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 coupl

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).