6 ms·

Ask HN: Software engineers who have been promoted with a large salary increase?

I'm at a younger stage in my career (25), and at least in my experience, I've always had to find another offer at another company to get a large salary increase. I've been "promoted" within the company before, but that only came with a 3% raise. Just curious what the experience is for more senior engineers out there, are there still tech companies who give substantial raises with promotions?

Trias11 5y ago
As a young guy, the best and fastest way to get raise is to jump between companies. Sticking within the single company will get you into the hamster wheel of promises, policies, processes and procedures with not much of a monetary outcome. Once you get the offer from next company - put it on your boss desk to beat. Rinse and repeat.
sbfeibish 5y ago
I couldn't find it. But there was an article or study not too long ago. That said over the course of a career. That you'll do so much better if you keep switching jobs. A really big difference in total earnings.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
onion2k 5y ago
I've been a dev for almost 25 years, and the biggest raise I've ever had in a job was ~10%. There might be companies that give more substantial increases with promotions but I've certainly never heard of it happening. For comparison, the biggest raise I've had by moving company was 51%.
codingdave 5y ago
I'm almost 50, and have never gotten a substantial raise without moving to a new company. On the contrary, once you are in, there is a lock on your position, especially in larger companies, where you have a specific salary range your role falls in. Raises not only try to stay within the range, they are smaller as you get closer to the top of the range. A promotion bumps you up to the next range, but that is incremental improvement. You have to leave to throw that all out and reset the numbers. Also, 3% is a mediocre raise just for year-over-year cost of living increases. Getting a raise that small with a promotion is a slap in the face.
- JoeAltmaier 5y ago
  Of course, this is a technique HR created to give folks the appearance of career growth while controlling cost. There is nothing your company is doing for you, that isn't the absolute least they calculate will keep you working hard.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    "... the absolute least they calculate will keep you working hard." I'm not sure it even keeps people working hard. Its discouraged me from working hard, especially after filling roles above my grade for a couple years. When the company does the bare minimum and employees realize it, they do the bare minimum for the company.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
      If you're in OP's position (25 years old), don't react that way. Instead, react by moving. Why? Because if you're filling roles above your grade, you're a perfect candidate for stepping up your grade as you move. That's how you get a big bump in pay. But if you're doing the bare minimum, you're a much less attractive candidate for a higher grade position. And that matters a lot for a person who's 25, because that big bump in pay sets a floor for your pay for the rest of your career. If you're 50, doing the bare minimum doesn't cost you as much money over the whole of your career. (It can still corrode your soul, but that's not the issue we're talking about here.)
      - giantg2 5y ago
        I was 25 at that time. The tech was obscure, so I didn't have the option to move. If moving was an option, then I would have taken it. Instead I'm in my 30s, burnt out, doing the minimum (sort of), and still a midlevel.
        5y ago
dyeje 5y ago
10 years experience, I've received two 20% raises. If you're a high performer and have a boss willing to go to bat, it's not impossible. But it's much easier to get larger raises when moving jobs, yes.
- simmanian 5y ago
  I have also had similarly large raises. Also had a manager who's willing to fight for it. I have between 5 to 10 yrs of experience.
giantg2 5y ago
Almost 10 years in. One 10% promotion. The new policy at my company is set at 7% raise for promotions. The funny thing is, they unofficially expect a 13% increase in working hours for that 7% raise, which actually turns out to be a rate cut to fill a role with more responsibilities and expectations.
raztogt21 5y ago
Had a two 20% increase over a 6 month period at the same company by just asking to "be at the same rate as other positions in the market".
- dbancajas 5y ago
  > % increase over a 6 month period at the You must be underpaid? Can you share salary before and after two raises? I can't believe in a 6-month period the market rate went up by 1.2^2?
  - raztogt21 5y ago
    I live outside the US, in a the "third-world" country. 75k -> 90k (now) -> 110k. The median salary in my country for a salary-man is 16.5k per year.
dsgrillo 5y ago
10 years of experience. In my first job had multiple promotions varying from 5% to 50%. The lower ones (5% ~ 10%) were given proactively by my employer and for the bigger one (50%) I've ended up changing position inside the company, after asking for a bigger raise. I agree with others that it's way more easy to have a substantial increase moving jobs.
Sevii 5y ago
Most of my actual title promotions came with a 9-15% raise. Cost of living increases have been the same 1.5% or so.
throwaway65123 5y ago
