Salary of Test Consultant

Hi,

I am planning to come over to UK in near future as a Test Consultant (PMP, ISEB Certified) having 9 years experience into manual testing and some expierence into Automation.Worked heavily in BFSI domain. Need inputs on :

1. What salary to expect ? Is grosss salary of 50000 GBP/annum appropriate or should i ask for less or more given current economic scenario ?

2. Does Salary varies based on region you would be in or they are more or less consistent ?

3. Which region in UK has lowest cost of living and potential oppurtunity of more saving ?

4. What kind of roles generally available,individual contributor or team leader ?

Thanks
-Raj

ohhh please ask for salary of £100k, there are umpteen jobs around here for your skills. who knows you might land up in atleast 15-20 of them without even having an interview.

ask for a house and mortgage in central london, if that's not enough, ask a car and Raspberry and what not ?

dont you read newspapers at all ?

software engineers, banking graduates and other skilled professionals mobbing sainsburys for supermarkey check out positions?

Only 2200 applications per job as per yesterday's Thelondonpaper.

We recently advertised a position for a Senior Software consultant and got 6 responses.....

OMG?! COULD THE NEWSPAPERS BE BLOWING THINGS OUT OF PROPORTION!?!?!!

His questions we're quite legitimate and there was no need for the level of sarcasm you replied with let alone the doom and gloom. I have seen 9 contractors secure jobs or have current projects extended since the start of May in areas of IT inclduing sofware development and analyst roles.

Have you ever though that maybe you can't get a job because of your attitude?

Hi Raj

I have 8+ yrs of software testing in both manual and automation.

I have faced the question like what is your expectation when I got some telephonic calls. I said it is according to the industrial standards and when they asked the figure I said it is Between 20 to 30k.

I am not sure how much we can ask, Even I want to know how much salary we can expect for 8+ yrs tesitng people (senior qA).

I think we can expect someway around 30k to 40k.

I think 50k at this economic position is a high quoted one, better be ask below 40k.

I am not getting much calls, only 1 call in a week.

Hi Raj,

Hope this helps you understand how to bargain the final pay package you receive.
1. UK experience though favored is never mandatory. If you are good at what you do, any quality experience counts so dont be perturbed.
2. Final package depends on any added benefits the company puts on the table during negotiations
For example - 40k with 10% guaranteed bonus every year plus bonus on performance, insurance, pension contributions, benefits such as car, fuel, possibly accommodation though very rare and many others must be taken into account
3. 50k in the main London city is equivalent to 35k in a nice town or suburb.

Honestly speaking, 9 years can easily demanding 40 to 50k, nothing wrong in that. Permanent and contracting pay packages are very different mainly because a contract is short lived, in most cases, and does not guarantee continuous salary every month end

Just as I have said in many other posts, all depends on your responsibilities, requirements and plans. If you have cash reserves for 6 to 8 months and are ready to wait patiently, and I do mean patiently as things move slowly, then come on over. Else you are better off waiting until 2010 and re-evaluating the job scenario and coming over.
You can never get a good picture of things if you are not here in person.

Market is bad but not dead. Quality people are always in demand, anywhere, anytime and in any country. Things are much different now and an example I like to give is - When before you had, say, 500 applicants for 50 openings, you may now have 2000 for 50 openings, so nothing is impossible, only the competition has got a lot tougher.

Cheers
KP

Moderator - I got a Debug Code and error last night....this morning, my post has been submitted 4 times!!!
Please delete.

Thanks
KP

Plz delete entry

Plz delete entry

Problem with forum

Sorry for my lack of knowledge, what does a test consultant do?

Testing!!!

The tag Consultant is used a lot in Europe - Software Consultant, Management Consultant and so on.....I guess it's because many people are contractor and so the term Consultant seems apt. Due to outsourcing, there are also roles where subject matter experts oversee the work done by 3rd party vendors and run the project or a specific part of the module or design for the main company. So it sort of fits into a consultancy role.

Nothing great in the term but you are a consultant out here in your field

Cheers
KP

ok, got it. thanks.

Raj2K9,

Things are not rosy. However, things are improving. Witha bit of luck, you might get 30K - 40 K salary. Don't fuss about the role at the moment. With a bt of UK experience you may land in your dreamjob.