I'm an 8 year data center network engineer who recently broke 100k for the first time. When I got asked my salary requirements I actually only asked for 90k as my highest previous salary was 80k with lots of travel, then I found out they gave me 100k because it was the minimum they could pay someone in my position. I've read before about people making crazy salary increases (150%-300%) and am wondering if I played it incorrectly and how I could play it in the future. I plan to stay with my company for the next few years and upskilling heavily and am eyeing a promotion in my first year as I've already delivered big projects by contributing very early. I've progressed from call center/help desk/engineer etc (no degree, just certs) so my progression has been pretty linear, are people who are seeing massive jumps in pay just overselling their competency and failing forward? Or are there other fields in IT like programming/etc that are more likely to have higher progression scales?
Was making 80k at my last job, asked for 110k when interviewing and my new job offered my 125k, then after a year they bumped it to 145k. I work in devops.
I didn't finish my degree so ended up going ops -> devops route.
Salary include estimated benefit values (ending salary) 12/hr -> 50k (60k) -> 70k (80k) -> 115k (125k) -> 115k (counter offered 185k upon resignation which I rejected) -> 190k -> 210k
There's a lot more to the story but that might give an idea of possible bumps. Each jump I took mostly to progress my career where they were looking for skills that built on top of what I had already been doing. I went from like a windows admin, to network admin, to windows/network automation, to ansible automation for anything (and other devops-y things), to a cloud consulting company which focused on automation, to a internal platform architect on a team, to a small business where I'm pretty much the infrastructure wizard, with a junior team member, who does the infra deployments, changes, design, cicd for dev and own team, etc.
When I took a pay decrease from 125k -> 115k it was because the weekly cash was still slightly better but the benefits were far worse. I mostly took it because I needed to get to a cloud focused company to progress my career where I wanted it to go and my company at the time couldn't get me any meaningful experience in cloud stuff at all. The pay jump after that really proved that the experience was worth it. I kind of wish I never joined the 190k company and instead took the counter offer. The 190k company I ended up really not liking leadership's direction and handling of things.
Super happy now at 210k company where I am a bit of a manager. I really like the people, responsibilities, etc. Pay is pretty great, more than I need for sure, so paying extra on the house and good bucks in retirement for later. Of the higher paying places I've been at it is the only one I feel fulfilled and not constantly frustrated.
That's great, can you elaborate what you mean by ops>devops? Do you support infrastructure or applications? I know devops is kind of a catch-all term now for automation, did you work on understanding cloud deployments from the POV of the servers/application or from infra?
I only ask because some of what I do is considered "devops" in the sense that I'm working on network automation, but a lot of times when I hear people discuss devops they're talking about supporting applications
Yeah, happy to elaborate!
When I first started (hourly) I was doing basically field tech work at an msp. That means I was just a monkey following a document and would call for backup if I experienced any issues. I started getting some basic tasks to come up with newer processes, script some existing ones, and generally manage existing clients. I mostly got familiar with OS stuff, took a few Microsoft certs, that sort of stuff.
Second and third job I was doing more engineering of my own. I'd get higher level tasks like design an implementation of a next Gen firewall here, design next developer image, implement monitoring system, revamp backups, etc. Third job involved some public site management but I wasn't yet too responsible for app deployments themselves though was often involved as escalation in app support.
Fourth job was more of the same but focused on automation this time. Our group was called 'automation team' and we revamped processes at a larger regional bank while adding automation. Before I left there we transitioned to DevOps team, but was more of a DevOps processes and platforms team. We wrote a lot of ci and automation but the goal was to have existing app support teams to own it. That model largely worked and we helped train the ops folks to be DevOps folks.
I moved to a cloud consulting company bc I wanted cloud experience and to get closer to app deployments. If you work on line of business applications then you're more likely to demand higher pay while doing more interesting and important work. Managers usually need to improve the product so they're less likely to be wanting to stick to the status quo.
The last two are similar, both justify architecture in the name. The previous though had a lot of bad practices, status quo managers, and was generally miserable. I'm currently quite a generalist because we're at a small business. That said, main responsibilities include writing and supporting cicd pipeline, all infrastructure changes and automation, 3rd party mail system config, etc.