Yes, these things happen... sometimes, as anything in the universe. I've been promoted to a leading position after renegotiating my contract and it came with a 120% raise. You probably guessed it right - I was heavily underpaid at first. A teammate of mine earned around 60% more than me and our lead over 100%. When I finally found it out I was devastated. It happend for a couple of years. Sounds stupid? Yeah, it was. I was totally unaware of how much I should be asking for in the first place and never cared to talk about the compensation with the other guys. The team being 100% remote and spread across different countries didn't help too. What would you do in my place? I wanted to quit, but I decided to negotiate an "impossible" raise first as I had nothing to lose anyway. It worked out and I stayed until now.
- gumby 5y ago
  This is why I think that companies should make salaries public. Compensation negotiation is not a skill needed for performance of a job, and hiring managers will have more experience than the candidate. Be fair and don’t worry about “the truth coming out”
  - kinderczekolada 5y ago
    That's the point man! Don't be naive. The company is not your friend it pays you as little as possible. There's no incentive for a company to pay you more than it needs to.
    - potta_coffee 5y ago
      Once my boss bragged to me about paying one of our European contractors "Chinese slave wages." That took the wind out of my sails at that job and my boss became an enemy. I didn't last long at that company after hearing that.
avasii 5y ago
I am in a similar position to you, 24 years old, and am in my first role after the completion of my bachelor's in computer science. I was just promoted this week for a 28% raise within the same company.
- throwaway24124 5y ago
  Congrats!
johngalt 5y ago
It's not anything nefarious, just the natural blind spots of human reasoning. Titles are cheap. Your existing employer will always want to hand you more work, but not more money. If you are handling the work well, then the pain of not having that role filled is only a memory. Your future employer has an acute problem to solve and is already primed to spend money to solve it. The net result is that (current employer) is much more likely to increase your responsibilities/scope/title. While (future employer) will pay you. There are absolutely employers who will give significant raises to existing employees, but they are rare.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
thinkharderdev 5y ago
I've been at this for 15 years and most of my large jumps in salary have been either from job changes or counter offers when I was about to switch jobs. A couple things to keep in mind though: 1. It depends on the company but there is more to compensation than just the salary number. Often promotions will also include changes to bonus amounts (so different levels will have different target bonus %) and equity grants. From the business side it is all "comp" so they can have a different view of total compensation than you do if you are just looking at the salary. 2. If you like your job but feel you are underpaid there is nothing wrong with just asking for a raise. If they want to keep you around then they will usually accommodate you and if they don't want to keep you around then you should start looking for a new job anyway. But you have to ask. For obvious reasons companies want you to think that salary is non-negotiable, but EVERYTHING is negotiable and if they can make it happen IF they want to (or need to).
tenfourwookie 5y ago
I've found that being a bastard in salary negotiations (pushing, not backing down, willing to walk) is the very best way to get promoted, and it should almost always be with a new company. Your existing company knows what you're being paid, and that's hobbling. You need asymmetric leverage. No one needs to know your salary. They should see how you value yourself in the salary negotiation. Take risks. Pays off. You do have to perform, so don't push so hard that you can't do the work. I suppose that goes without saying, but some people forget. I forgot once. Ended up surrounded by PhD statisticians that ate my lunch. Fired 3 months later. Was still paid ridiculously, but was also ego-bruising. You can practice this with headhunters. Push the numbers. Try double your current number. You'd be surprised some of the numbers you can pull out of them in certain "must have now" situations.
d23 5y ago
~10% is more what I've seen. The biggest gain came from actually putting effort into getting lots of offers and negotiating well. This lead to an offer that was 2.75x my pay at the time. I ended up taking one that was lower (a mere 2.25x), but after stock growth, refreshers, and a base pay increase (without a promotion) that has gone up to 4x. A 3% increase for an actual promotion is insulting. You're probably getting hosed already and could get a step function increase if you looked elsewhere and interviewed / negotiated properly. If you decide to do this, let me know, and I can give you some advice.
- methusala8 5y ago
  Hey. I am in a similar boat and would be happy if you can give some pointers on 'interviewing and negotiating properly' either here or on mail. Is there anyway to reach you? Thanks.
- throwaway24124 5y ago
  After that promotion I started interviewing and immediately found an offer that was 50% higher :)
  - d23 5y ago
    Congrats!
NotAnOtter 5y ago
Finding a new job takes a lot of energy. People give you raises to prevent you from being bitter enough to spend that energy. They also know that regardless of what they pay you, you will eventually quit anyways (unless they start paying you in the top 10% of the field, but then, what's in it for them at that point). So no, 30-40% salary raises do not exist. At the executive level they sorta do, in the form of options and bonuses.
potta_coffee 5y ago
I was working at a small company, I was elevated from a developer to a manger of the development team (there were 4 of us). For this I was raised from $80k to $85k, so a 5k higher salary per year. Still, the real big raises have all come by grinding on skill development and finding new jobs.

