4 ms·

I often see articles like this talking about getting a "raise," but the steps they talk about seem more in line what I'd think of as getting a "promotion" (alon

I often see articles like this talking about getting a "raise," but the steps they talk about seem more in line what I'd think of as getting a "promotion" (along a technical track). Is "getting a raise" the same thing as "getting a promotion" for the purposes of this discussion? If I get a promotion every two or three years, am I also supposed to be trying to negotiate a non-promotion raise every 12 months?

vroombaprime 10y ago
General case (if you are at a startup this doesn't apply): Getting a raise and promotion are different things, though sometimes promotions happen at "raise time" (yearly review cycle). There are also "out-of-cycle" raises but those are generally for special cases where you need market adjustments or are a star performer. You _need_ to be getting a raise every 12 months just to keep up with inflation. If the company is doing fine and you are a top-50% performing employee you should be getting inflation+extra - if not, that is a bad sign. The 'extra' seems to vary a lot by industry, I've seen 1-10% from friends in other industries. We're talking about yearly review cycles here, so when it's approaching that time you need to be noting all the concrete work you've done, why it was great, and why you need to be in the "above/way-above average" raise bucket. You need to be managing your manager ahead of time so they think well of you and have already allotted a nice raise to you in the spreadsheet. Your negotiation is in the prep work with your manager: generally once the review happens things are already in motion and not much will change course.
- dfabulich 10y ago
  Well, yes, now that you mention it, those little across-the-board raises have occurred. I guess, to rephrase my question: am I doing myself a disservice if I'm not negotiating "raises" at my current pay grade but only attempting to earn "promotions" (which of course include pay increases)?

vroombaprime 10y ago

General case (if you are at a startup this doesn't apply): Getting a raise and promotion are different things, though sometimes promotions happen at "raise time" (yearly review cycle). There are also "out-of-cycle" raises but those are generally for special cases where you need market adjustments or are a star performer. You _need_ to be getting a raise every 12 months just to keep up with inflation. If the company is doing fine and you are a top-50% performing employee you should be getting inflation+extra - if not, that is a bad sign. The 'extra' seems to vary a lot by industry, I've seen 1-10% from friends in other industries. We're talking about yearly review cycles here, so when it's approaching that time you need to be noting all the concrete work you've done, why it was great, and why you need to be in the "above/way-above average" raise bucket. You need to be managing your manager ahead of time so they think well of you and have already allotted a nice raise to you in the spreadsheet. Your negotiation is in the prep work with your manager: generally once the review happens things are already in motion and not much will change course.

dfabulich 10y ago
Well, yes, now that you mention it, those little across-the-board raises have occurred. I guess, to rephrase my question: am I doing myself a disservice if I'm not negotiating "raises" at my current pay grade but only attempting to earn "promotions" (which of course include pay increases)?