Advice for those seeking higher paying jobs

[OutOfTheAbyss]

A recurring theme I see here is people who are going after higher paying jobs. I have mentored at least two people into doubling their pay, so I thought I would share my advice here:

Person A just turned 30 and has been making 6 figures (130k last I checked) for a while now. She was someone who used to work for me and kept hopping between sr. financial analyst jobs. She was very smart, and the advice I gave her was to stop searching for lateral moves with 5-10k increases (like I had also done at that age) and to start applying for manager and director jobs in the 6 figures. I think what changed her paradigm was that I pointed out that she knows MANY people in high paying prestigious jobs who are absolute idiots. We've all worked with them at some point in our careers- totally inept, highly paid people. I told her that those people get those jobs, and there are lots of them around us anywhere you go. She realized that this was true. I also advised her that she only needed ONE of these jobs to say "yes". So if she cast a net of resumes, and got a bunch of rejections, she only needed ONE to agree to hire her. She ended up being successful in a highly paid six figure director job while still in her 20s.

Person B was 35 and overeducated and way underpaid at 48,000 with 3 graduate degrees working for a nonprofit. She just lacked confidence. I found a $80,000 project manager job for her. She still felt like she was overpaid even though she was a superstar. Then she had the same realization as person A: that there are LOTS of inept people making 6 figures. Suddenly she realized that the 80k job was not just a winning lottery ticket she had stumbled on, but her new baseline, and springboard for more.

I have to qualify this by saying to be careful what you wish for. This worked for me in the my early 30s, so well in fact that I burned out after about 5 years well in the 6 figure realm, and just made a conscious decision to take a big cut to have a "happy" job. Heed the advice in Your Money or Your Life and consider your real hourly wage with the hours, commute, etc. That said, I still maintain that there are lots of 40 hour a week highly paid people that aren't as smart as you are, so the jobs do exist, you just need to land ONE.

[TheAnonOne]

Indeed a lot of this is true. I was working a junior software position for 2 months before I knew I could do a senior level job. 2-3 years later after hopping a few times I found myself going from 40k to 200k by entering the consulting world.

A lot of work? Absolutely, but I will get a lot of time off in a decade to show for it, assuming all goes well.

[MVal]

This is very encouraging. I'm 33 and making $40K which is the most I've ever made. I can see lack of confidence is definitely a problem for me, as I often automatically disqualify myself when considering more advanced jobs.

[Gone Fishing]

Good advice.  I always tell folks to target jobs where lots of people are making good money vs. going after a narrow management position (not to say you won't get it later on) that is typically a more political appointment and offers fewer opportunities to move around and try different things.

[FIRE2022]

Indeed a lot of this is true. I was working a junior software position for 2 months before I knew I could do a senior level job. 2-3 years later after hopping a few times I found myself going from 40k to 200k by entering the consulting world.

A lot of work? Absolutely, but I will get a lot of time off in a decade to show for it, assuming all goes well.

I am very interested in consulting. Care to elaborate on your path to the $200k consulting job?

[Calvawt]

I think you are right about self confidence and being aware of the quality of your work versus others.  If I might add:

Not burning bridges, being self-aware, asking your boss if they need anything before you leave for the day are all ways to set yourself up for the next job.  Sometimes you can get the title first, then the money later.  Other times, you can get both right away.  You want 6 figures?  Don't run out the door at 5!

[clarkfan1979]

I was offered a job at a non-profit in D.C. for 65K. I told them that I wanted at least 80K because D.C. is expensive. They countered with 67.5K and I rejected it. Even though I was upset for them wasting my time (1 day of travel and 1 full day of interviews), I kindly thanked them for their time and said "no thanks."

Three years later a head hunter called me to ask if I would interview for the job again. I told them no because the salary was too low. They said they re-budgeted the salary to "a little over 100K" I ended up telling them no thanks again because I like my academic job with 4 months off. However, I was happy that I never burned that bridge. I hope to maybe do some consulting for them in the future.

[VladTheImpaler]

Man I needed to see this thread right now.
Thank you for posting the encouraging stories!
I'm 35 and only making 40k year.
Time to start applying for better jobs!

[ender]

Then she had the same realization as person A: that there are LOTS of inept people making 6 figures. Suddenly she realized that the 80k job was not just a winning lottery ticket she had stumbled on, but her new baseline, and springboard for more.

This is a good point and one I am glad I read this thread for.

I recently started a new job and am sort of realizing the same thing - I am very inexperienced, but still good at what I do. When I have a few years of experience I will be a very highly qualified person. I should be comfortable leveraging that experience and skillset (perfect - talking like a manager now!).

[slackmax]

Way back in the nineties when I was a programmer at megacorp, I realized that technical skill wasn't valued as much as management. To get promoted, and to get more money, you couldn't just be a great programmer. You had to have some people working under you.  The only way to get promoted was to become a project leader. Then you could basically do no programming at all, maybe a little flowcharting, and just check boxes off a list of tasks as other people finish their programs. If your project went into production successfully, you were valued by the higher management, and you had a chance of being promoted. But the programmers who were knocking themselves out got the usual "so what?" treatment.

My tactic was to become a project leader, get some projects done, them I got promoted to the next salary grade. I then quickly got myself on a one man project, and did all the programming and the project leader role, which was great. And I got the higher salary, of course.

Previous posters are correct that there are plenty of management types getting paid a lot to basically just check off boxes on a list of tasks, while the really productive worker bee programmers who are being diligent and hardworking just get a "so what?" from management types.

Doesn't make sense but that's how it is / was. 

[FunkyChopstick]

Slackmax- truer words were never spoken!

I have a unique angle in that I am, comparatively, very overpaid at my current job. It makes me feel uncomfortable at times that there are people in the company that are busting their butts while I am sitting on mine but that is not to say I am never full steam ahead. I think about work when I am away from work and I always work with the goal of increasing the entire company's revenue, not just my departments. I don't leave on time when I am in the zone- who cares if it is an hour past my schedule.  I was thinking about how I was feeling bad that others were in a more physically demanding position (I did that dance for close to a decade) then I thought, "Would they turn down the money because everyone else made less?"

...Didn't think so.