I guess another way to look at your current position is,
Do they really need you? Will you be missed?
Those are the big questions that factor into a raise. 15% is not u hear of, my husband swung a 25% raise, that put him over people 8 years senior at the time. He waited it out 8 months until he knew they would see what he was doing as that much more valuable.
From my understanding most engineers top out close to entry level pay. So unless you speed up management then the pay comparative isn't that differentiated.
Perhaps having something outside of work that you're passionate about would help the day to day. Another reason to take a bit off.
The answer to both is YES. And since there's a large experience gap between me and some of the engineers working under me, it would probably place significant pressure on some of the more senior engineers to take ownership of my projects, and they're already extremely busy with their own.
I've never asked for a raise before, they are handed out annually and after promotions, but perhaps I should bring up the issue during my next review. How do I bring this up without sounding too entitled?
