$65k. I’m only 30 and in a low cost of living state. But yeah I’m at the low end of what my career makes. I’m shit at selling myself and I’ve struggled to get a leg up professionally so I’ve just wound up at a place that underpays me as I keep looking elsewhere
Finding a new job is the fastest way to increase your salary, and looking for one while you already have a job is a million times easier than when you don’t. Especially in engineering; there’s a huge demand for almost all engineering fields (one exception being software engineers, sorry you guys are kinda saturated right now). I started at 68.5k, changed jobs to 87.5k, and just recently changed again to 105k. All within 2.5 years. Good luck getting that kind of increase with annual salary negotiations at a single company.
Polish up your resume, update your LinkedIn, respond to recruiters (make sure they’re legit, get info from them first BEFORE giving them yours. They can see your LinkedIn profile, that should be enough), and never refuse an interview. At the very least, use interviews as practice on keeping your skills sharp. Interviews can actually be pretty fun if you don’t have a serious interest in the place because there is zero pressure. And when you’re not operating under pressure, that looks like confidence.
Don’t be too eager to take the first offer that comes your way either. Be blunt. “That’s not enough money for me”, “I’ll need a hiring/relocation bonus before I can consider this.”, “That’s a longer commute than I have currently, I’ll need an increase in the offer to make up the cost of gas and the extra time.” And if they don’t play ball, thank them for their time and keep looking. Force the companies to sell themselves to you, not the other way around. You’d be surprised how often a “Sorry, we just can’t go that high” magically turns into “Would you still be interested if we can make that work?” a few days/weeks later when they realize how tiny the candidate pool is.
You are a hot fucking commodity. Let them fight over you.
I should be able to own a home and raise a family on a single income as an engineer.
Glassdoor says that I should be making 90k or so
What do you make now? 90k sounds low.
$65k. I’m only 30 and in a low cost of living state. But yeah I’m at the low end of what my career makes. I’m shit at selling myself and I’ve struggled to get a leg up professionally so I’ve just wound up at a place that underpays me as I keep looking elsewhere
Finding a new job is the fastest way to increase your salary, and looking for one while you already have a job is a million times easier than when you don’t. Especially in engineering; there’s a huge demand for almost all engineering fields (one exception being software engineers, sorry you guys are kinda saturated right now). I started at 68.5k, changed jobs to 87.5k, and just recently changed again to 105k. All within 2.5 years. Good luck getting that kind of increase with annual salary negotiations at a single company.
Polish up your resume, update your LinkedIn, respond to recruiters (make sure they’re legit, get info from them first BEFORE giving them yours. They can see your LinkedIn profile, that should be enough), and never refuse an interview. At the very least, use interviews as practice on keeping your skills sharp. Interviews can actually be pretty fun if you don’t have a serious interest in the place because there is zero pressure. And when you’re not operating under pressure, that looks like confidence.
Don’t be too eager to take the first offer that comes your way either. Be blunt. “That’s not enough money for me”, “I’ll need a hiring/relocation bonus before I can consider this.”, “That’s a longer commute than I have currently, I’ll need an increase in the offer to make up the cost of gas and the extra time.” And if they don’t play ball, thank them for their time and keep looking. Force the companies to sell themselves to you, not the other way around. You’d be surprised how often a “Sorry, we just can’t go that high” magically turns into “Would you still be interested if we can make that work?” a few days/weeks later when they realize how tiny the candidate pool is.
You are a hot fucking commodity. Let them fight over you.