonkey job to $75/hour contractor to $100K/year salary to...well, lots. It's not unusual (unreasonable perhaps, but not unusual) to start out like this, but you don't want to stay at this level unless you really don't value yourself.

Edit: Just realized that your contract may preclude you from taking other jobs during the 3-month period. If that's the case, seriously consider not taking it. You can probably get better offers in NYC even as a junior developer.

> It's a late stage startup owned by a parent company.

Then they should be able to pay you more than peanuts--note that a single quarter payment under that scheme is going to be about 7.5K pre-tax; which you'll have to pay.

Get a job as a barista or plumbing assistant or something, because this is you getting taken for a ride.

First jobs just out of school often suck. Mindset is vital: Understand that your story has now changed from unemployed job-seeker to 'I'm a full-stack engineer with a promising startup'...

Think of this as a paid practicum, get some forward career momentum going. Use this time to practice your craft, add to your portfolio, and build up professional contacts. Tough it out for 6 months, certainly no longer than a year.

Also, stay visible-- start regularly attending local Meet-ups. That's where you'll connect with hidden job opportunities. > http://www.meetup.com/NY-JavaScript/

- Ping Jon Lehr @ the VC work-bench - Ping Kris Beevers at nsone, Zac Smith at packet, and other local CEOs who are hiring or know those who are

Happy to connect you if you like - avi at kentik dot com.

And -

Question for everyone - is there a resource like Old Geek Jobs (https://oldgeekjobs.com/) but for fresh grads / self-taught?

In 3 months you will have "Fullstack Javascript Software Engineer" on your resume and it will be much easier to find a better job.

"$14/hr for a CS graduate with lots of responsibilities is much less than I pay my barber."

I was real bitter when I started my career after getting a 4 year degree in a CS from a reputable institution and was making less money than my friends who were waiters. It only made me miserable so my advice is to let it go. Also in 5 years your barber will still be supporting his family on measly $20/hr and you'll be pulling in 100k+.

2) There's still plenty to learn in an awful, underpaid job. First off, of course, practicing and honing your skills. Writing the best code you can within real-world time constraints. Reading other people's code and understanding a legacy code base.

Then there's logistical and interpersonal stuff. Working on a real-world team, and how it uses an issue tracker, version control, etc. Getting code review and learning to give good code review. Office politics.

In an office that's underpaying you that much, it's quite likely that a lot of things are insanely dysfunctional. That's OK! All offices are dysfunctional in one way or another. Learning to work around it is a good thing.

Just make sure that whatever the environment is around you, and as difficult as the people are to get along with, you're still being excellent to them. And try not to pick up really bad technical habits -- when you move on to the next thing, be as open as you can to learning better ways of doing things.

3) Go to tech meetups and network. You want to meet both senior engineers and people in engineering management positions. The former are great for networking and mentorship (and often refer people they know to others who are hiring); the latter are constantly hiring, especially those whose companies are in expansion modes.

4) Ask your senior engineering mentors to do mock interviews with you and help you understand where you might be running into problems with both technical and non-technical rounds.

5) Research which startups raised a major funding round 1-12 months ago. They're usually the ones in expansion mode. They're typically looking for oodles of junior engineers to place under the leadership of a smaller number of senior engineers.

6) Find yourself a recruiter. They've got clients desperately begging for javascript engineers (as I can attest, having recently been in the market to hire a front-end engineer), and it's in their interest to get you the highest-paying job you're anywhere near qualified for. The better ones may also be willing to help you practice non-technical interviews and offer feedback. Because it makes it easier for them to sell a client on you.

Yes, some recruiters are the scum of the earth, but there are also a lot of decent ones and a handful of great ones. If you've got a bit of skill and a non-toxic personality, even the halfway decent ones will find you a much better deal than you're currently getting.

(Just make sure that it's also a fit for you - obvious you want a salary around market rate, but don't let the recruiter shoehorn you into a high-paying position where you'll be miserable because of culture or other reasons.)

7) Practice negotiating!