The costs of an unpaid job search can add up. The purpose of this article is to get into the math behind it.
I’ll give you the actual costs up front here, and below are the supporting calculations.
Monthly Opportunity Costs of IT Job Searches
Senior Programmer: $14,640 USD per month
Mid Level Programmer: $10,326.40 USD per month
Junior Programmer: $6800 USD per month
Senior Programmer (133K per year):
The average work year in the U.S. is 2000 hours of work (the number many annual rates are based on)
So $133,000/2000 = $66.50 per hour.
Let’s use an 8 hour day, so 8 X $66.50 = $532 per day.
For a weekly salary: 5 Work Days X $532 = $2660 per week
For a monthly salary: 4 Work Weeks X $2660 = $10,640 per month
We’ll use a conservative average monthly expenses here of $4000 a month for rent, car, utilities, insurance, food, entertainment, etc.
Lost Wages ($10,640) + Expenses ($4000) = $14,640
TOTAL: Top Level Monthly Cost of Job Search = $14,640
Mid Level Programmer (91.6K per year):
According to payscale.com , the average salary of a Software Engineer in the United States is $91, 571 per year. The Range is $60,000 to $133,000 (note, I’ve almost always made much more than the high end of the range for the same job)
Let’s use the middle of the scale to calculate:
The average work year in the U.S. is 2000 hours of work (the number many annual rates are based on)
So 91,571/2000 = $45.79 per hour.
Let’s use an 8 hour day, so 8 X $45.79 = $366.32 per day.
For a weekly salary: 5 Work Days X $366.32 = $1831.60 per week
For a monthly salary: 4 Work Weeks X $1200 = $7326.4 per month
We’ll use a conservative average monthly expenses here of $3000 a month for rent, car, utilities, insurance, food, entertainment, etc.
Lost Wages ($7326.4) + Expenses ($3000) = $10,326.40
TOTAL: Mid Level Monthly Cost of Job Search = $10,326.40
Entry Level Programmer (60K per year)
I know some of my audience is new college graduates with more entry level salaries, so I’ll use $60,000 dollars for our calculations.
The average work year in the U.S. is 2000 hours of work (the number many annual rates are based on)
So 60,000/2000 = $30 per hour. This is super conservatives, and entry level only.
Let’s use an 8 hour day, so 8 X $30 = $240 per day.
For a weekly salary: 5 Work Days X $240 = $1200 per week
For a monthly salary: 4 Work Weeks X $1200 = $4800 per month
We’ll use a conservative average monthly expenses here of $2000 a month for rent, car, utilities, insurance, food, entertainment, etc.
Lost Wages ($4800) + Expenses ($2000) = $6800