Low-balled myself out of college, stuck around for 8 yrs out of complacency, Blind has opened my eyes (no pun intended)

In 2014, my senior year of college, I sent out a handful of applications and got the first job I interviewed for. I hadn't bothered to do market research and the application had a required "Desired salary" field; I put $70K because that sounded like a lot of money, and that's the offer I got. Fast forward to two years into the job—I'd gotten raises up to $76K. I was the coordinator for our senior interns, and when they got offers to return after graduation, I was shocked to learn they were for $95K. I put together a bunch of data from various sources on market rates and wrote out several reasons I was valuable to my company, then called a meeting with my boss and presented him with all of that info. He went to the CTO, who said he could bump me to $95K but that I had to really prove myself to hit six figures. Now, at 8 YOE, my base is just under $140K and bonuses range from 0 to 🥜. I love my teammates and have great WLB, tons of time for hobbies and an active social life. My rent is cheap and I make enough to buy whatever I want without a second thought. But I've begun looking for a new job; the impetus was my discomfort with my current company's ""values"". My coworker/friend showed me Blind and I've been on here for almost a week now. I had no idea how much I was underselling myself. I'm targeting $180K-$210K base, since stocks aren't real, but $180K TC is my actual line. That's my story. I'd love referrals if anyone is inclined to help me earn what I now know I'm worth. I'm full stack with lots of DevOps-y cloud experience. C# / .NET / TypeScript / JavaScript / AWS. TC/YOE: Read the post smh 😤

Roblox jRLg27 Aug 15, 2022

you could be good at roblox. You’ll easily see double the salary too

Laserfiche -*`*-.,.-* OP Aug 15, 2022

sweet, i'll take a look at the openings, can i hit you up for a referral if i see something that sounds like a good fit?

ByteDance puglet Aug 15, 2022

Good luck passing their interviews

Laserfiche -*`*-.,.-* OP Aug 15, 2022

a ittle more on my skill set~

Microsoft _public Aug 15, 2022

That skills section is way too long. How long is your resume? It should only be one page.

Lyft Walosjlxs Aug 15, 2022

Recommend cut the profile section

Oracle ociDude Aug 15, 2022

3.5YOE@270 here, Blind sure does open eyes!

Laserfiche -*`*-.,.-* OP Aug 15, 2022

🤤🤤🤑🤑

Oracle ociDude Aug 15, 2022

Compared to other blinders I consider myself makes 🥜

ServiceNow hkqd80 Aug 15, 2022

What’s with this thought that stocks aren’t real? If the company is publicly traded. It’s as good as cash. Also yeah with 8 yoe, you could get L6 at amazon for ~500k tc

Google ktSI54 Aug 15, 2022

+1 to this OP. Public stocks are absolutely real. Most likely you can liquidate them immediately on vest if you want. Good luck with your applications and hope you more than double your TC :D

Memorial Sloan ontery Aug 16, 2022

you cant pay your bills and rent with stocks. Fake money. A gimmick to try and further entangle you financially to the company.

Flock Safety fvfovd Aug 15, 2022

I went to a top 20 public school in a rural area, and I remember thinking $70k was a ton of money coming out of school. I asked for a 10% raise and my first company countered at 4%. That made me totally rethink my life and I left a month after that. Some of the smartest people I know took jobs at military contractors in the area for ~$50k, and they had to live in super rural areas. And they were happy to do so, that was more money than anyone in their family made. Hope they finally figured out their worth.

Laserfiche -*`*-.,.-* OP Aug 15, 2022

yep i grew up in the DC area so most tech ppl i knew were working for defense contractors, my mom among them! i knew it wasn't MANGA pay but had no idea starting salaries could be so low :O i hope they figured it out, too!!

Flock Safety fvfovd Aug 15, 2022

Big name contractors pay really well, but component manufacturers that design stuff like military-spec wiring harnesses, those guys pay absolute peanuts.

Indeed WMio24 Aug 15, 2022

DM me for Indeed referral 🙂

Meta YfaV4 Aug 15, 2022

Target Faang and publicly traded tech companies where stocks are real. At 8yoe your TC should be more than 300k for sure. Check levels.fyi and good luck sister!

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SpX625 Aug 15, 2022

I feel you. Same over here. 10 YOE and I'm at 76k. I actually didn't believe blind #'s at first. I'm managing 4 projects right now, and I'm overworked and underpaid. Blind is a game changer, hoping to be out of this place within the month

Laserfiche -*`*-.,.-* OP Aug 15, 2022

rooting for you, you got this!!! i know you can find a company that rewards you for your hard work rather than taking advantage of you. and yep, the #s self-reported in public blind posts are unlikely to be representative (if you go to the "salary comparison" section of the app, you'll see the numbers people self-report *privately* - the median is $137K even though most of what people post is $200K+)

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SpX625 Aug 15, 2022

Thanks! I hope to find a new position soon

Meta rGkR81 Aug 15, 2022

I also had no idea how much tech can pay. I was in biotech for awhile, and was making 200k with ~10 YOE. I was feeling great about my salary. Then I joined blind and my eyes popped out at the numbers I was seeing.

Amazon mamazonn Aug 15, 2022

Same story as everyone else here Blind opened my eyes, and I 8X'ed my TC, jumped ship thrice DM for Amazon ref, for juicy competing offer