Great article and enjoyed reading your story, but sharing compensation helps everyone who's potentially underpaid, not just women.
Anyways here's mine (non-CS STEM degree in NYC):
- $70k - 5 months - Software engineer (full stack engineer, more backend) at small company. They offered $60k, I asked for $70k and they gave it.
- $100k + 20% bonus - 1.5 years - Software Engineer (full-stack engineer, more frontend) at mid-sized corporation. They asked me what salary I wanted, I said $100k and they gave it.
- $140k - 1 year - Senior Frontend Engineer at startup. Offered $120k, asked for $150k and got $140k.
- $150k + max 15% annual bonus + stock options - 1 year - Lead Engineer, this was a promotion so same company as the last.
My Learnings:
* There are companies that value their engineers and companies that don't (eg. my first company). If you're working for the latter, know sense in staying there long unless you don't mind making less than you would elsewhere. Recognize the company you're working for and the attitude they have towards their engineers (hint: if the president says "we're a sales-driven company" to you in the interview, the company probably views engineering as a cost center).
* Switching companies will almost always make you more money than you would if you stay at your existing company. The only exception might be if you're at a big high-paying tech company that values its engineers (eg. Google), but I never worked at those companies so can't comment.
* Negotiate that initial offer hard. I would've made substantially less at all of my jobs (especially the last one) had I not negotiated. At that point I knew that once I started working, it's very difficult and time consuming to get a raise because you have very little leverage once you start employment, and if you ask for a raise it's awkward and they'll think you're considering jumping ship. So make sure you're happy with your initial offer!
Anyways here's mine (non-CS STEM degree in NYC):
- $70k - 5 months - Software engineer (full stack engineer, more backend) at small company. They offered $60k, I asked for $70k and they gave it.
- $100k + 20% bonus - 1.5 years - Software Engineer (full-stack engineer, more frontend) at mid-sized corporation. They asked me what salary I wanted, I said $100k and they gave it.
- $140k - 1 year - Senior Frontend Engineer at startup. Offered $120k, asked for $150k and got $140k.
- $150k + max 15% annual bonus + stock options - 1 year - Lead Engineer, this was a promotion so same company as the last.
My Learnings:
* There are companies that value their engineers and companies that don't (eg. my first company). If you're working for the latter, know sense in staying there long unless you don't mind making less than you would elsewhere. Recognize the company you're working for and the attitude they have towards their engineers (hint: if the president says "we're a sales-driven company" to you in the interview, the company probably views engineering as a cost center).
* Switching companies will almost always make you more money than you would if you stay at your existing company. The only exception might be if you're at a big high-paying tech company that values its engineers (eg. Google), but I never worked at those companies so can't comment.
* Negotiate that initial offer hard. I would've made substantially less at all of my jobs (especially the last one) had I not negotiated. At that point I knew that once I started working, it's very difficult and time consuming to get a raise because you have very little leverage once you start employment, and if you ask for a raise it's awkward and they'll think you're considering jumping ship. So make sure you're happy with your initial offer!