How to dominate salary raise negotiations for software developers!
Here is what Henri from Washington, DC has written:
"looking to ask for a raise this week: $65k base to $90k base. How to negotiate it?"
"As the title states, I just finished my 1st year with the company, and I'm looking to ask for a raise. My job title is Software Engineer, and we're a small government contractor working in both the DOD and financial sector.
We're developing a semi-complex web app on the Microsoft Stack. I'm assisting in all phases of development (backend, frontend, requirements gathering, database, everything). On a daily basis, I'm using mostly C# and Javascript (and have gotten pretty good at Javascript and making fancy widgets without a library/framework). I have done almost 90% of the frontend and 50% of the backend.
I'm currently making $65,000 (w/ a $5,000 bonus that I already received) in Washington DC. I'm looking to ask for a base salary of $90,000. I went to a top 25 college on a full scholarship and graduated with honors. My college revealed that for a first year graduate...
- 25th percentile: $63,000
- 50th percentile: $75,000
- 75th percentile $90,000
And a nearby college (last prestige as mine) had their graduates making $80,000 average out of college. So basically, it's only a $25,000 jump because I took a below the market contract to start (I know, they don't bother about any of this and will seem like a big jump to them)."
- Henri Y
Washington, DC
I am sure that a lot of people would say that a $25K salary raise is too big to be consented. That being said I think that we can easily flip the argument to your advantage. It is just not acceptable for you to accept a salary that is below the average salary for your experience and the region you live in. I know that Washington DC area is expensive.
The problem that I see is that you accepted to work below market average 1 year ago. $25K increase represents almost 40% increase. I would consider a 10% salary increase as a very generous salary increase. Also, remember that if a salary below average was offered in the first place, it may be because the company budget is tight. With that in mind, I think that your chances of successfully negotiating your target is very thin even if you do everything right: You got an excellent annual review, you present the market survey showing that your current salary is way below average.
To successfully pull it out, you'll need serious negotiation skills.
I have excellent book recommendations:
| In this book, you will learn the 6 universal influence principles applicable in any situation in your day to day life. This is a life changer read. | |
| Explain a general framework to negotiation. This is the one introducing the famous BATNA acronym. | |
| I got few interesting concepts from that one such as understanding 'leverage' in your negotiation and how important it is to adjust negotiation strategy based on the type of relation you have with the person you negotiate. ie: you can be aggressive with a one time deal but need to be respectful with a LTR partner (like an employer) to avoid the Stephen King's 'pet cemetery' effect. |
|
Extremely entertaining to read and presents few dozens of negotiation tactics. A lot of examples come straight from politics
(might be of interest for someone living in DC :-) ) |
Now in your current situation, I think that your best option is to gather several options (your BATNA and you should always have a BATNA not only when you want to negotiate).
If you have no BATNA, you are not negotiating, you are begging. You have to be ready to leave if there is no agreement.
If you get a $90K offer, then go see your boss to expose the situation. He will understand the situation as only a fool would not consider to improve their conditions by $25K (you could purchase a nice new car with that amount of money!). He will either offer you to match or beat the offer or he will accept to let you go in good term. Win-win situation for you.
Remember, if you like your current company, I would suggest to be flexible in your negotiation. If my intuition is correct about your employer financial situation, he might not be able to raise your salary up to your new reasonable expectation but some other cool proposal that I would seriously consider is some form of ownership or profit participation in exchange of a salary concession. Having some participation into a business is an incredible motivator.
Since based on your research, $90K appears to be the regional average salary in your profession for your experience, so you shouldn't have too much difficulty to get it. Especially considering that you have learned how to use LinkedIn like a pro and be successful with LinkedIn by applying the advices found in my free book that you have received from me. The book really teach well how to write a LinkedIn profile the right way, isn't it?
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