Trias11 5y ago

As a young guy, the best and fastest way to get raise is to jump between companies. Sticking within the single company will get you into the hamster wheel of promises, policies, processes and procedures with not much of a monetary outcome. Once you get the offer from next company - put it on your boss desk to beat. Rinse and repeat.

sbfeibish 5y ago

I couldn't find it. But there was an article or study not too long ago. That said over the course of a career. That you'll do so much better if you keep switching jobs. A really big difference in total earnings.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

onion2k 5y ago

I've been a dev for almost 25 years, and the biggest raise I've ever had in a job was ~10%. There might be companies that give more substantial increases with promotions but I've certainly never heard of it happening. For comparison, the biggest raise I've had by moving company was 51%.

codingdave 5y ago

I'm almost 50, and have never gotten a substantial raise without moving to a new company. On the contrary, once you are in, there is a lock on your position, especially in larger companies, where you have a specific salary range your role falls in. Raises not only try to stay within the range, they are smaller as you get closer to the top of the range. A promotion bumps you up to the next range, but that is incremental improvement. You have to leave to throw that all out and reset the numbers. Also, 3% is a mediocre raise just for year-over-year cost of living increases. Getting a raise that small with a promotion is a slap in the face.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago
Of course, this is a technique HR created to give folks the appearance of career growth while controlling cost. There is nothing your company is doing for you, that isn't the absolute least they calculate will keep you working hard.
- giantg2 5y ago
  "... the absolute least they calculate will keep you working hard." I'm not sure it even keeps people working hard. Its discouraged me from working hard, especially after filling roles above my grade for a couple years. When the company does the bare minimum and employees realize it, they do the bare minimum for the company.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
    If you're in OP's position (25 years old), don't react that way. Instead, react by moving. Why? Because if you're filling roles above your grade, you're a perfect candidate for stepping up your grade as you move. That's how you get a big bump in pay. But if you're doing the bare minimum, you're a much less attractive candidate for a higher grade position. And that matters a lot for a person who's 25, because that big bump in pay sets a floor for your pay for the rest of your career. If you're 50, doing the bare minimum doesn't cost you as much money over the whole of your career. (It can still corrode your soul, but that's not the issue we're talking about here.)
    - giantg2 5y ago
      I was 25 at that time. The tech was obscure, so I didn't have the option to move. If moving was an option, then I would have taken it. Instead I'm in my 30s, burnt out, doing the minimum (sort of), and still a midlevel.
      - 5y ago

dyeje 5y ago

10 years experience, I've received two 20% raises. If you're a high performer and have a boss willing to go to bat, it's not impossible. But it's much easier to get larger raises when moving jobs, yes.

simmanian 5y ago
I have also had similarly large raises. Also had a manager who's willing to fight for it. I have between 5 to 10 yrs of experience.

giantg2 5y ago

Almost 10 years in. One 10% promotion. The new policy at my company is set at 7% raise for promotions. The funny thing is, they unofficially expect a 13% increase in working hours for that 7% raise, which actually turns out to be a rate cut to fill a role with more responsibilities and expectations.

raztogt21 5y ago

Had a two 20% increase over a 6 month period at the same company by just asking to "be at the same rate as other positions in the market".

dbancajas 5y ago
> % increase over a 6 month period at the You must be underpaid? Can you share salary before and after two raises? I can't believe in a 6-month period the market rate went up by 1.2^2?
- raztogt21 5y ago
  I live outside the US, in a the "third-world" country. 75k -> 90k (now) -> 110k. The median salary in my country for a salary-man is 16.5k per year.

dsgrillo 5y ago

10 years of experience. In my first job had multiple promotions varying from 5% to 50%. The lower ones (5% ~ 10%) were given proactively by my employer and for the bigger one (50%) I've ended up changing position inside the company, after asking for a bigger raise. I agree with others that it's way more easy to have a substantial increase moving jobs.

