Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 97 posts

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#31

Post by 46Bit »

neltnerb wrote: post #28
lawl wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no native english speaker here, but i guess "a whole 'nother" would be correct. but let people be lazy when typing online. actually i guess you'd also need to switch the words to be gramatically correct: "another whole year"

native english speaker here, and I grant that english is flexible enough that such things are largely a matter of opinion, but "nother" bugs me. I would write 'other with the apostrophe used to indicate the mixing of "a whole other" and "another" into 'other. I would pronounce it "other" if I was thinking, but possibly "nother" if I was being sloppy.

It works in speech, but makes no sense in writing. 'nother is more confusing and awkward to write that another.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#32

Post by snooblywoobly »

It's my experience that getting a pay rise in the same job is rather difficult in small/medium sized companies. The only way I have so far accomplished it is to move. Opinions tend to be quite viscous, it takes a lot of energy applied over a long period of time to change a view point. First impressions count. Just like your parents will tend to always see you as a child, your boss will tend to see you as the person you were when you joined. The dynamics of this situation are so stable over time that it can push common sense to breaking point. I was recently underpaid by £10,000 according to the market rate, yet could not negotiate even an inflation matching rise in pay. Like many things this is a battle between competing forces, your desire for enough money to make your life comfortable, the companies drive for more profit, a person's desire to avoid having to think, a person's drive for power and respect, etc. If you find yourself playing a game you cannot win, change the game and move on.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#33

Post by hdctambien »

neltnerb wrote: post #28
lawl wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no native english speaker here, but i guess "a whole 'nother" would be correct. but let people be lazy when typing online. actually i guess you'd also need to switch the words to be gramatically correct: "another whole year"

native english speaker here, and I grant that english is flexible enough that such things are largely a matter of opinion, but "nother" bugs me. I would write 'other with the apostrophe used to indicate the mixing of "a whole other" and "another" into 'other. I would pronounce it "other" if I was thinking, but possibly "nother" if I was being sloppy.

I never thought about this until now, but I think this is a case of an interfix. So, it is turning "another" in to "a-whole-nother" much like "abso-f*ing-lutely" or "legend-and-I-hope-you're-not-lactose-intolerant-because-the-second-half-of-that-word-is-DAIRY!"

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#34

Post by yaddayadda »

thibaut_barrere wrote: post #30
rlpb wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Experience is secondary. It's only any good to your employer if it increases the value you provide.

I think not; from what I've seen, just moving to another company unfortunately makes you suddenly worth more. I've seen that first hand with more than a couple of friends: people who remained in the same company saw a much less significant raise over time (10 years) than people who changed 2 or 3 times of company in the same timespan. This is unfortunate but it seems to be a fairly common pattern (at least here in Fr…

Here in the States, I worked at one company where two overachieving colleagues had been trying to get raises for years. In both cases, they got fed up and found other jobs. The interesting thing is that in both cases, their respective bosses at our company told them to immediately apply for the positions they were vacating at our company. In one case the employee was hired back into the exact same position with a very significant raise less than two weeks after outprocessing. In the second case, the employee literally outprocessed one day, took a single day off, and inprocessed back into the same position the following day, again with a very significant raise.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#35

Post by yaddayadda »

46Bit wrote: post #31
neltnerb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

native english speaker here, and I grant that english is flexible enough that such things are largely a matter of opinion, but "nother" bugs me. I would write 'other with the apostrophe used to indicate the mixing of "a whole other" and "another" into 'other. I would pronounce it "other" if I was thinking, but possibly "nother" if I was being sloppy.

It works in speech, but makes no sense in writing. 'nother is more confusing and awkward to write that another.

It makes sense if the intended interpretation is the same as the spoken version.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#37

Post by binarymax »

I'm in a fun (and unique) situation. I work in and am paid from the UK, but am on a US Salary. I get a performance based raise on my US salary, between something like 2.5% and 5%. The fun part is that at the beginning of the year, they also set the exchange rate! It lasts for a whole year, so it can have good or bad consequences. The gods favored me last year, but who knows what the beancounters will come up this year. I could get a 5% raise but a -7% hit on the exchange. Or I could get a 3% raise and a +6.5% boost on the exchange. Oh the gloriousness of being an expat!

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#38

Post by jwoah12 »

46Bit wrote: post #31
neltnerb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

native english speaker here, and I grant that english is flexible enough that such things are largely a matter of opinion, but "nother" bugs me. I would write 'other with the apostrophe used to indicate the mixing of "a whole other" and "another" into 'other. I would pronounce it "other" if I was thinking, but possibly "nother" if I was being sloppy.

It works in speech, but makes no sense in writing. 'nother is more confusing and awkward to write that another.

I cringe when I hear people say this. It works in speech to the extent that "irregardless" or "I could care less" are acceptable.

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#39

Post by edent »

One of the best things you can do is ask your colleagues and your peers about their salary. That's the best way you can find out whether your pay is in line with "the industry".

Some companies have specific rules against disclosing your salary - try not to work for those people :-)

It may also be worth asking for an equal pay audit[0] - are you being discriminated against because of your sex, race, etc?

Finally, don't just look at salary. Look at the total package - pension provision, holidays, bonus schemes, company car, discount schemes etc.

[0] http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance//tool...

Re: Ask HN: Salary Increases Over Time

#40

Post by edent »

binarymax wrote: post #37

I'm in a fun (and unique) situation. I work in and am paid from the UK, but am on a US Salary. I get a performance based raise on my US salary, between something like 2.5% and 5%. The fun part is that at the beginning of the year, they also set the exchange rate! It lasts for a whole year, so it can have good or bad consequences. The gods favored me last year, but who knows what the beancounters will come up this yea…

I'm curious - where do you pay tax? Are there not funny rules about overseas earnings?

Or are you "based" in the Cayman Isles ;-p

Post reply on HN