In our series Salary Stories , women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions, and job loss, with the hope it will give young women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.
Additionally, we are joining forces with SoFi for the next few months to bring you career tips and coaching. We got the low-down from SoFi's career coaches who recommend:
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Previously, we talked to a 29-year old senior associate in internal communications who negotiated a $12,000 raise, a 33-year-old senior marketing specialist who regrets not having negotiated early in her career, and a 29-year old regional manager in the wine and spirits industry who tripled her salary without changing companies.
Age: 31
Current Location: San Francisco, CA
Current Industry & Title: Technology, Head of Support
Starting Salary: $45,000 in 2009
Current Salary: $146,000
Number Of Years Employed: 10
Biggest Salary Jump: $96,000 to $120,000 in 2014
Biggest Salary Drop: $120,000 to $115,000 in 2017
Biggest Salary Negotiation Regret: "Not negotiating my salary when I transitioned to my first job in tech. At the time, I’d only been working for about a year. My first industry was in government where there were very transparent salaries, goals, and levels — there was no negotiation or room for change. Because of this, I started my career thinking you didn’t question anything and just accepted what you were given.
“When I transitioned to tech, I didn’t want to hurt my chances of getting that first job, but now I realize I could have started out higher and, potentially, be even higher than where I am now. I feel like I sold myself short by not negotiating more at the beginning. In hindsight, I had a lot to bring to the table and should have leveraged that.”
Best Salary-Related Advice: “I’ve learned over the years to document all of the receipts so that you’re in a position to advocate for yourself. I repeatedly share my wins with my boss in my one-on-ones, or in other ways. I even Slack my CEO when I’ve had a big win. I used to let other people share my accomplishments, but I’ve learned to start sharing my own.”
“I originally wanted to go into academia and become a professor. But before I signed up to get a PhD I decided to take a break and try working to see how it felt so that I could confirm whether or not I wanted to go back.
“My college was part of the Selected Liberal Arts Consortium (SLAC), which holds recruiting events for students. Companies post jobs, and you apply, and then if you’re selected you get to interview in-person at the events. I applied for three jobs and got three interviews.
"I was the first to interview with one of the companies — something I think is always good to do if you have a choice — and it went really well. They asked me to do another onsite interview with their director and VP at the Oakland office. Then, they told me they wanted to check my references so I pretty much knew I got the job.
“In this position, I helped senior staff with research projects, pulling together reports, conducting data analyses, reviewing past research, conducting site visits and studies, and monitoring project expenses and budgets."
"I did not try negotiating this salary at all. Given my major (social sciences) and that it was during the Great Recession, I was actually pleasantly surprised with the offer. So while it wasn’t as much as some friends in management consulting were making, I felt grateful and relieved to at least have a salaried job that I could live with."
“When I was a senior in college in 2008 I applied to a big tech company. I never heard back until about a year and a half later, in May, while I was at my first job. A recruiter reached out after seeing my résumé in their database while searching for potential candidates for another position.
“We set up a phone screen, and I bombed it. He was really kind and said I could do it again, and I nailed it. They had me come onsite, and I had five interviews with managers, peers, and senior managers. They all went really well and felt very easy, mostly asking how I would approach certain scenarios and problems. I was offered the job in mid-June, and I didn’t negotiate the salary because I was so excited. I just said yes and signed whatever they gave me. I left my other job and started a couple of weeks later.
“With this job, I transitioned into a totally different industry: From policy to for-profit tech. The role was also different, as account manager I was making sure universities who were using our apps were successful and renewed the service. The role itself was unstructured because I was the first one in it, so I was kind of a guinea pig, but I was also able to make it my own, which I liked. I knew I would be able to grow in this role and write the script as I went along.”
“I was given an annual raise and a performance raise, which, combined, raised my base salary by $10,000.”
"Around the same time as my raise, all of the employees at our company were given a company-wide 10% raise. For me, that translated into a $11,000 bump."
“My boss was always complimenting me, advocating for me, and I could see she was getting receipts ready to promote me. At this company there were annual raises and two performance cycles each year, in the spring and fall, in which you review yourself, have three peer reviews, and then are reviewed by your manager.
"During this time, you can also either put yourself up for a promotion or be nominated by your boss. I didn’t feel confident in asking for a promotion, but I made sure to demonstrate that I was ready. My boss at the time asked me for things to highlight my successes, like customer testimonials, so she could put me up for a promotion. Later she informed me that my promotion had been approved.
"The raise was $20,000. The title didn’t change, it was still community manager. But my level did change. I went from level three to f0ur. My responsibilities didn’t change much but I got to write the script as I did before. I did not try to negotiate the raise."
“I had been doing very well and got a big raise and promotion. My title changed to program manager though I was still doing a lot of the same things.
"I did not ask for this promotion, it was purely driven by my boss since each year in January company performance raises are given at managers' discretion."