Sevii 5y ago

Most of my actual title promotions came with a 9-15% raise. Cost of living increases have been the same 1.5% or so.

throwaway65123 5y ago

Yes, these things happen... sometimes, as anything in the universe. I've been promoted to a leading position after renegotiating my contract and it came with a 120% raise. You probably guessed it right - I was heavily underpaid at first. A teammate of mine earned around 60% more than me and our lead over 100%. When I finally found it out I was devastated. It happend for a couple of years. Sounds stupid? Yeah, it was. I was totally unaware of how much I should be asking for in the first place and never cared to talk about the compensation with the other guys. The team being 100% remote and spread across different countries didn't help too. What would you do in my place? I wanted to quit, but I decided to negotiate an "impossible" raise first as I had nothing to lose anyway. It worked out and I stayed until now.

gumby 5y ago
This is why I think that companies should make salaries public. Compensation negotiation is not a skill needed for performance of a job, and hiring managers will have more experience than the candidate. Be fair and don’t worry about “the truth coming out”
- kinderczekolada 5y ago
  That's the point man! Don't be naive. The company is not your friend it pays you as little as possible. There's no incentive for a company to pay you more than it needs to.
  - potta_coffee 5y ago
    Once my boss bragged to me about paying one of our European contractors "Chinese slave wages." That took the wind out of my sails at that job and my boss became an enemy. I didn't last long at that company after hearing that.

avasii 5y ago

I am in a similar position to you, 24 years old, and am in my first role after the completion of my bachelor's in computer science. I was just promoted this week for a 28% raise within the same company.

throwaway24124 5y ago
Congrats!

johngalt 5y ago

It's not anything nefarious, just the natural blind spots of human reasoning. Titles are cheap. Your existing employer will always want to hand you more work, but not more money. If you are handling the work well, then the pain of not having that role filled is only a memory. Your future employer has an acute problem to solve and is already primed to spend money to solve it. The net result is that (current employer) is much more likely to increase your responsibilities/scope/title. While (future employer) will pay you. There are absolutely employers who will give significant raises to existing employees, but they are rare.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

thinkharderdev 5y ago

I've been at this for 15 years and most of my large jumps in salary have been either from job changes or counter offers when I was about to switch jobs. A couple things to keep in mind though: 1. It depends on the company but there is more to compensation than just the salary number. Often promotions will also include changes to bonus amounts (so different levels will have different target bonus %) and equity grants. From the business side it is all "comp" so they can have a different view of total compensation than you do if you are just looking at the salary. 2. If you like your job but feel you are underpaid there is nothing wrong with just asking for a raise. If they want to keep you around then they will usually accommodate you and if they don't want to keep you around then you should start looking for a new job anyway. But you have to ask. For obvious reasons companies want you to think that salary is non-negotiable, but EVERYTHING is negotiable and if they can make it happen IF they want to (or need to).

tenfourwookie 5y ago

I've found that being a bastard in salary negotiations (pushing, not backing down, willing to walk) is the very best way to get promoted, and it should almost always be with a new company. Your existing company knows what you're being paid, and that's hobbling. You need asymmetric leverage. No one needs to know your salary. They should see how you value yourself in the salary negotiation. Take risks. Pays off. You do have to perform, so don't push so hard that you can't do the work. I suppose that goes without saying, but some people forget. I forgot once. Ended up surrounded by PhD statisticians that ate my lunch. Fired 3 months later. Was still paid ridiculously, but was also ego-bruising. You can practice this with headhunters. Push the numbers. Try double your current number. You'd be surprised some of the numbers you can pull out of them in certain "must have now" situations.

d23 5y ago

~10% is more what I've seen. The biggest gain came from actually putting effort into getting lots of offers and negotiating well. This lead to an offer that was 2.75x my pay at the time. I ended up taking one that was lower (a mere 2.25x), but after stock growth, refreshers, and a base pay increase (without a promotion) that has gone up to 4x. A 3% increase for an actual promotion is insulting. You're probably getting hosed already and could get a step function increase if you looked elsewhere and interviewed / negotiated properly. If you decide to do this, let me know, and I can give you some advice.

methusala8 5y ago
Hey. I am in a similar boat and would be happy if you can give some pointers on 'interviewing and negotiating properly' either here or on mail. Is there anyway to reach you? Thanks.
throwaway24124 5y ago
After that promotion I started interviewing and immediately found an offer that was 50% higher :)
- d23 5y ago
  Congrats!

NotAnOtter 5y ago

Finding a new job takes a lot of energy. People give you raises to prevent you from being bitter enough to spend that energy. They also know that regardless of what they pay you, you will eventually quit anyways (unless they start paying you in the top 10% of the field, but then, what's in it for them at that point). So no, 30-40% salary raises do not exist. At the executive level they sorta do, in the form of options and bonuses.

potta_coffee 5y ago

I was working at a small company, I was elevated from a developer to a manger of the development team (there were 4 of us). For this I was raised from $80k to $85k, so a 5k higher salary per year. Still, the real big raises have all come by grinding on skill development and finding new jobs.