Get the Raise

This week, three of you asked me about salary negotiation.

I’m shit at negotiation
But I can tell you what I’ve learned in 10 years of full-time tech work.

Become visible.
Visible people find more opportunities than invisible people.

I’ve received exactly one raise that wasn’t driven by me.
I was moved between teams and my new manager immediately bumped me up $10k.
Turns out he was embarrassed by how little I was being paid.

That was a wake up call.

That year I started creating training materials and giving conference talks.
I made industry relationships and asked them what their compensation looked liked.

I learned that I was still 25-35% under market.
So I asked for it and got it.

This would not have happened if I hadn’t been proactive.
I would have remained unaware and waiting.

It’s not a company’s job to serve your career.
Companies exist to make money.
Part of that equation is keeping expenses low
And you are an expensive expense.
You need to be retained for as little as possible.
It’s your job to set that number.

If you’re waiting for a raise —
Expecting someone else to notice and evaluate your work —
Stop.

Be visible.
Meet people.
Ask them about money.
And go get it.

💸 chantastic