June 14, 2025 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Can You Ask for a Raise?
June 14, 2025 at 5:11 pm
This is more a personal anecdote than a response to the question, but perhaps it presents an interesting contrast.
I worked IT for over 40 years, first as a developer, then as a developer/DBA, and I don't think that in all that time I ever asked for a raise. When I started out, the demand for developers and coders was so great that annual raises were taken for granted, at least in the DC area where I worked. And those HR departments often used annual salary surveys published by the major IT periodicals of the time to establish baselines for hiring and annual raises. So basically, between salary, raises, and bonuses... I always felt well compensated within the industry.
I guess the only caveat to my experience is that I was a white male and I started over 45 years ago. I'm pretty sure that all compensation was not equal. And companies then were really big on your compensation being your business only and revealing it was a fireable offense. So I can't say that everyone else was treated the same as me.
But it's interesting to me now to contemplate having gone to any of my bosses back then and asking for a raise, I think I would have followed Steve's advice and carefully considered the business mood of the company at that moment, and the personalities of my managers. Also, where I stood vis-a-vis my projects would likely have made a difference - coming off the successful completion of one and about to start another while everybody had my last success in mind would probably be the best time (demanding a mid project raise, while seeming to provide leverage, might be considered extortion). And as I indicated above, there are annual IT salary surveys, usually broken down by by major metropolitan areas, that should give provide a baseline for an ask if you think you're deserving.
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