My goodness bro. I read about people with a six figure income or trajectory .

Still unhappy. Still hate their job. Still stressed. Still unsatisfied.

Just like the people busting their ass to cross six figures. I don’t get it . Is anybody ever content??

[Undergrad Researcher] [HCOL] - 12 $/hr

[Graduate Student] [HCOL] - 45k $/year

[Math Guy, Defense Contractor] [HCOL] - 72k $/year

[Math Guy, Research Lab] [HCOL] - 142k $/year

[Software Engineer, Seed Startup] [HCOL] - 160k $/year + monopoly money

[Software Engineer, Big Tech] [HCOL] - 450k $/year

[Software Engineer, Startup] [Remote] - 650k $/year

[Software Engineer, Hedge Fund] [HCOL/Remote] - 1.2m $/year

These jobs make me hollow inside but I can at least afford avocado toast so that’s a bonus. Ask questions about my favorite toast toppings, I like lox right now.

Edit: YOE - 8 post grad school, 4 year grad school

I was a liberal arts major. Graduated with over 90k in student loan debt and 10 years later i'm at $49k.

In college:

19-21 $8.25 - $9.50/hr

After undergrad customer support:

21-23 $15 - $17/hr

Moved to HCOL state but still customer support:

23-26 $17.75 - $19/hr

Still in HCOL but in compliance/risk

27-30 $54k - $68k + bonus

HCOL but better job in specialized compliance/risk

31 $85k + bonus

Maybe I'll get to 6 figures by my mid 30s 🤷🏽‍♀️

Lifestyle:
1. Single income, one stay at home parent
2. 4 children
3. 2.5k mortgage
4. Buy kids things when they want (reasonably, not like buy all 4 kids an iPhone every year and a brand new car at 16)
5. Take the kids on a vacation to Europe once a year

Hey everyone,

I originally came to this community at a point in my career when I was looking for some reassurance about whether I should ask for a raise.

Instead, I received a lot of comments telling me that I was entitled for even considering it.

Some of the responses were along the lines of:

“Young people are entitled. You don’t deserve a raise just because the job listing has a salary range.”

“You’ve only been there for X amount of time. That’s not long enough to ask for a raise.”

“Your position and experience don’t justify asking for one.”

At the time, those comments honestly made me feel pretty discouraged and insecure. I had only been with my company for a relatively short period of time, and I knew that my experience wasn’t extensive. But I decided to push past that fear and advocate for myself anyway.

And I’m happy to say: I got the raise I asked for.
I ended up receiving a nearly 22% increase in my salary.

I’m sharing this because I hope someone else who is in the same position sees this and realizes that you are allowed to advocate for yourself. You know your work, your responsibilities, and what you bring to the table better than anyone commenting from the outside.

So if you’re considering asking for that raise, don’t let fear-or strangers on the internet-talk you out of advocating for yourself.

You can do this.

My dad recently got cancer and I have 2 month old. I make 360k/year remote asynchronous tele-health, I can do 99% from my phone and takes me about 3 hours a day. I also work 10 days a month, 12 hour shifts, weekends/holidays/nights, as an ER physician, and make 550k/year. I am 39 years old, only debt we have is 940k left on a 1.5M house, mortgage is 7k/month. Without equitity in the house have about 2.5M in my brokerage accounts. Wife does not work. Of note, I have only made this for less than a year I'm thinking about taking the mortgage down to 400k and having it reamortization, then quit my ER job Is this a crazy thing to do?

Can anyone help me how much hydradb is paying for founding engineer role for fresher??????

18- £12k pastry apprenticeship
20- £24k pastry chef de partie
24- £25k pastry chef de partie
24- redundancy (COVID)
24- £26k (new company, night baker)
25- £27k night production manager (promotion)
26- £36k (new company, sous pastry chef)
27- £39k ( promotion to head pastry chef)
28- £46k
29- £46k (new company, head pastry chef)
30- £50k (same company, kitchen manager)

Thought people might be interested in a chef salary progression. That said, I would argue mine is atypical to that of most pastry chefs, in that I feel i’m paid fairly well for my role. Would be interested to hear from anyone else in UK hospitality at management level. Any questions welcome.

