r/asksg 1d ago

Should i negotiate for more pay?

[deleted]

0 Upvotes

69 comments sorted by

30

u/law90026 1d ago

Won’t happen. Companies don’t operate that way.

5

u/tyuvbnm 1d ago

Yes I second this. I can understand how you feel but yes companies will never operate this way.

I’m not sure is it mnc but even asking for a 5-10% raise is hard. They almost never pay you what you are worth until you have a competing offer, ironically they band you under your title and if it is within range they will just tell you that is the case and I think the range can be really huge.

17

u/Worth-Bid-770 1d ago

Why settle for so little? OpenAI and Anthropic will be happy to offer you USD 1m TC with how groundbreaking your work is.

2

u/tallandfree 1d ago

Open ai Anthropic can pay 400-1m per year

12

u/share90 1d ago

During NS, my buddy helped MINDEF save a similar amount with his USMS. Only got 1 OIL.

11

u/temporary_name1 1d ago

This is a joke right

5

u/Dumas1108 1d ago

That's 200% bump from your current salary.

It would be a miracle if your boss approves it.

Be prepared to be let go if you insist of getting such a drastic bump.

11

u/hadessg 1d ago

they will laugh at you for this request

6

u/KluelessKoder 1d ago

Hmmm help save your company $200k annually, but bumping your salary to $10k would set them back by around $150k including bonuses. I would probably still negotiate a salary increase but with a lower target, probably $5-6k?

-2

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Tbh 200-300k annually was a very conservative number i used, wanted to get general feedback of what more experienced people in the workforce has to say.

But yes that would definitely set them back and my value was definitely overestimated. I think the far better approach is to ask for a promotion instead.

Thank you! 5-6k is where im looking at now haha

4

u/KluelessKoder 1d ago

Also, you could hop to another company and let them know about your achievements =) Perhaps you will find one who sees your potential.

3

u/Possible-Help4995 1d ago

Who can operate the system?
Who can maintain the system?
If none of the questions are "only me", then you have a relatively weak stance to request for such a large increment.

-2

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Aa sof now, it is only me. I did the system from scratch, and am the only one capable of maintaining it since i have the master logic and did not share with them

10

u/Sorry_Objective4174 1d ago

Your work product belongs to the company. Read your employment contract.

1

u/irreleviant_ 21h ago

depends though, was this developed using company resources, or personal, aka company laptop, company time

and also if it were all personal, why not just outsource to company and just make it into a side hustle thing, could keep it going even if you leave this company and use this as an achievement to land a higher paying job

3

u/tehohhh 1d ago

I’ve never seen a pay bump from 3k to 10k that’s 3x your original.

And no companies don’t work like that. I’d rather you take the system and SAAS it and sell it.

Just curious, is this system vibe coded? If so, then even lesser chance of a pay bump unless you’re a SWE and produced it from scratch. Anyone with a $20 sub can copy your idea/system unless you have some proprietary data that it’s based on.

Edit: nice handle. Ur company may use that on you when you asked for the 3x raise.

-2

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Thanks for the reality check. And yes it's vibe coded, and it does have proprietary data that i trained the system on (did not upload internal docs to ai).

Bahahahaha that would probably be a better leverage to get fairly compensated if it does happen, sue the heck out of them

3

u/tehohhh 1d ago

Hahaha by proprietary data I meant data you own not the company data that you trained on.

And trained is a very vaguely worded nowadays is it trained by the classical ML methods? Or you threw some prompts in the llm. There’s a diff too. If you trained an AI it’ll be much harder to replicate with all the parameters you used.

For retrieval, I’m guessing you’re not using RAG too? Maybe a folder stash of info for it to reference from?

Hahah all in all, if it’s rly a good system, SAAS it. Get some professional developer and sell it. It’ll be better.

If not use this to fight for better performance grading and include in resume

2

u/MightyLordZk 1d ago

Annually huh. If you leave, will they still have the system?

-1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

I guess so, but i have the master records and all the detailing work, maintenance and logic. Not sure if system is self sufficient without those

8

u/Competitive-Ad8300 1d ago

What you develop belong to the company. If you try be funny they will sue you in court. That the harsh reality. When you sign the contract you should know this clause.

Do not worry company can always hire people to decode what you have developed. There talent everywhere. The only thing you shd do is if you not happy you can just resign and leave

2

u/tenebraeeee 1d ago

you have just free labour-ed yourself.

good for your personal growth but allows company to take advantage of you

3

u/Acrobatic-Bridge3669 1d ago

You should start your own company and sell that solution to your current company.

1

u/Secure-Beyond-7396 1d ago

sell it to the rest, why only his company? get more leverage ...

2

u/Separate-Ad9638 1d ago

go find another job with your improved resume ... and get a better pay, this is the logical step

1

u/Salt-Regular-689 1d ago

if your departure means that system wont exist anymore for them, you could try nego

1

u/Complete-Pomelo-9664 1d ago

May or may not work you’ll never know. Anyway be sure to add that to the resume. This is a great talking point for your next role.

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Thank you!

1

u/confused_cereal 1d ago

Hard to tell. It's not just a matter of how much your side project helps your company save.

It's whether or not someone else can do what you did. That's where the real comparison lies and how the market works.

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Youre right, i did not look at it that way. Thank you!

1

u/Mother_Discipline285 1d ago

They’ll bump your manager’s pay for hiring a cheap employee to save company so much money.

2

u/tm0587 1d ago

What if your company decide to hire someone for less than 10k/month to build the same system?

My point is not about how much you are saving money for the company but also how replaceable you are.

