Not much advice here. What he does have here isn't very helpful. In my experience, sometimes I've asked for a ~10% raise and almost laughed out of the room, usu

Not much advice here. What he does have here isn't very helpful. In my experience, sometimes I've asked for a ~10% raise and almost laughed out of the room, usually this is the case. Your starting salary sets it for the rest of your career there. Other times, I've had companies respond and renegotiated my salary. I think it would be to find another job that pays better if you're underpaid, and find out if you are asking around (recommend not at your same place of work, you'll possibly end up angry if you find you're dramatically underpaid), Glassdoor, asking recruiters etc. If I'm not underpaid, I don't sweat it too much. Once you get to where you think you should be, probably not a great idea to keep knocking on the door each year asking for raises. Topping out is real unless you're going to become the boss (start your own business). For a sane maximum, look at places like Google and their salaries. Few will pay those ranges, but if you think you're going to go above you're probably kidding yourself, that's your cap. And you need to consider the market you're in. The OP is wrong, market-rate does matter, it affects the range possible. You can do the same job in Des Moines, Iowa for $80K that would be a $140K job in San Francisco. If you're in India it's going to be market rate there. To break all the rules you need to own your own business, or pickup some truly esoteric or difficult to perform skills.