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Ask HN: how do I ask for a raise in my salary?

6 points by bking ↗ HN
I have an engineering degree, and I was offered a job after a few months of searching. They offered me $45,000 and I took it knowing that I would have to do a bit of training to get acquainted with the sector. I adjusted a lot faster than expected. It has almost been a year, and I was poking around our network and found the job descriptions for the company. Low and behold my title and job description gave a salary range of $55-70,000. I have been doing my job as well as helping to automate a lot of the procedures and tasks, improving the speed and efficiency of all the members of a team that I manage, who all have more experience in the sector than I have been alive.

My title is Analyst but I am also our tech expert/support and team leader of 4 others.

I feel I far exceed my job description and would like to renegotiate my salary to the base of the specturm ($55,000) plus a %10 raise for exceptional work for the past year.

Is that too much to ask, and how do I go about it without seeming like a self-righteous/greedy ass?

18 comments

[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 54.2 ms ] thread
NonEUCitizen
1. Go interview and get a competing offer.

2. "It's been a year since I've started working here and I'd like a raise to bring my salary in line with market rates, please." Note that #1 will give you a more accurate sense of market rates.

bking
Base pay for engineers is around $55,000. I took the $45,000 because the economy sucks and I was scared about the job market. I should have negotiated better, but that is more or less my fault.
dllthomas
Also, the $10k could be said in part to be compensating them for the risk they took in taking you on, given their uncertainty about your abilities. That uncertainty should now be cleared up.
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yashchandra
Before we get into the discussion about what you should be worth., pure numbers show that you are asking to go from 45,000 to 55,000+10% = 60,500. That is almost 35% raise from your current base. I have been in your situation before and it is very unlikely in the US to get that kind of a raise usually.

Having said that, if you really feel that you are worth that much, have a talk with you boss. But most likely, you might have to look outside your current company and even then, a 35% raise is very tough to negotiate in current market.

bking
I have had this discussion with a few people, and that seems to be the typical response from anyone who works in a larger corperation. I definitely don't disagree.
yashchandra
What you can do is to start looking outside first. Try and negotiate the raise with the new potential employer. The chances of getting it outside are higher than your current employer agreeing to that kind of a raise.
bking
I will definitely think about it. Thanks.
ImprovedSilence
I disagree. Especially because his pay is so low compared to market rates. I managed to interview for with a new company, get an offer at 15% up from my current pay, threaten to leave, and get a counter offer from my current company at 5k above my outstanding offer.

They are taking huge advantage of you at 45k. They know this. If you have other offers in hand, or even make it known you are looking around, your current company will try to give you incentive to stay (in $$$). If they don't, they probably are not worth staying with anyway.

pasbesoin
I received raises like that, in a very conventional corporate environment and with strict cost controls in place, because I was basically saving my manager's bacon -- as I was internally hired to do -- and doing it a significantly less cost than the "conventional" (big iron) route. He had significant seniority within our part of the org and used it to get this done.

But, that was fairly exceptional.

In another role at another corporation, I was repeatedly lauded by my coworkers -- the ones with whom I actually worked and who had real technical chops. But my immediate org structure was more than a bit political, and my role was defined by corporate as a fairly mundane and low-level role. 4% was the cap, and almost no one got that. Ability didn't rule the decision: Executive-level budgets and politics did.

So... You've better assessed your value. Be prepared to move one, before and when asking for it. You may have to. If you have a solid competing offer, this may also strengthen your argument/negotiation with your existing employer. Don't "threaten" them; rather, an offer shows that someone -- an "independent party" or even a "competitor" -- considers that valuation to be fair.

A final caveat: If you get to the point of having that offer, it may be best to leave and take it. As others, I seem to recall, have pointed out, here, causing your existing employer to match a competitor's offer may breed unexpressed resentment on the part of your management. And, regardless of that, they will worry about whether they will end up having to explain and justify the bump to other employees if and when asked about it and without facing wholesale escalation in their wage structure.

TL;DR: Having stuck out assignments having low raises, I'd say you may have to -- and ultimately want to -- change jobs/employers.

bking
I definitely do not want to burn a bridge by attempting to force management to pay me more. I would like to show them that I am worth more than what I am receiving. The last thing I want to try to do is "bully" management into a hostile relationship.

As I do that, my networks are fairly active and they understand my capabilities. I will continue my search outside for other opportunities to cover the worst case scenario.

My only logical unemotional hindrance for leaving my company for greener pastures is that I would like to build up good foundation of credible experience over more than just one years time. I want to have a longer record that shows my continuous improvement and dedication to innovative solutions, such that future employers or top tier MBA programs will have no problem realizing my potential.

Thanks everyone for the multiple points of view. I have been taking everyone's opinion into consideration.

jwynia
The best way to get paid $55,000 is to prove to them that you make or save them $110,000 a year.

Asking for a raise makes it all about you. If you can make it all about THEM, and what THEY get from your continuing to work there, it's amazing how many "rules" can be made to disappear.

bking
the unfortunate side of things is that I am not privy to the knowledge of the money they make off their contracts. There isn't very much transparency. What I can say is that I took a project that was about to sink and would take the better part of a year to do and turned it into 2 months of work and removed most of the human error elements. All this while working on two other full time projects.
ImprovedSilence
Are you a contractor? If so, you can be sure they are charging the client at least 2x your current cost to them, probably more if they pay you so little. This multiple they use also gives them room to pay you more. As someone state above, it might be tough to just ask for a raise, but it's much easier negotiate when you have better offers in hand. Also, have you had your yearly review/raise yet? If not, I'd wait until after that happens, and see how it goes, to make some noise/moves. Maybe they are planning a big raise after the first year (my company did), and if you complain now/ask for too little, you may hurt your ability to negotiate after the fact.
bking
I am a salary worker, and my company is a mix of consulting and deliverables to address our customers needs. I definitely understand how the charging works (my father is a cunsultant elsewhere and I grew up at least partially understanding that side).

I had quarterly reviews, and each of them has been glowing and pushing me into more responsibility. The timing is off for my year end because my old manager is now a consultant and my new manager has only been here for a month, although I am pretty sure he would die if I weren't here. The quarterly review system was a product of my old manager, so I think those are over with now.

My company is small (<50) and I have not seen any formal raise system like most big box companies, where if you get the highest rating you might get a %20 raise and on down.

I am at a loss for when I should expect my year end if at all, because everyone else I know outside the company has already had theirs over the past month.

codeonfire
The business world does not work this way. Some guy at the top decided that the job is worth $45k and they will never pay more. Further the guy accepted the job at $45k so therefore the managers believe his value on the market is $45k. Do not believe for a second that fairness has anything to do with it, you have to take every penny by going out and finding a better job.
dllthomas
I think that if your self assessment is accurate, they should be happy to pay you the higher rate; the alternative is training up someone else, who they'd likely have to pay more anyway.
rynes
One time I took a job at the offered salary. I was contacted by another company I had done some part time work for and they offered me a full time job at a considerably higher salary. I told my current boss and he said there was a company policy of max 15% increase in any year, but he gave me the 15%. I think the point is that you need to give your boss some numbers based on current rates at other companies. You don't have to give the company names unless he presses you very hard.