One way would be to try to get an offer from one of the big players - Google, FB, Amazon, etc - even if you don't want to work for them. They all pay about the same starting, and since they're so visible they set the market, especially for recent grads. Of course, their numbers are also inflated with the cost of living in the Bay, so scale accordingly if you don't live there.
> Of course, their numbers are also inflated with the cost of living in the Bay, so scale accordingly if you don't live there.
Only if your job offer is in the Bay Area. Some of these companies have branches in smaller cities where the cost of living (and consequently pay) is lower.
The unpopular answer? Get a job at an established company that isn't a startup.
That'll give you the best idea of your market value. You don't need to take the position, and if the bureaucracy of an enterprise gig isn't your thing, then maybe you shouldn't, but that'll give you the best float test for what it is that you're actually worth, with which you can parlay into knowledge for salary negotiations elsewhere.
Knowing that Oracle would pay you is great for evaluating whether or not it's worth a $30k difference in salary to not have to worry about a business casual dress code, corporate politics and a rigid command structure.
Not knowing the difference in pay, it's harder to evaluate whether or not it's worthwhile.
If I wanted to go work for a startup, how do I find them? Usually when I go job hunting, startups are more difficult for me to find because using my university resources only leads me to big companies (i.e. Google, Apple, Cisco, ...)
There is a lot of value in working for a bit with one of the big players, and seeing first-hand what a well-established code-base looks like, the big day-to-day problems of maintenance, and have people checking your work in ways that you might not get at a small startup where the quantity/quality tradeoff is at a different place.
Many of the old-school Caribbean pirates were in the navy first, after all...
You could walk into Cisco, VMware, EMC, Pivotal, etc. etc. and find yourself working with close to cutting edge tools, hard problems, etc - BUT have a stable salary, perks, training courses, huge amount of corporate resources to lean on and learn with.
Don't rely on your university for advancing your career. I've basically never seen a university career department with good connections or any knowledge of tech at all.
For your local area, I'd look at who is sponsoring the tech events (e.g. you local Ruby/JS/iOS/etc meetup). For instance in Portland that quickly gets me New Relic, Urban Airship, and maybe a dozen other names. You can also see if there is a local tech magazine/newsletter, and read a few issues. If you're looking for younger companies, look at the class list of the last few years of local accelerator programs.
If you're looking for remote work, you could start with the list of YC companies. Or just go with any young companies whose products or blog posts or people you admire.
It's better to start with the companies you want to work for, and check their own jobs pages (or ask someone who works there), than to start with aggregated job boards, which are really a wasteland.
If you're in the valley, networking. I can hardly pick up lunch at a Specialtys without running into startuppers that are trying to solve interesting problems.
If you're not in the area, it gets substantially harder. Some random sources.
I would say if you have to ask the question your probably worth about the average starting salary. Perhaps a better question is where can I work so that I can be paid to learn cutting edge software. Eg. React JS or something cool like that. Don't take a job to write SQL Server 2005 SSIS tasks or maintain win forms apps etc. What your worth is also based on peoples perceptions of you which is also reflected in your confidence. Eg. I just graduated however my strongest skills are my quick ability to pick up new technologies and I have a natural ability to develop well structured code and so I strongly believe I am worth a better rate. Etc.