If you have any more questions lmk.
That's great. That's basically the route I'm looking to take, though my background is mostly with networking, so I have some catching up to do in sysadmin skills. Thanks for your insight! I'll give you a follow (idk if that exists in the fediverse lol) and maybe follow up with you later. It's great you're willing to be a resource for the aspiring engineers. That's the kind of spirit I try to embody.
No problem - I've had a couple unofficial mentors myself. In the tech world it's also impossible to not be riding the shoulders of the giants before us.
99% of the time, the only way people get a raise around these parts is by switching jobs. There's never budget until you resign.
I haven't seen any huge increase 'cos I don't have access to manager's records.
Two years ago our software lead left. Me with 3 years experience was the most knowledgeable person on the team. He left because we had gotten acquired. 3 months later they gave me a raise from 92 to 103k, which I showed annoyance with. 6 months later the new company decided to throw money at the people they couldn't afford to lose so I went to 128k. 6 months later I went to 143k
This is on a small team at a government contractor
TLDR: 51K (56%) in 1 year without switching companies
When someone asks what you were paid or what your salary expectations are, ask them what the budget is for the role. They have one. They will not want to tell you, and you shouldn’t tell them your expectations
I did this several times and never got a proper reply. They say stuff like "It depends on the person and is calculated individually". You can't really argue over that unless you're willing to be very pushy or just straight up walk away from the table - which is something you don't want to do in most cases.
Why not be pushy? Why not be willing to walk away? Everyone’s situation differs but a server tech is not going to be lacking for work opportunities. If it’s calculated individually, you say “ok what would it be in my case?”
If they say “it depends on what you’re paid now” that’s a HUGE red flag and you should walk
Not everyone's opportunities are the same. If you can afford to be pushy and can afford to walk away, then sure - do that. However, I personally would not put the whole opportunity on the line and walk away just because a recruiter won't tell me a range. In my last interview they didn't give me any range, while I gave them my expectation, which was a bit inflated, and they just accepted my offer. Could I get more if I knew the range? Probably. But I can't be mad at them, as they matched my expectation. And I enjoy the job so far.
It all depends on the situation, as you also mentioned. I'm just arguing that saying "walk away if they don't tell you a range" is a bit of an exaggeration and might do more harm to some people than good.
I mean, if an employer pulls an offer because you asked for the range then you dodged a bullet. As I said and as you said, everyone’s situation is different but - I’m the context of OP’s post they seem to have had the option to negotiate.
this is a conversation you usually have before the technical stuff. you’re making sure your ideal pay and their band is in sync.
being pushy early in the process is terrible advice.
Yeah, in my case, the decision to hire me had been made, but HR would of course onboard me. I got kind of blindsided as the person who asked me wasn't the person who would be making the decision, she was basically a proxy. I asked what the range was and I got some generic "it depends".... I checked most of the boxes for skills but I don't have a degree and for some reason that's off-putting to large companies. Anyways yeah it didn't feel right to be pushy so early
It’s a negotiation. Unless you have a lot of knowledge about the industry you’re working in and what market salaries are, you’re at a disadvantage. You don’t have to say a number. They do - they’re offering you a job. If they refuse to offer you the job until you tell them your salary desire, they are trying to low ball you and you likely don’t want to work there.
I have never been an interviewer or interviewee where you are not supposed to give a number.
Of course they try to low ball you. You counter act by giving a number that allows you to haggle. That is how negotiation works.
Supposed to? According to who? There is no law saying you have to give a number. They want you to give a number. That doesn’t necessarily make it a requirement.
I already answered that in my other posts.
I am the interviewer, I ask the questions. I always ask that question because it is required information for me within the hiring process. I need to make sure your expectation is in my budget.
I don't need to make the process unnecessary complicated by engaging in you not telling me.
If you won't tell me I'll either give you the minimum or ask you to leave because I really don't want to deal with people that make things unnecessarily complicated
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT86J7mpN/
That was basically how the meeting went lol
The NDA bit got me ngl
Truth is this is an antagonistic negotiation oftentimes. You want to be paid more, they want to pay you as little as possible. There’s unfortunately no playbook, just advice and experience.
