Almost 2 years at Booz Allen and making $56k (after last years’ end of year raise) as a consultant living in DC, am I underpaid? What should I do?
Yes, by how much depends on your area of expertise (cyber, digital strategy, etc...) and your individual contributions to projects. Time to start shopping around.
You are getting jacked. My starting salary as a technical consultant at Andersen back in 2000 was already 51k
You keep saying consultant but that would be on any level. I was consulting at one point for $80 per hour. What's your title other than consultant? Or what's the title of people in that company doing similar things to what you do? What do they consulting you for. How much impact you have? Did you get any feedbacks regarding your performance. Any bonuses, refreshers? One thing I do to understand if I am underpaid is that I find someone doing the same job and having the same impact as me in the company. Of course this is a very subjective thing so try not to cut too much slack to yourself otherwise you may convince yourself to leave a perfectly fine job. Once I find that person and their title, I try to estimate their income. Go to glassdoor, blind, indeed, etc. and try to find their income. Then normalize your income to theirs like if they have free insurance and you dont minus your insurance cost from your income. If they have more holidays than you either minus those days from yourself or do something else that makes sense in your situation. After doing all that now you can compare the numbers. I find it valuable to think about your value to the company or think about if you are underpaid very productive (up to a healthy level). And if you be objective to yourself it could be something to push you for more growth. You could start looking for jobs and find one with a better pay without even adding new skills to your belt bc simply you now you worth more. But if you cant stay objective and think you are so much better then the other guy than it can lead you to bad places. Also I am a bit underpaid at the moment, but the team I am in gives me a lot of room to grow. I participate and take responsibilities and lead things that no other company would let me or even go near. You cannot price this but I know once I have this experience then my next job will be better. Similar to that you might have a excellent work life balance like 4 hour work days. So you have plenty of time to take care of yourself or your family. You cant put a price on that either. So good luck figuring it out. 👍
I appreciate your well thought out response to my post. I suppose I should have specified what level a “consultant” is to the general public since different companies operate differently in terms of similar positions. One thing that keeps me in this company is the work life balance, the opportunity to grow and the number of supportive managers I have behind me in directing me to where I want to be in 5/10 years down the road, so I appreciate your perspective.
You seem to value being patted on your back a lot, like $100k annual salary worth a lot
You should ask this question on Fishbowl where there are thousands of consultants who get the nuance of your skills and capabilities
Get your security clearance. Move to fortune 100 tech company. You'll get a 20-45k bonus just for having clearance
You are underpaid only if you can find a better paying job , else your pay is right.
Yes. Bootcamp grads with no experience can make 60k in DC area. And they don't have a clearance
Are you a senior consultant or still consultant? Regardless, you’re underpaid. Go get a written job offer from a different company and go to your CM with the job offer and ask if they can match or what they can do in regard to a raise.
Thanks :) helps a lot with the confirmation
Are you a Janitor or Software Engineer or CEO? How would anyone know how much you should get paid without specific details?
Consultant, intel background, possess clearance.