“I got a standard yearly raise which brought me up to six figures for the first time. During this time, I was working from our London office, which I advocated to do for a quarter.
"This was a wonderful experience since I never got to study abroad in college. It was fun to work with different colleagues in a different office, and I thought about potentially moving to London full time, but later decided I didn’t want to.”
“I received a promotion after doing well in my role. Unlike my first promotion, this one came as a complete surprise. I was busy and had a great year, but I was often so overwhelmed I thought that I was failing. I had been experiencing a lot of imposter syndrome when my boss pulled me in to ask me how I’ve been doing.
“At first when she asked me this I was worried, but I told her I felt like I was doing well. It could have gone either way, but she ended up telling me I got a raise of nearly $20,000. In hindsight, I can see now that I was, in fact, doing a great job, especially since I took on a big project and made sure to showcase my work as much as possible.”
“I left the big tech company for a startup in order to have a better commute (my previous commute was over two hours), more ownership, and to be in a more nimble environment.
"I got this job by reconnecting with a college classmate who I knew worked at the company. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t taken a pay cut; I should have maintained my salary, at least.
“They initially had someone doing my role, but I had much more experience. They wanted me to report to her, which felt like a red flag because I had more seniority than her. I negotiated to report to a VP, and I eventually took her job. In hindsight, I don’t think I should have joined this company since they didn’t seem to value me and my skills.
“I knew that the startup wouldn’t be able to match everything I had at my previous big tech company, but I didn’t want everything to be just about money. There were other perks I would be gaining, and I didn’t really have a life in my previous role. But I wish I had pushed harder to keep some parity, and I realize I could have been more forceful about matching what I previously made. I also lost out on a bonus structure and equity, so I wished I’d asked about that up front in negotiations.
“Regardless, I gained a lot of valuable experience and skills during the two years that I was at this company. I don’t think I would be where I am now if it wasn’t for my work with them. Now I’m even more discerning about companies and teams I join, and I may not have learned the same lessons without this experience.
“I eventually left the startup for another startup where I felt I would have better growth opportunities. I found this company by perusing a Slack group I’m in with former employees of the big tech company I worked at.
“The role wasn’t actually posted, but I wasn’t very happy in my previous role and thought this company looked interesting. I knew with my background and expertise I could get a job there, so I approached them to see if they could create my role and hire me.
“The company was super excited, and I came in for an interview, which basically was just me talking about what I’d done and what I could do there. It happened very quickly; they offered me $130,000 and I was able to negotiate to $134,000.
"During the interview process, they asked for my current salary but I said it was confidential. The CEO laughed, and I never ended up telling them. I hated this conversation, it was really uncomfortable, but I am really glad that I negotiated.
“I realized that what mattered was their budget — not what I was previously making. If I had told them, I’d probably have gotten an offer of $120,000. The move was lateral, but I felt I would have a better opportunity for growth at this startup.”
“After four months in my role at this company, I expressed interest in a support manager role. The team wasn’t doing well, and I decided I wanted to try this role. So I leaned in and helped with projects and gave a presentation related to my previous role and another one related to the new role. Everyone was impressed with my initiative.
“I also made sure to continue to do well in my current role, showcase my work as well as build strong relationships with executives and key stakeholders. My boss reached out and told me that they had an exciting growth opportunity for me and offered me the new role. He told me that we would discuss compensation after I had tried the position out for a quarter and could revisit how it was feeling for me and for everyone.”
“After being in the new role well for three months, I got a raise, bringing my salary up to $140,000.
"I realize now that I should have negotiated for more — I didn’t negotiate at all. I wish I would have pushed back a bit and asked if there was any flexibility. There would have been no harm in doing that, whether they ended up giving me more or not.
“Looking back, I’ve learned that every step you make in your career should add equity in some way — whether it’s compensation, title, or literal equity. You can always make more money, but you might end up sacrificing your life. It’s all about making sure you set boundaries and limits for yourself.”
“Last year, I put together a document asking for a promotion. I said I wanted $150,000 and a new title. I was given a promotion and a pay bump, which brought me up to $146,000. I didn’t think it was worth going back and forth, so I left it at that.
“My previous boss left after I received my promotion, so while my salary was increased, I am still waiting for the new boss to settle in so that we can decide on a new title to match this new role.
“I love my new position; I have more ownership over what I do and own all of support across all our customer segments and also take on new functions such as documentation, training, and user research. I manage a total of 13 people and feel that I own a significant amount of new business.
"I have also gotten a lot of direct reports big, significant raises and promotions, so I am feeling really fulfilled. I have the support and help when I need it but I’m not micromanaged, and I feel trusted. I’m able to speak, and write, and help out with whatever I want. I have the things that matter to me and I’m really happy with where I am. I’m looking forward to where I can go next.”
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