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Comment by vinceguidry | Hacker News Reader

I got a $15K raise last month, from $60 to $75K. I expect a much bigger one next year. It's not impossible to get those raises, but you have to align your thinking with the way the company operates, have supporters in the company, and bring real value to the table.

If you're just checking boxes or asking for more money "just because", then you deserve the arched eyebrow you're bound to get.

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a 25% raise is unlikely next year, sounds to me that this was more of a salary adjustment than a raise which are typically between 3-9%. At your salary level it's not uncommon to have adjustments to bring you in line with others in your team. Possibly they started you low to see how it would work out.

Whatever you want to call it, I expect a bigger one next year.

So, just curious, but what makes you so confident you'll be getting back-to-back massive payraises? And when do you think it'll stop?

Hard to explain in any kind of useful way. Let's just say I hack my career like I hack code. I don't expect it to ever stop.

That's a good attitude you have! But honestly, you are still working for peanuts, if you are any good as a programmer.

How long have you been programming professionally?

Professionally, only about 4 years, also a year as a sysadmin and a few in the Air Force a while back. That's why the peanuts. I'm not the most amazing programmer ever, but I am pretty good. I also have business sense and the ability to talk convincingly to non-technical people.

These things ultimately mean much more to a company, at least my company, than years at firm. I'm also constantly pushing myself to build more skills, not just programming, but also social skills too. I've noticed the longer I do this, the more people are willing to listen to and value my input. My company hierarchy is very flat for one that does $40 million in revenue. I see my CEO whenever he's in the office, his office is right next to my workspace.

It's a case of, sure, I could go somewhere and get a $X0,000 raise and finally check that six figure salary box, or I work here towards middle / upper management and reach that goal in just a few years and get a $X00,000 raise. I'm comfortable right now, no need to make a decision right now, I don't hit two years here until July anyway. If by then it doesn't look like the vision I have for my career here is really viable, then sure I'll start looking.

I started with a fairly low salary of ~50k USD in my first job in 2009, mostly because I screwed up salary negotiations. I've changed jobs twice since, and roughly tripled my salary.

> I'm not the most amazing programmer ever, but I am pretty good. I also have business sense and the ability to talk convincingly to non-technical people.

If you can deliver at all, you are probably better than most programmers out there. Talking to non-technical people is an awesome skill in its own right.

Yes, my asking about how many years you've been working was just as a rough proxy.

If you want, you can shoot me an email (see profile) for some more in-depth chats. I'm interested to see how typical my trajectory is. I don't think I did anything extraordinary, but most people I talk to seem to be getting inferior results.

or he could go get a competing offer with a 50% raise ;)

You're in the U.S.?

By reading Hacker News I had the impression that everyone there that is not a junior is making at least U$100k/year, except for special cases in rural areas or small towns.

That impression is a bit skewed by the large number of HNers who work in places like silicon valley and NYC, I think. There are a lot of places in the US where you can be very, very comfortable on $75k a year.

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