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?
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.
Last Spring all the Paramedics & EMTs got an hourly increase. I was expecting maybe $1.00-1.50… very shocked with a $6.30hr raise!
If I had the chance to follow my dreams, I would have been a paramedic, followed by either park ranger or some form of rescue team. Unfortunately, as a poor immigrant, I had to focus on pay, and paramedic pay was only about 2x minimum wage where I live, so I decided not to follow my dream. Thankfully I ended up in something else I enjoy. All that to say, you’re a hero in my book, and I’ve always thought paramedics should be paid significantly more.
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.
~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.
