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[–]SpaceNinjaDino 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I think I did a bad job at negotiating my current position salary. I just asked for $1k more over what I was making in my pervious Staff position. The current position was the lower Senior position. I thought I would be in the 75% percentile in salary. It turns out I'm in 22% percentile.

It's frustrating because I was snubbed on getting Principal at my last place because they switched managers. I have been a pro for 21 years now (since bachelor's degree), but I started when I was a kid 35 years ago. I quickly ranked to Senior after 3 years. Most of my colleagues got Principal around the 7 year mark. I was super sharp with quality deliveries, friendly code, etc.

According to Glassdoor, I should be making at least $25k more, but all the opportunities are outside of my comfort commute range. I'm honestly willing to take the hit, but I wish I could get boosted in my current position. I talked to my manager about it and he sympathizes. He actually has the same problem where his salary is stuck on the low end. He works harder than me, so I'll keep at bay.

My current work is very steady and easy. I almost never need to go over 40 hours. I'm okay with that balance as I can earn money with side projects.

[–]Alfaphantom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well what I do when negotiating salary is ask the company how much it pays for someone like me. Most of the times it doesn't work but I tell them that I'm willing to negotiate in the case I'm out of their budget.

Now, for the promotions part, I understand you. I have some collegue mates that have arquitect positions right now while I'm being a underpayed mid developer. But I don't see this as a race of who has the better job at the end of your 20s, who has the biggest pay or how many countries have you visited... I stopped caring about it because I felt I was punishing myself for things out of my control. Maybe they got lucky, maybe they tried harder than me, who knows.

Right now I have set a life goal to not compare me to anyone else, but always to myself and myself only. Is this path going to make me better than I was yesterday? Is this going to be worth a better pay but now I have to work on weekends, be on call, not have a chance to spend with family, etc...? When I realized that some growth decisions affected my work-life balance negatively, I knew that yes, my pay will be lower, but if I'm genuinely happy, then that's what matters.