Hi all. I graduated with my bachelors in CpE over a year ago. Looking for first job and had some interviews. I live in NYC. What should be my salary expectations? I see all these high numbers online , 90-100k etc, but when it comes to salary during phone screenings, it seems a lot of places imply I won't get paid much because I'm fresh out of school. "Well you're fresh out of school so there's no way we won't be able to compensate you".

Some info: No internship experience relevant to CpE, just IT. Have done projects on my own with things such as STM chips, developed the PCBs, etc. Lead my team for my senior thesis for a big project doing embedded stuff, pcb dev, rasp pi, etc. Also created android/ios apps for each project.

That's it. Is the 90 realistic? Also, how am I supposed to have an idea in mind when they don't share the benefits right away? I've only had one place do that so far, but in the end they couldn't pay me an NYC salary (was a remote role, HQ was located somewhere else, that's what they told me, so I turned it down). One place this past week said they can't share benefits until AFTER I'm hired. ???. So I told them I wouldn't be continuing with the process.

Thanks.

Edit: Thanks all for the comments.