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How did it take this poor lady so long to figure out she was being paid too little? Me and my fellow coders are very aware of who is paying what. It's a daily c

How did it take this poor lady so long to figure out she was being paid too little? Me and my fellow coders are very aware of who is paying what. It's a daily conversation, what with linkedin and recruiters spamming us with job adverts. I've always found that switching jobs is easier than getting a proper pay rise. Asking your boss for +10% and getting offered 2.5%. Go to some interviews, accept, hand in notice. Boss offers +15% for me to stay... wtf. Poor communication skills from both me and my boss I guess.

byoung2 12y ago
I've always found that switching jobs is easier than getting a proper pay rise. I have found that to be the case as well. Using a combination of skillful salary negotiation, leveraging counteroffers (use sparingly), and hopping between companies, I have averaged 19.5% yearly salary increases for the past 10 years. Obviously this is not sustainable, since my current salary level limits the number of positions I can take without taking a pay cut. For those who are curious, it took 6 companies over those 10 years, with 1 career change from teacher/manager to programmer. During that time, the largest year to year jump was 38% (2nd was 37%), the longest time spent at a company was 3 years, the shortest was 3 months. I used the counteroffer trick twice, once quitting and once staying.
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  > shortest was 3 months What did you tell the next company during the interview when they asked you why you were looking to leave your current job?
  - byoung2 12y ago
    I told them I realized pretty quickly after starting that it wasn't a good fit, but I stayed on long enough to finish my first project and for them to find a replacement. I got a 20% increase to work at this company and I would have taken a lateral move salary-wise to go to the next, but the new company ended up offering me 14% more than I asked for anyway.
- rupert_murdaaa 12y ago
  Yep, I'm in the same boat. I've left two jobs over the past 3 years and have gotten a +25% "raise" both times, as well as a jump in job titles. After seeing how difficult it is at any company with an HR department to approve raises or approve title changes, I'm not even going to bother in the future with trying to do that. Do a good job somewhere for 1-2 years, accept offer at new company, rinse, repeat.
  - byoung2 12y ago
    Big companies seem to have it written in their DNA that 3-5% is a standard raise, and 10% is the theoretical maximum anyone could ever get. I've made it a mission to prove them wrong, even if it means switching companies every other year on average. The idea was to get all my raises upfront, instead of spread over 40 years.
fsk 12y ago
Another rule: never take the counter-offer. Just go. Reason #1 against taking the counter-offer: The boss is already planning to replace you, just on his terms instead of on yours. I.e., you could stay but get laid off as soon as they hire and train a replacement. Reason #2: They didn't respect you properly before, and the information of a new job offer isn't going to fundamentally change that.
- recursive 12y ago
  I took the counter and it worked out. They just didn't know what I really wanted, and I guess I never did a great job explaining it until I explained why I was leaving.
limedaring 12y ago
First time I've ever been called a "poor lady"! I didn't interact with anyone outside my company, and pretty much the rest of my coworkers were the same. It was like we were in this little bubble and that's how we thought things were outside the bubble. Pretty much everyone in the company (<20 people) went to this startup right after college so AFAIK almost no one got recruiter spam because we didn't even have LinkedIn profiles. It was also over 6 years ago, so the ecosystem was a lot different too. But we were definitely in our own little bubble and it was only when I met my husband (a software dev) did I realize that I was being underpaid.
- monk_e_boy 12y ago
  Sometimes and expensive lesson is a remembered lesson. I hope 'poor lady' came across as unfortunate, not lacking in money. Is 'poor <person>' a colloquialism? It's quite common here. And I didn't know your age, so lady seems to cover 18+ nicely. Glad you got your pay rise.

byoung2 12y ago

I've always found that switching jobs is easier than getting a proper pay rise. I have found that to be the case as well. Using a combination of skillful salary negotiation, leveraging counteroffers (use sparingly), and hopping between companies, I have averaged 19.5% yearly salary increases for the past 10 years. Obviously this is not sustainable, since my current salary level limits the number of positions I can take without taking a pay cut. For those who are curious, it took 6 companies over those 10 years, with 1 career change from teacher/manager to programmer. During that time, the largest year to year jump was 38% (2nd was 37%), the longest time spent at a company was 3 years, the shortest was 3 months. I used the counteroffer trick twice, once quitting and once staying.

Florin_Andrei 12y ago
> shortest was 3 months What did you tell the next company during the interview when they asked you why you were looking to leave your current job?
- byoung2 12y ago
  I told them I realized pretty quickly after starting that it wasn't a good fit, but I stayed on long enough to finish my first project and for them to find a replacement. I got a 20% increase to work at this company and I would have taken a lateral move salary-wise to go to the next, but the new company ended up offering me 14% more than I asked for anyway.
rupert_murdaaa 12y ago
Yep, I'm in the same boat. I've left two jobs over the past 3 years and have gotten a +25% "raise" both times, as well as a jump in job titles. After seeing how difficult it is at any company with an HR department to approve raises or approve title changes, I'm not even going to bother in the future with trying to do that. Do a good job somewhere for 1-2 years, accept offer at new company, rinse, repeat.
- byoung2 12y ago
  Big companies seem to have it written in their DNA that 3-5% is a standard raise, and 10% is the theoretical maximum anyone could ever get. I've made it a mission to prove them wrong, even if it means switching companies every other year on average. The idea was to get all my raises upfront, instead of spread over 40 years.

fsk 12y ago

Another rule: never take the counter-offer. Just go. Reason #1 against taking the counter-offer: The boss is already planning to replace you, just on his terms instead of on yours. I.e., you could stay but get laid off as soon as they hire and train a replacement. Reason #2: They didn't respect you properly before, and the information of a new job offer isn't going to fundamentally change that.

recursive 12y ago
I took the counter and it worked out. They just didn't know what I really wanted, and I guess I never did a great job explaining it until I explained why I was leaving.

limedaring 12y ago

First time I've ever been called a "poor lady"! I didn't interact with anyone outside my company, and pretty much the rest of my coworkers were the same. It was like we were in this little bubble and that's how we thought things were outside the bubble. Pretty much everyone in the company (<20 people) went to this startup right after college so AFAIK almost no one got recruiter spam because we didn't even have LinkedIn profiles. It was also over 6 years ago, so the ecosystem was a lot different too. But we were definitely in our own little bubble and it was only when I met my husband (a software dev) did I realize that I was being underpaid.

monk_e_boy 12y ago
Sometimes and expensive lesson is a remembered lesson. I hope 'poor lady' came across as unfortunate, not lacking in money. Is 'poor <person>' a colloquialism? It's quite common here. And I didn't know your age, so lady seems to cover 18+ nicely. Glad you got your pay rise.