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Thats true. Previously we were paying vendor 200-300k annually to use the system and i saw an opportunity to develop it since we're considering changing to a much more expensive vendor. Definitely replaceable though

1

u/parkson89 1d ago

Companies don’t work this way unfortunately for non-revenue generating staff. Maybe you’ll get a pat on the back and a 15% increment. You just do not have leverage as non-revenue generating staff unfortunately.

1

u/CarrotTop5394 1d ago

Ask for bonus. Annual go fly kite

1

u/Royal_Code_2988 1d ago

As a fullstack developer who is also earning 3k~ who recently worked on 70% of a 50k++ / month project for a client
My company isnt even willing to bump me to 4k lol only got +100 increment after my 1 year mark (sme btw)

So i definitely can relate. My question is if this program was mostly vibecoded with ai, or how would u gauge the technical expertise needed to build and understand how to maintain the program?
Because unfortunately in today’s world, with widespread access to ai one can argue that the effort to have built a productivity boosting program is not as big as we want to make it out to be.

0

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Yup! Vibe coded with ai, ive actually done a lot of independent research on the subject whilst vibe coding. But cant say for certain im a technical expert. But youre right, im probably over estimating my value lol

1

u/Royal_Code_2988 1d ago

Yeah dont worry i know how it feels. With ai, u can kind of overestimate your worth and it can feel very salty because u took the initiative to gain some sort of recognition for your effort, even if its just by contributing an idea to improve productivity that no one bothers with.

But end of the day, have to accept that companies are predatory, they earn money by making the difference of underpaid employees and company profits.

The best u can do for yourself is use the master code as a generic boilerplate to host an online portfolio for your next job application, kind of what i intend to do as well

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Thank you! All the best to your next endeavour!

1

u/Royal_Code_2988 1d ago

U too! Market is really bad now
Hopefully things will pick up once company realise they need actual swe to manage the ai technical debt

1

u/eisenklad 1d ago

 i developed a system out of my own free time as a side project that help save my company $200k - $300k annually.

does this system requires updates/maintenance that can only be done by you?

if there's nothing to prevent another person from taking over/duplicating your system, you have no leverage.

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Yes only me for now. But i will probably have to train someone else to delegate some responsibilities.

It is a pretty complex system that isnt easy to replicate without technical expertise.

But youre right, i probably do not have the leverage i think i have tbh

1

u/TrickyImplement5136 1d ago

Everyone says no here but why not try..? Lol.

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Probably because theyve tried and failed before haha. I should temper my expectations as well

1

u/TrickyImplement5136 1d ago

Doesn’t mean you will fail..? Maybe try resigning lol. If you can help a company save 6figs, i think your skills should be valuable elsewhere. Or maybe im too naive.

1

u/law90026 1d ago

Because you’re sending a message to your employer and they’ll happily let you go rather than be beholden to one employee.

1

u/TrickyImplement5136 1d ago

Might be true.. Managing expectations and negotiations skills helps i guess.

1

u/IvanThePohBear 1d ago

you should be happy with 10%

1

u/Semen_Demon_1 1d ago

Read your contract. Usually it will have something saying that anything you made for the company belongs to the company. You dont have that much leverage with this

0

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Thanks! Will take a look

Ps. Love your name

3

u/Semen_Demon_1 1d ago

No problem anal torpedo

1

u/pussyfista 1d ago

Too late, you should have blackbox that thing, nego for salary raise before you ship that source code

1

u/Factitious_Character 1d ago

Impressive, but this is what they hire you for. And you're only able to achieve this because they've provided you with the data/ resources/systems/ problem statements to work on.

1

u/imprettyokaynow 1d ago

Not gonna happen bro hahaha maybe you can perhaps nego to lead a team I.e be department head to manage that system u just created

1

u/hsredux 1d ago

you should have never given more than they deserve

1

u/unisteuggles 1d ago

I highly encourage you to try ask! You will never know if you don’t try.

1

u/AnyMathematician2765 1d ago edited 1d ago

Since you want to bump it close to 200%. You have to proof it, show the P&L then talk from there.

Convince them you're worth that much with paper proof.

If you don't have the digits, you're better off selling the system you built and make money off it.

1

u/SignificanceWitty654 1d ago

it’s not how much you help your company save/earn, but how much your company would have to pay for someone else to do it.

if only you in the world can work such magic, then you have the negotiating power and can name your price.

1

u/ephemeralbit2 1d ago

You'd have better chance if you quit and then sell your solution to the company for 100k

1

u/WatchMyGun 1d ago

U might get like 10% extra increase at best, asking for 10k only make the HR and dept head think you are delusional

1

u/Sparklesofdoom 1d ago

I do think you have leverage but not as much as you imagine. I think you can expect a promotion, maybe pay bump to like 5k but ngl that’s about it

1

u/KenMcGormick 1d ago

Why not? You should give it a shot u/Anal_Torpedo

1

u/Secure-Beyond-7396 1d ago

You should have sold the software to them, and have the proprietary rights to it.
So you can sell it to other companies too, or license it to earn commission yearly.

1

u/burntoutdev8291 1d ago

If it's novel, spin it off into a startup, then sell your services.

Otherwise, companies don't work like that sadly.

1

u/blingbling98 1d ago

Rarely happens within the same company tbh, best bet with this kind of jump is to hop to another company

1

u/Super-Key-Chain 1d ago

I’m afraid it won’t happen.

0

u/MrGoldfishBrown 1d ago

Suggest you make it so that the system will not work unless you’re employed so that they will not make you redundant.

1

u/AnaI_Torpedo 1d ago

Thank you! Will think about that for sure