Re: Interview-Update

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

Cheryle Wiese wrote:

> Not wanting to appear too negative I asked, "Oh, what is the starting
> salary range for this position?"
>
> The answer:  $24,000 a year.

Oh, Cheryle - I had the same experience - but it was around 1990 and in
Silicon Valley, with Hewlett Packard!  At the time, contract tech
writers were making $35-40/hour, and anything above a junior writer
(captive) was making at least $30,000/yr.  I went through the whole
six-person, four-hour interview, being watched by anybody else who cared
to look over (if you've never been at the HP site on Page Mill, it has -
or at least had then - no cubicle walls, just a sea of desks with tiny
corners of privacy created by carefully arranged file cabinets and
bookcases), and in the last interview was told they were pleased with
what they saw and wanted to offer me the job - at $24,000/yr.
Absolutely stunned, I at least had the presence of mind to be gracious
and say "Thank you, I'll think about it" rather than what was on the tip
of my tongue.

I know there are a fair number of companies out there with a serious
disconnect from reality, but I hardly expected that from Hewlett
Packard.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems

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