Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#11

Post by powatom » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 9:40 AM UTC

My policy is that every year I aim for a substantial pay rise. There is no set percentage that I aim for, I basically just come up with a number that I want, and start negotiating.

The day that the company claims there is no more room in the budget, and I can't see any realistic chance of progression, is the day I start looking for a new job.

Generally speaking, the easiest way to secure a decent pay-rise is to change companies. However, most companies have some kind of appraisal system in place - don't be afraid to ask for a pay-rise. Most companies expect it, and are prepared to negotiate somewhat.

In the past year, I increased my salary by 50%. Know what you're worth, work out the average for your position and skillset, and demand it.

Working for a lower salary than the industry standard is not only bad for you, it's bad for the industry as a whole.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#12

Post by babarock » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 9:46 AM UTC

Swannie wrote: post #8

chrisbennet wrote: post #6

I've never worked at a company that had raises that kept up with the market. I've been a software developer since 1985.

Agreed. If you can under pay by an amount that is less than the perceived pain of looking elsewhere, that's sane if you have a short term view. Other option you'll see in big corps is to use old technologies only. This gives them an excuse to underpay, and makes it harder for their devs to leave to a fair market salary role!

I work in the IT department of a major European investment bank. I can assure you that they're willing to pay high salaries to hire experts in said old technologies.

Mainframes are still in use, COBOL devs are in very high demand and finding experts in technologies as young as CORBA is becoming more and more difficult.

Never understimate the cash power of big financial institutions with old legacy systems.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#13

Post by jordo37 » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 10:15 AM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #7

Experience to date has been that without promotion, pay-rises within a company have always trailed inflation. So either you get promoted, and at that point you've negotiated a substantial raise (to offset the real decline in earnings and to protect your actual earnings in the years after the payrise)... Or... You go get a job elsewhere. It's a sad fact that the majority of real pay rises that I've ever seen, and that…

This feels true for the US companies I have worked at as well.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#14

Post by jsmeaton » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 10:18 AM UTC

annon wrote: post #2

Varies wildly from company to company. Some will keep an eye on the market, and make sure they are paying you market rate. If you're great, they'll make sure you're paid more than market so you don't have any reason to even talk. However, many companies will only open their checkbooks when you're hired, or when you have an offer they need to counter. These are the companies that suck to work for because everyone is t…

Yep, happened exactly this way at my last job. I was ridiculously underpaid, and I was attempting to negotiate about a month before pay reviews and was told to wait. My intentions were clear though.

The mandate came down - 3% for everyone more or less. I argued, and was politely shot down. Three weeks later I had a new job offer at a competitor I really wanted to work for. My current employer asked me how much it'd take to stay - "no dollar amount would keep me". I'm actually interested now how much they were willing to offer as a counter though.

New company has been really great with annual rises in the vicinity of about $10k.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#15

Post by aioprisan » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 10:20 AM UTC

From what I've seen with software engineering positions, you can expect roughly a 10-25% year over year salary increase. I also can't stress enough how much negotiating a higher starting salary can have an impact over your long term prospects. It's very important to know what you're worth on the market so that you can make sure that you're compensated fairly for the amount of experience AND potential that you have. Recruiting engineers usually costs about 10-20k, so companies more likely than not will give you at least a 10% increase to keep you from leaving, and more based on how much you were able to deliver and how well you can negotiate.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#16

Post by cmdkeen » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 10:26 AM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #7

Experience to date has been that without promotion, pay-rises within a company have always trailed inflation. So either you get promoted, and at that point you've negotiated a substantial raise (to offset the real decline in earnings and to protect your actual earnings in the years after the payrise)... Or... You go get a job elsewhere. It's a sad fact that the majority of real pay rises that I've ever seen, and that…

Doesn't have to be the case. My current employer consistently offers 10% pay rises. But then that's in a non-public company that is financially secure.

Less than inflation pay rises are something you should only accept as an alternative to them laying people off.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#17

Post by Ntrails » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 10:26 AM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #7

Experience to date has been that without promotion, pay-rises within a company have always trailed inflation. So either you get promoted, and at that point you've negotiated a substantial raise (to offset the real decline in earnings and to protect your actual earnings in the years after the payrise)... Or... You go get a job elsewhere. It's a sad fact that the majority of real pay rises that I've ever seen, and that…

The phrasing bandied about where I currently work is:

"You are doing the same job as last year, so your pay should be the same adjusted for inflation. If you want more money, you need to be taking on more responsibility, growing your role."

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#18

Post by tcgv » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 11:03 AM UTC

cfontes wrote: post #9

buro9 wrote: post #7

Experience to date has been that without promotion, pay-rises within a company have always trailed inflation. So either you get promoted, and at that point you've negotiated a substantial raise (to offset the real decline in earnings and to protect your actual earnings in the years after the payrise)... Or... You go get a job elsewhere. It's a sad fact that the majority of real pay rises that I've ever seen, and that…

In Brazil it's the same thing.

I'm from Brazil too and this year the company I work for gave a pay raise of 8.0% for me and my fellow programmers, a little bit above the expected inflation for 2012 of 5.6%

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#19

Post by fmavituna » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 11:10 AM UTC

Ntrails wrote: post #17

buro9 wrote: post #7

Experience to date has been that without promotion, pay-rises within a company have always trailed inflation. So either you get promoted, and at that point you've negotiated a substantial raise (to offset the real decline in earnings and to protect your actual earnings in the years after the payrise)... Or... You go get a job elsewhere. It's a sad fact that the majority of real pay rises that I've ever seen, and that…

The phrasing bandied about where I currently work is: "You are doing the same job as last year, so your pay should be the same adjusted for inflation. If you want more money, you need to be taking on more responsibility, growing your role."

Out of curiosity, what happens when you tell them you doing it better this year (assuming you're telling that to them)? If you not doing your job better than last year, is there any other good argument for getting a significant raise?

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#20

Post by beaumartinez » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 11:14 AM UTC

Ntrails wrote: post #17

buro9 wrote: post #7

Experience to date has been that without promotion, pay-rises within a company have always trailed inflation. So either you get promoted, and at that point you've negotiated a substantial raise (to offset the real decline in earnings and to protect your actual earnings in the years after the payrise)... Or... You go get a job elsewhere. It's a sad fact that the majority of real pay rises that I've ever seen, and that…

The phrasing bandied about where I currently work is: "You are doing the same job as last year, so your pay should be the same adjusted for inflation. If you want more money, you need to be taking on more responsibility, growing your role."

You are doing the same job as last year, except with a whole nother year's worth of experience.