Is 30 Dollars an Hour at Salesforce a Fair Offer for an OPT STEM OPT Candidate?

The right number depends on your field, skills, location, and experience but there are general patterns worth knowing. For entry level software or data roles through a staffing agency, candidates on STEM OPT typically see W2 pay rates somewhere between 40 and 65 dollars an hour. A recruiter offering you 30 dollars an hour for a software engineering role at a company like Salesforce or Oracle in a major city is worth pushing back on. Never accept the first number — it is almost always negotiable and recruiters expect candidates to counter.