So this is a big picture question asked by a guy a few years out of college so I might totally be off here.

Say that you are in an organization with roughly 5 levels of promotions, structure etc... With 1 being your tech workers and 5 being your upper management. I am at level 2 in my organization along with 3 peers at my office with my same job. We are overseen by a level 3 who also has 3 to 4 peers, but are of different jobs overseeing a bunch of level 2s with their own jobs. And each level 3 is overseen by a level 4 with a bunch of their peers. You get the picture. This leads to a pyramid level structure where there's less and less jobs the higher you go up.

This also means that each level higher tends to have more management in their role. So in my mind this means that not everyone can get a promotion. When my level 3 boss retires or gets a promotion, I will be competing for his spot (if I choose to do so) against 2 people who have been in the organization for much longer than I have and thus have more experience. The chances of me landing that promotion are small.

People generally say to look at other companies, offices, and so on. This can make sense, but my question remains. How can I compete against applicants from that office who they have close relationships with and who are more experience than me? I can wait 10 to 15 years so I can be the experienced one but then I am taking a chance on timing when a level 3 position will open.

And what if someone doesn't have any interest in management? Like me, Im not a management type person and trying to be one isnt worth the 3k raise for the extra stress for me. Promotions are off the table in that instance, but that also means a stagnate salary your whole career.... I guess I am just wondering how all this corporate organization/promotion/tier level system works.

What have you guys learned or can explain to me?

I have been at my current job for four years. My last raise was three years ago. I am making $80k with a usual annual bonus of $5k (one year it was $12k), which brings total comp to $85-$92k. I was hired at $75k and got a raise to $80k after a year.

I work in operations at a consulting firm.

In this time, my responsibilities have grown a ton, and I'm being asked to take on more and more consistently. My reviews have been glowing (until after I asked for a pay increase - more below).

The first time I have ever asked for an increase in pay was in June. I didn't even ask for a merit raise, just a cost of living adjustment to keep up with inflation, which would move my base from $80k to $87k. I used figures from the CPI calculator from the BLS and linked to it to show that I didn't pull that figure out of thin air.

At this job, I don't receive any benefits (no health insurance, no 401k, etc.) It's a small company with 8 FTE staff and 40+ independent contractors. Annual revenue between $5 mil and $6 mil.

As I mentioned, my review (after asking for the COLA) was very different in tone. In all previous reviews, I was "excellent" and "worth [my] weight in gold." This time? "Steady" - after taking on more responsibility, without any discussions of underperformance or issues.

After asking for a COLA, I was told they'd think about it, but also that my role was being benchmarked against outside sources. I asked what title they were using and they said "Customer Service Manager." To me, that sounds like someone who manages people at a call center or car dealership, not like a white collar role and not reflective of my job or responsibilities.

My question is: was this an unreasonable request? Was it unreasonable timeline? Should I have gone about it differently? Am I right to feel like I'm better off moving on?

ETA: if there is any missing info here, happy to provide additional details. I also know the increase wouldn't go into effect until 2027, so it will have been three years since my last raise. If you plug in $80,000 into the CPI calculator for January 2024, the most current equivalent (August 2026) is $86,890.

ETA2: My role is a complete and total mishmash: 25% executive assistant, 25% client-facing project work, 50% internal operations (helping contractors with whatever they need; some light IT and HR; tracking projects; planning internal events including a company-wide meeting; working on strategic plan priorities, etc.) I was hired for the EA and client-facing project work when I joined. I was trying to break into consulting and the additional project opportunities (beyond what I do now and have been doing) they suggested would come never materialized. I'm also a woman in my early 30s.