FWIW if they were that evasive I’d just say “look I’m not going to name an initial number, I’d like you to name a range.” But I’m at a somewhat senior level so I have a different experience than others might
even then, a position may not be for a certain level so they’re can be a fairly wide band of pay depending on how the interview goes.
i think most folks vastly overthink it. just ask for the money you want to make. either it’s in the ballpark or it’s not. all this “don’t say a number first” stuff is bullshit imo.
you definitely do want to know if your desired pay matches their range though. that’s very important.
I usually follow it up with a salary range and they end up matching the lower bound.
Yeah, saying a range makes no sense. You hope for the high end, but all they hear is the low end. I always say a specific number.
A range gives you flexibility. I hope for the high end, sure, but I know they'll go for the low end so I throw a range where I'd be happy with the low.
Since it's a range, it's easy to say No way I'd work for you for less than [low end].
If you give a fixed value they'll low ball it and you'll generally end up in.between theirs and yours, so you'll have to aim high.
If you give a fixed value they'll low ball it and you'll generally end up in.between theirs and yours, so you'll have to aim high.
Exactly. That's why you say a specific number, which you hope you'll get (which is a high end of your range), but in your mind be prepared to accept a lower offer (which is a low end of your range). If you say a range it's like if you said just the low end of the range, the high end doesn't matter anymore to the recruiter. That's at least what I've been doing recently and it usually works well.
I got just about 60% by switching the company. Previously biggest bump that I got internally was about 30%, when I put an ultimatum on the table. Without the ultimatum I'd probably get like 10% max. It's always either switching the job or the threat of switching the job that will make them pay.
Over the last 5 years I have went from 50k to 90k. Same company, but recently got promoted to a new department.
I'm from India so these numbers might be a bit weird. My yearly comp has basically gone like this from 2017 to 2023
$0.7k -> $3.6k -> $4.8k -> $20k
$0.7k annually? Is it anyhow possible to live with that low salary in India? I can't even live a month with that here, even if I don't buy anything but the cheapest food and live in the smallest apartments here...
It is possible to live on that, there are people who live on less than it. Personally all of it went to supplementing my Mom's income so we could survive.
There are plenty of entry level jobs in India that offer those kinds of wages. There are more that offer less.
Yes, it's exploitative.
Almost same for me also I started with $1.5k in 2017, now it is near about $20k
My last raise was 10k. But that was after 7+ years of no raises (agency work, slow times). When COVID hit, our business picked up for 2 years straight and I finally convinced them it was stable enough to commit. We're a small company and they'd rather give out bonuses or assistance with personal expenses than commit to an annual salary increase (which I get), but COL has spiked in recent times, so the raise was well past due.
Biggest raise was about 12%, when I got bumped up to senior a few years back. Currently searching for a new gig so I'm hoping for a nice bump
$40K to $125K per year. I’m a self-taught web developer that worked all the shitty jobs for a long time; $40K was for a “small” company (that made bank)
Dang, I thought it was easier to break into programming. Did you have any formal education? I totally felt that, I had to climb through the ranks one painful step at a time.
I basically started learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript in my free time when I was like 10. I lived in the middle of nowhere and had tons of time. I eventually moved onto PHP then Ruby on Rails.
Because I didn’t have the proper experience/education, I was never seriously considered for any tech jobs. Basically I ended up building systems for places I worked at. One day while working in a warehouse the owner of another company we worked with offered me a job on the down low.
While working there I realized I could automate like 70% of my job and realized they were spending thousands of dollars on a system that hardly did anything.
I moved onto a small but highly profitable company but ended up leaving because the pay was terrible and my boss started cussing me out for stuff.
So finally last year I landed a web developer job at a “real” company, the one job still uses my web application to run their business and things are good. If only I could get more customers for my side business…
~220% total comp for me last year, switching companies from a job with okay but below market pay, and becoming a senior software engineer in the move. I think I can feasibly double one more time if I try, but it'd be a bigger push and likely involve working for FAANG. Anything more that is outside my reasonably likely career path.
