One of the guy's at work is leaving and a friend of mine (from the company) is looking to move into the role.

The guy leaving does the IT Testing of any developments we do etc... He is also in charge of the roll out of new developments to the users. i.e. telling them what's new etc... (not training). He was rubbish at his job and couldn't build rapport or communicate with anyone properly. He also has a development background (but not very good).

My friend is a senior helpdesk person (not helpdesk manager) and she's been in the company for a number of years (over 5). She doesn't have any development background but she does know the software system inside out and knows most of the people in the company through taking helpdesk calls for years. Her main role will be testing and roll-out I think but she will be looking after herself rather than reporting to the manager all the time. She will also have to move from a fairly predictable job (i.e. answer phone - solve problem) to one where she has to determine what to do on her own.

She has asked what sort of salary she should be looking for if she goes for the job but I don't really know what she is currently on or what she should expect.

I was thinking somewhere in the region of 18-20k but maybe 17-18k is a better guess? What would she be on now? 17k?.

Does that sound right? I don't want to over estimate but I also don't want to say a figure less than what she is currently on.

Where are you based?

Private or public sector?

Those aside, your description is far from definitive. But I'd probably say late teens is good. Mind you, I would've thought she'd be there already from the sounds of things

TBH... Even with my level of experience and any real software testing environment I'd be looking for at least £24k, and that is in the North East where wages are low, depending on company, location such as London you would be looking at £35k easily within the banking sector for instance

There are a lot of variables involved, without taking into account time with company and personal experience on the role etc.

If your friend wants a definitive answer then she'd need to ask the HR department (assuming you have one) directly.
Tell them she's considering applying for the role but wants to know if it's worth her applying for it. They should give her at least some idea of the salary range.

If they've advertised the job externally on a site like Monster then it will probably have a salary range on the advert.

We pay our graduate developers £22k + Bonus.
Our Helpdesk start around that sort of figure as well.

22k for helpdesk? *koff* Very generous!

I've seen developer roles in London for anything up to 45k.

I'd say mid 20s was a good wage in any other part of the country.

We are good for wages, they get a BMW as well.

Our helpdesk staff are all at least MCP and can deal with 2nd line support issues

Methinks I need to move

And what do experienced support staff like myself get?

Roughly £30-38k + benefits & car.

<spits tea all over desk>.

+1 lol

I got most of that apart from the car

My boss laughed when I asked for 30K. Seriously - he nearly had a fit. Needless to say, I earn a lot less that.

I'm our customer's first, second and pretty much the only level of support. I'm also development, as in I write the software.

I'm also the internal IT department and DIY man. I stuff envelopes, pack parcels and do the post office run. My least favourite job is bog duty, because the boss lays some seriously smelly loads and he doesn't always hit the target. I also make the tea.

Small friendly local companies have their advantages, but salary isn't one

Poor guys, I guess you have to balance out the good wages somehow!

If it was a 1 series coupe, twin turbo derv with regenerative braking, I'd probably forgive them. But I doubt that.