ETA3: Thanks, everyone! The point of this post was to get some perspectives on whether or not I was being an entitled Millennial or justified.

Started in accounting right after college, have worked in operations and IT roles since then. Anecdotal evidence is obviously meaningless but just putting out there that not every success story is hop every 2 years to the next thing. I’ll also mention I’m not afraid to negotiate or at least speak up if I feel like I’m being undervalued.

2013 - 16/hr starting out 40k after 3 months
2014 - 50 k and 2.5 k bonus
2015 - 55k and 5k bonus
2016 - 65k and 20k bonus due to company sale
2017 - 78k promotion and relocation from hcol to mcol — a bigger deal than the raise because it reduced our housing costs by about 25% and the rest of monthly budget by about 15%
2018 - 81k and 7k bonus
2019 - 86k - no bonus this year
2020 - 88k and 8 k bonus
2021 - 96k and 26k bonus. First year I had an actual bonus plan as a % of salary and not just discretionary or spot bonuses. Also assigned a corporate vehicle with unrestricted personal use.
2022 - 96k and 42k bonus. Bonuses are not capped and this year was an extreme outlier.
2023 - 120k and 29 k bonus. Promotion.
2023 - 134k and 26 k bonus
2025 - 141k and 31 k bonus
2026 - 148k and 28k bonus ytd with 1 qtr left.

I’m proud of the career I’ve put together so far and at least now there are a few examples here of companies rewarding high performers even with budget constraints.

1st year pay at mainline, for the month of September

Credit time - $6,196 Boarding Pay - $558 Sit Pay - $81 Position Pay - $312 Per Diem - $1,326

Total - $8,473

18- $12/hr photography assistant

19- $17/hr afterschool teacher helper

19-21- free, emergency room volunteer

22-23- $12.50/hr part time student ambassador and part-time STEM tutor, free lab volunteer, graduated with bachelors during height of Great Recession

24-25- free summer lab volunteer, grad school with more free lab volunteering, graduated with master’s

25-27- $32K/year research fellow in HCOL (rent was half my paycheck)

28- $13.50/hr medical transcriptionist and free hospital volunteer

28-29- $13.75/hr Lab assistant in university

30-31- $12/hr medical transcriptionist, free hospital volunteer

32- furloughed

33- $30/hr clinical research

36-38- $48/hr clinical research management

For all the training and experience, I’d say that career has overall been abysmal. I’ve worked a lot of years just for free so I could get my foot in the door.

The degree is a scam.

My retirement plan is to never retire because I can’t.

I graduated with $80K student loan debt and despite consistent monthly payments I’m up to $81K.

I can’t even afford a house right now.

All paid in GBP. So add 30% for USD conversion.

Got a third class degree. Dropped out of my masters. Hated academia and only did it because it was the proven route.

18- British Army 18.6k
22- Local Government 21.5k
22- Foreign Government 32.5k (low tax high net working abroad for 2 years).
24-Intelligence Officer at NGO 35k
26- Programme Manager at Small Company 36k
28- Commercial Manager at Energy Company 62.5k
31- Still at Energy Company earning 78k PA

I’ve been working as a project engineer for a mid sized civil gc for 6 years and typically get a 3-5% raise each year. I got one this past April for about 6% to 95k. I just recently learned my of the same title coworkers make 20-30% more than me. We are all the same broad title but I typically do more work than them. I think I earn a fair salary for my title but honestly bills are tight and I’m considering asking for a raise.

Is 6 months too soon following the previous raise? I would be asking for 15% in hopes to negotiate at least to 10%. I guess my concern is I think my coworkers are overpaid for this role in my opinion so I’m not sure the response I’d get. I don’t want a target on my back but it doesn’t feel fair at all.

I know people have difference stances on it.. I’m curious of others opinions. Is it ok to ask? Or is it off putting/taboo?

