[pumi23]

hello,

i have a local friend who is a experienced IT project manager in Hong Kong. I think his boss is underpaying him, as he has 7 years work experience, Bachelor degree in Engineering from HKUST and has lots of responsibilities, as most of his workmates are not really skilled or smart.
he is a very smart guy and manages the whole IT department.

now, my question is, how much should he be able to earn? he earns right now 21,000/month and no housing allowance or any other benefits. i am quite sure that this is way too low for this kind of position.
i want to give him some backup information, so he can negotiate a better deal with his boss.

thanks
sandra

[funnie]

Originally Posted by pumi23

hello,

i have a local friend who is a experienced IT project manager in Hong Kong. I think his boss is underpaying him, as he has 7 years work experience, Bachelor degree in Engineering from HKUST and has lots of responsibilities, as most of his workmates are not really skilled or smart.
he is a very smart guy and manages the whole IT department.

now, my question is, how much should he be able to earn? he earns right now 21,000/month and no housing allowance or any other benefits. i am quite sure that this is way too low for this kind of position.
i want to give him some backup information, so he can negotiate a better deal with his boss.

thanks
sandra

Hi Sandra. Its low. but salary range differs with company. The salary of Tier-1 company will be different from Tier-3 companies. I have many friends who moved from Tier-1 to Tier-3 for lesser salary just bcoz of good profile.

in a nutshell, ur friend need to check the company balance books if they can afford to pay more.

[Katanga]

Very much depends the industry he is working in.

To be frank, 7 years post grad is a bit inexperienced to be a solid project manager but again if its in a small company they probably are ok with that.

I work in IB, and for someone with 7 yrs experience, your mate is getting way underpaid.

He should be looking for something in the region of 50-65k per month even if its not in the Investment Banking industry.

[Krad]

Originally Posted by Katanga

Very much depends the industry he is working in.

To be frank, 7 years post grad is a bit inexperienced to be a solid project manager but again if its in a small company they probably are ok with that.

I work in IB, and for someone with 7 yrs experience, your mate is getting way underpaid.

He should be looking for something in the region of 50-65k per month even if its not in the Investment Banking industry.

Yeah, and if you're looking for something like that for IT project management, congratulations, you've just priced yourself out of the market.

[pumi23]

thanks for your replies.

just to make clear, he is a IT Project Manager for 1 year already. He is NOT looking to get promoted, he just wants to get the right salary for his position. he just got another 2-3 mill dollar project and he will manage the whole project.
therefore, he wants to negotiate an increase in his salary now. perfect timing, just before the new project starts.

what could he expect to get? anyone knows some numbers?

[lordbuddha]

I just tried www.indeed.com and checked it project manager salary in HK. The average number is $80K USD and that comes to around $50K HKD per month.

[geo-seb]

Originally Posted by pumi23

i have a local friend who is a experienced IT project manager in Hong Kong. I think his boss is underpaying him, as he has 7 years work experience, Bachelor degree in Engineering from HKUST and has lots of responsibilities, as most of his workmates are not really skilled or smart.
he is a very smart guy and manages the whole IT department.

now, my question is, how much should he be able to earn? he earns right now 21,000/month and no housing allowance or any other benefits. i am quite sure that this is way too low for this kind of position.
i want to give him some backup information, so he can negotiate a better deal with his boss.

Local people usually make much less than expats in similar positions, so this site might not be the right place to ask - especially if your friend works for a local company. Housing allowances or other benefits for local people are extremely rare. I think senior government officers still get housing allowances, but that's about it.

But 21K seems is really quite low. I think your friend probably could push it to 24 - 26K without risking his/her job. But not more, because there are often other local people eager to take over and willing to work for less money.

[Janet Jiang]

geo-seb is right. If your friend is a local, he won't get 50K HKD per month. Push for 24 - 29K per month, may get him/her the money without risking the job.

[MrMoo]

For a local salary that's good. Its certainly a lot more than what you would expect in neighbouring cities. You cannot compare with the finance industry or US or European salaries.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by MrMoo

For a local salary that's good. Its certainly a lot more than what you would expect in neighbouring cities. You cannot compare with the finance industry or US or European salaries.

Far from it, Its a total slap in the face to be working for that sort of salary.

I've been shortlisted for roles paying twice that with nowhere near the responsibilty of a project manager and with no formal I.T qualifications.

A project manager with 3-5 years experience should be getting between $400k and $600k a year for example.