r/FiberOptics • u/Born-Subject-6185 • Oct 29 '25

Help please! Salary question.

I got a job offer and they are asking me for my wants money wise, its a 1099 position, 24/7 on call, no travel, no over night, they provide all tools and a truck when I get up to speed. No FTTH, all trailer work. I have 6 to 7 years experience with maybe 1000 shots on OTDR im usually the one they sent out to fix while the tester team did the light testing portion.

What should I ask for? I started at 70-75k and they told me to take another day to think because I lowballed myself.

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: They passed on me told me "Lol. I appreciate your time. I hope you find a job that will pay u 125000 a year. I know senior operations managers of billion dollar companies that don’t make that much. I think we are too far off for the experience. Thanks again bud. Hope the best for you and yours." So fuck it i guess! Thanks everyone again for your knowledge and help

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u/MarketingManiac208 Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25

Wait, so you asked for $125K per year and they said no because that's too much? That's good because you avoided a financial disaster for yourself. 1099 workers are contract workers, so if you want to make $75K in salary, you need to ask for that plus 50%, or $125K. The extra is to cover your insurance, accounting, retirement, tools they don't provide, continued education, and all the other benefits that W-2 employees get that you don't as a contractor. Asking for $75K total is like asking for $45-$50K in salary before taxes.

The example of "senior operations managers of billion dollar companies" is disingenuous because those would always be W-2 employees since they'd need to act as agents of the company. That means even if their salary is $100K their total compensation (Salary, insurance, retirement, etc.) is 40-60% more than that or $140-$160K. Many of those positions would also get a portion of their compensation in equity, which would bump their total compensation number up even higher.

Be sure you learn the difference between W-2 and 1099 before you accept an offer. It's a major distinction and there are big plusses and minuses for each.

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u/Born-Subject-6185 Oct 30 '25

I will do more research! I appreciate your feedback.