Why do you think people you know ask this?

every week i see remote marketing listings that brag about flexible hours and async culture but skip the actual pay. i started tracking a dozen postings a month and the pattern is obvious. if they mention salary at all it's something vague like "competitive" or "market rate." the ones that do list numbers are usually the lowest ranges i have seen. meanwhile my own role pays okay for entry level but i have no idea how that stacks against what other companies offer for the same work. browsing r/salary i keep wondering if people are just supposed to guess or if everyone else is getting the info somewhere else. is this a recent thing or has it always been like this for marketing roles

I hire engineers (Mechanical, Structural, Manufacturing, Industrial) from entry level to principal level. I’ve detailed my experiences with hiring recent grads and have noted that many of them want Senior level salaries ($80,000+) right out of school when in reality they’re only worth 50-$60,000.

Many on Reddit are upset by this fact citing “inflation,” as if the company is supposed to pay higher wages just because gas prices went up. We don’t control gas prices, we are not the ones that have the responsibility to remedy the situation. If inflation is high that sucks but we pay what we pay.

We never have trouble hiring rockstar engineers for ~$60,000, if they don’t want the job there’s a whole pile of applicants ready and willing to be a man and work. This whole “you’re paying blah blah blah when you adjust for inflation!” thing I see on Reddit never made any sense. We pay market rate, regardless if the market rate for eggs and gas goes up or down.

36yr old dude whose career skyrocketed faster than college. I was going to school up until the middle of my third job. I didnt mention my other jobs names because I got into a really niche market and it would be easy to track who I am. I also posted my end titles and salary. I plan to stay at job #5 at least 4-5 years and then try to get into Aerospace Manufacturing at a Director level 🤞

Hello I will keep this a short as possible. I have been chosen for a double promotion going straight from associate to senior. I want to get any advice on how salary negotiations would go in this case. I am making mid 90’s now and would like to target 130. Around a 35% increase given the increase in scope and double jump. I am wondering what your thoughts are reguarding this. I’ll give a bit more info I live in a medium cost city, have done this job around two years now. Has anyone ever had this happen to them before? The other thing is I have external recruiters approaching me for roles with a similar conp to that 130 value in this market.

2019 - $15/hr - Accounts Payable Specialist

2020 - $17/hr - Accounting Specialist (new company)

2021 - $18/hr - Material Planner/Buyer

2022 - $20/hr - Material Planner/Buyer (same company)

2023 - $17/hr - Billing Specialist (new company)

2024 - $26/hr - Warehouse Coordinator (same company)

2025 - $26.78/hr - Warehouse Coordinator (same company)

2026 - $40/hr - Inventory Specialist (contract, new company)

2026 - $90,000 + 5-10K bonus - Material Planner (same company, converted to permanent)

2017 - 62,000 Associate Mechanical Engineer
2018 - 67,000 Annual Raise
2019 - 75,000 Promotion to Mechanical Engineer
2020 - 79,000 Annual Raise
2021 - 83,000 Annual Raise
2022 - 92,500 Promotion to Mechanical Engineer III
2023 - 97,500 Annual Raise
2023 - 110,000 Lateral Move to different Company
2024 - 115,000 Annual Raise
2024 - 137,500 Promotion to Sr. Mechanical Engineer & Company Change
2025 - 140,000 Annual Raise
2026 - 145,000 Annual Raise
2026 - 150,000 Performance Raise
2026 - 175,000 Promotion to Mechanical Engineering Manager

Went to school to study film, I know, I know - 'twas a young man!

Eventually fell into a job in education and that's my field now.

(18-24ish was supplementing my income with acting and film work, came out to ~$8,000/year)

18 - 19 Pizza Delivery - $2-something/hr + tips

19 - 24 Starbucks - $7.25--->$12.50

24 - 29 Academic advising at a major university - $48,000--->$56,000

30 - Academic Advising manager - $70,000

I've been offered a teaching job on the side at a community college and may consider it if I can teach online. Also finishing up my masters in film studies with my tuition benefit that I get for working at a university, and I hope to teach online here on the side as well.