Back when I ran the department, starting scripters got around $35,000 USD. I don't know what they are offering now but, if the things I hear from people who still work at FS, I doubt it is much more. JAWS scripting is an odd skill. People can make a lot of money doing it on a contract basis for big companies trying to adapt proprietary software to meet ADA requirements. Guys like Frank DiPolermo, John Robichaud and Doug Lee do really well for themselves. Once in a while, FS will buy a set of scripts for a popular application from someone who did them independently and, for this kind of deal, they pay pretty well and may contract with the author to maintain the scripts as they move forward. The full time scripters do most of the heavy lifting to make the JAWS user experience as good as possible. All of them are blind so they have fewer opportunities than the mostly sighted C++ software engineers. Back in the old days, scripting was a good place to start, learn and move up to the system programming portion of the department. One guy to whom we had promised a promotion and raise is still in scripting as very few blinks have been promoted in any department at FS over the past three years. Also, FS has one of the nastiest and most iron clad non-compete, non-disclosure and non-disparagement contracts in the software industry. Because Florida law (included in the agreement as the forum for disputes) is one of the most business friendly in the nation, getting out of the restrictive covenants is nearly impossible. Over the past three years, FS has threatened to sue me for doing some UI consulting for Code Factory, doing an occasional odd job for Serotek and, most outrageously, trying to help out on the open source screen reader project that Will started back in 2005. One blind employee of mine who now works for Adobe was sued for trying to take a job on the screen reader team at Apple even though FS has no Macintosh products. Another was threatened with action for trying to do scripting contracts after he quit his job in the FS scripting department. Meanwhile, Vinny Rapa, a sighted guy who knew the entire FS sales strategy was allowed to take on a VP job at Humanware without any threat of action. Other sighties have left and stayed in the biz but the blinks who moved on have been harassed. Finally, if you live in a place that has good public transit or is pedestrian friendly, I can say with absolute authority that you will find neither in this part of Florida. Pinellas County, home of FS and me, has a bus system that doesn't seem to go anywhere interesting. Downtown St. Petersburg is reasonably accessible but is far from the FS buildings so will cost you a bundle in taxi fares to get back and forth. Also, downtown rents are pretty high for this part of the country. cdh -----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ken Perry Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 11:46 PM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: We are looking for Scripters to higher (fwd) Hmm what do they pay a script writer? Ken -----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jamal Mazrui Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 10:46 AM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; program-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: We are looking for Scripters to higher (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 16:37:43 -0400 From: Eric Damery <Edamery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: Jamal Mazrui <empower@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: We are looking for Scripters to higher Hi Jamal, We are in search of potential script writers to higher, especially those willng to relocate to St. Petersburg. If you could help spread the word, I'd appreciate it. Interested parties should contact our HR department at Freedom Scientific. Regards, Eric __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ NOD32 2586 (20071011) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind