Step 1. Be valuable
Step 2. Ask for your value
Step 3. Walk if you don't get it
Step 2. Ask for your value
Step 3. Walk if you don't get it
You should seriously consider interviewing at other companies, where you should directly ask your interviewers questions about these topics, explain why you value them in your current role, and ask how this new company handles the same things. You can find stimulating work at a lot of places if you look hard enough...
I used to think that way, but in general, the situation will change. You can have a this awesome job for N years, and then management can change and you'll be miserable.
I think it's always better to be in a position where you know you can easily move if things go south. If your current awesome job is also making you grow, then great! If, however, it's too comfortable and you cannot differentiate yourself well, you will not be able to move easily once things go south.
Non-glamorous startup problems, am I right?
I do wish I could move, however.
don't worry about it. You aren't underpaid because your job has other benefits that are worth a small amount of money. Or look around for a competitive job that has similar benefits and better pay
But the one nobody has called out, which I think is the hardest, is number 1. Knowing what your employer finds valuable is a difficult proposition. And in a lot of cases the line between value and liability is thin and nondeterministic.
Yes. But you probably have an idea how to reduce the number of headaches for your manager, and how to make him or her look better in front of that person's own manager.
You may go unrecognized for a while be keep doing it because eventually you'll be that person that your manager really doesn't want to loose. That's value.
Read up on the Dunning-Kruger effect. Realize smart people undervalue themselves, and dumb people overvalue themselves. Remember that if only dumb people ask for a promotion, one of them gets it. If you're a good employee, always shoot a little above your worth to compensate.
People are whining that it's hard to know your value, that people are timid, and many people can't walk.
I agree, and that's why they're underpaid. It's not your boss's fault if you're uninformed, timid, or scared to ask for a raise. Do what you need to do to improve your bargaining position. Then leverage it.
Thr vast majority of the supposed "wage gap" is that men feel compelled to climb the hierarchy. They take more risks asking for raises and positions- even if they aren't qualified, and even at the expense of work life balance. You can do that too, if you want the money.
Emphasis on if.
I understood my value, as I was doing 80% of the team's work first year.
2nd year, I procrastinated, put in 50% effort, still outperformed my team mates.
There were "senior" members that I quadrupled output.
I am probably overqualified for my role.
I asked for raise, as I'm undervalued of what I can do. I was a lil cocky, but true, that I coasted and still outperformed everyone.
I gave them 3 months to show they value me, as I had offers from other teams and a bunch of people were leaving to other local companies.
I said all the thanks, kudos, awards, and even titles are meaningless. I want to get paid, that's all that matters. The more I get paid, the more I am willing to do.
Took 3.5 months, they gave me a raise and a promotion doing slightly different things so not so borinh
This echoes my response when I feel undervalued. The first year I give at least 100% to assess my impact compared to my peers. If I'm leaps and bounds ahead I dial it back _significantly_ until I just barely exceed the expectations set for other people. If they can be there for x years working at such a slow pace, I don't need to make them look considerably worse, especially if my compensation below market rate. Just for reference, so far I've yet to make market rate for a base salary. Things like working from home on Fridays are a perk that does have a monetary and mental value but perks rarely put food on the table by themselves.
In an ideal situation, companies would be able to spot your max performance, watch it decline and immediately work with you to rectify it. Maybe you picked up a new meth habit but chances are if you're like us, you're merely adjusting your output to match their perceived monetary input (however truthful that may be).
This is not to say that I don't work with my peers to try to enhance their productivity levels. I don't feel I'm a unicorn by any means, I'm just really good at being really lazy and awkwardly enough using proper tooling means I can be both lazy and extremely productive at the same time.
Now ask for more.
When the offers stop, you've found your value.
Likewise - you are more valuable to your current company as you have domain knowledge whereas a new hire will require training, keep that in mind.
If you don't have any alternative and aren't willing to quit, your value is what you're getting paid currently.
You can bluff your way to a higher value but without leverage (other offer, willingness to walk) that's all it is-- a bluff that might or might not be called.
The company's goal is to maximize aggregate surplus value. Salary and wage based negotiation is a zero sum game until you add commissions, stock options, profit sharing.
These are averages and not reflective of engineering roles.
Walmart: ~5-6k profit per employee (Q3) Exxon: 176k profit per employee (Q3) Facebook[0]: 1.7M profit per employee (Q3) Apple: 522k profit per employee (Q3)
Internet Services & Social Media sector average: 497k profit per employee Internet Services & Social Media sector average: 2.1M revenue per employee
A competitor can/should/will try to steal you from your current employer with a higher compensation if they can extract good surplus value from you, relative to anyone else. The last part (relative to anyone else) is the crux of the situation, everyone selling their labor is doing so at a massive discount because of the competition in the labor pool. You can't actually demand anything close to your value because somebody else will undercut you.
The people/firms that can demand the highest percentage of their value as compensation are those with the most unique skills, those for whom few alternatives in the pool exist.
[0] https://csimarket.com/stocks/FB-Efficiency-Comparisons.html
I'm confused by this part. If a person can undercut you, they can do what you do for less money. That means your value was not as high as you thought.
We might be using different definitions of value. I'm using "replacement value", and I think you are using something like Marx's "use value".
I think people are getting bogged down by the word "value". Let's use "negotiating leverage" instead. For salary negotiations, what matters is your alternatives.
They are already getting that value that you define out of you. If they pay you half, the value you provide is still the same. The question is "Are you going to keep working for them, or do you have better options?"
The number that matters is the difference between what you can get elsewhere, and the value you provide.
Your value is what your company is able to extract from your labor. Doing the exact same stuff for multiple companies would give different levels of "value" to the same person. The further you are away from sales or high-level executive decision making, the harder it is to demonstrate clear value to people who make 'value' decisions.