$10k raise--just by asking!

I've held my new job for four months now, and felt that I was being underpaid for what I was doing... so today, I walked into my boss's office, gave some statistics from salary.com and recruiters in the area for my job(or as close to it as I could get) and asked for a $10k raise. Five minutes later, it was done.

All by asking!

Today is a good day. I shall celebrate with a beer...or five.

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Comments

chrisone

hahaha thats awesome! congrats! whats your job responsibilities ? if you dont mind me asking...

forkvoid

chrisone wrote: »

hahaha thats awesome! congrats! whats your job responsibilities ? if you dont mind me asking...

I work for a VAR.

Client comes in, I design everything about their technology setup from policies and procedures down to what hardware and software they're using... I then do the project management for the whole thing, which may span a weekend with two people involved or may span six months with ten people involved. I work with a lot of contractors, since I obviously can't all of the implementation myself.

Breakdown by major job functions:

IT architecture design
Network administration
Windows systems administration
Desktop support
Project management
Technical writing
Sales

Environment is also extremely high pressure. Most tasks have priority of "needed done yesterday". I'm on call pretty much 100% of the time. I'm often on the computer at 6am, still in my boxers, having been woken up to a down issue by a client.

Michael.J.Palmer

Congrats! See, you never know if you don't ask,

ipconfig.all

congrats

RouteThisWay

Congrats man

rogue2shadow

Congrats!!! Nice move

tpatt100

Big congrats

Psoasman

Good for you, I am adding to your rep! Never hurts to ask, especially when you go in prepared.

gateway

With market conditions as they are that's some accomplishment. Well done!

[walks into boss's office]

N2IT

Well done!

With all that stress and hard work you deserve it.

NetAdmin2436

Well played!

That's awesome and something every underpaid employee should do. If your salary is well below the salary surveys in your area, it's time to ask. Some of us don't realize just how important we are to our company. I did something similar a few years ago. It's amazing what you get when you simply ask. Don't demand or threaten, but bring in some statistics (as mentioned), reasons why, accomplishments, and ask in a professional manner.

Devilsbane

You are going to share some of that with us... right?

Congratulations!

forkvoid

Thanks guys.

The real trick, now that I'm getting pay comparable for my skillset/location, is getting the next raise that bumps me beyond the average. I've been told by my boss that certs and a degree will work favorably for me. So, MCITP:EA, it seems, is my next step.

Hyper-Me

forkvoid wrote: »

The real trick, now that I'm getting pay comparable for my skillset/location, is getting the next raise that bumps me beyond the average. I've been told by my boss that certs and a degree will work favorably for me. So, MCITP:EA, it seems, is my next step.

Yeah, its finicky in this area. You do high level work and make good money (sometimes more than the HR person you're talking to about a new job) and they try to tell you that you arent worth half what you are making now.

I've gotten into it with several recruiters/HR people because they've told me im only worth 25k a year and then they get insulted when i pass on their "opportunity"

forkvoid

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Yeah, its finicky in this area. You do high level work and make good money (sometimes more than the HR person you're talking to about a new job) and they try to tell you that you arent worth half what you are making now.

I've gotten into it with several recruiters/HR people because they've told me im only worth 25k a year and then they get insulted when i pass on their "opportunity"

I actually called up Premier and TekSystems as part of my investigation into salaries... told them my work details and they priced me out as a range.

Of course, I seriously doubt they would ever get me a job in that range($55k to $65k).

Hyper-Me

forkvoid wrote: »

I actually called up Premier and TekSystems as part of my investigation into salaries... told them my work details and they priced me out as a range.

Of course, I seriously doubt they would ever get me a job in that range($55k to $65k).

Oh i can guarantee they won't. Not "you" individually but if you dont have 10 years hardcore experience they don't want to touch you with a 10 foot pole.

Premier always acts like im a waste of their time.

Tek called not long ago with a job for a sys admin that wanted 5 years exp on windows and linux (each) and paid barely over half what im making now.

forkvoid

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Oh i can guarantee they won't. Not "you" individually but if you dont have 10 years hardcore experience they don't want to touch you with a 10 foot pole.

Premier always acts like im a waste of their time.

Tek called not long ago with a job for a sys admin that wanted 5 years exp on windows and linux (each) and paid barely over half what im making now.

I've had better luck with Craigslist than both of them combined.

Devilsbane

forkvoid wrote: »

I've had better luck with Craigslist than both of them combined.

Thats a great idea. I never thought of making an ad on there.

forkvoid

Devilsbane wrote: »

Thats a great idea. I never thought of making an add on there.

Actually, putting up an ad doesn't work unless you're in a larger city. What worked for me was responding to postings other companies put up. It's how I got my current job and a couple small ones in the past.

Devilsbane

I did make an ad once looking for computer repair. All of the replies were either spam or scams. Someone overnighted me a $4,000 check where I was supposed to cash it and wire $3500 to someone else.

forkvoid

Devilsbane wrote: »

I did make an ad once looking for computer repair. All of the replies were either spam or scams. Someone overnighted me a $4,000 check where I was supposed to cash it and wire $3500 to someone else.

I've always wanted to cash it and let it sit, just to see what happens, especially when the bank says "Oh, this is legit" and then two weeks later "We were wrong".

Nothing, though, I suppose.

Devilsbane

I still have the check (somewhere....), as I am looking to get into security later I think it is best to make every attempt to not tarnish my name.

dynamik

It'll probably bounce and you'll get stuck with the charge. Some banks may make the funds available to you immediately while the check may not actually clear for another few days. You wire the money off that's now available in your account, but then those funds disappear a few days later when the check doesn't clear.

forkvoid

dynamik wrote: »

It'll probably bounce and you'll get stuck with the charge. Some banks may make the funds available to you immediately while the check may not actually clear for another few days. You wire the money off that's now available in your account, but then those funds disappear a few days later when the check doesn't clear.

Aye, but get irks me is the stories of people specifically asking their bank about it clearing. They even wait long enough that their bank says it's cleared... then suddenly, the bank was wrong. I would think it would be easier to figure out it's a forgery.

dynamik

forkvoid wrote: »

Aye, but get irks me is the stories of people specifically asking their bank about it clearing. They even wait long enough that their bank says it's cleared... then suddenly, the bank was wrong. I would think it would be easier to figure out it's a forgery.

Yep. I've had people approach me after some of my security awareness and admit to that happening to them. The moral of the story is to simply not get involved with offers that are too good to be true.

Hyper-Me

Or you could take it to their bank and cash it

But its probably like Bank of Zimbabwe or something.

poriggity

Congrats! You never know unless you ask, but in certain instances, if you can't live with them saying no, you need to be prepared to walk out... That being said.. I am just dying to get into IT.. Hell, Im even tossing around the idea of starting a computer repair/networking business in the small town I live in, servicing this community.. Might work....
Congrats bro!
Scott