Salary Progressions

[AlienRobotAnthropologist]

Would people be willing to share how their salaries have increased over time and the corresponding reasons? (standard raise, promotion, new credential, new job, new occupation, different cost of living location, etc.)

[use2betrix]

I think most people will find their biggest salary progressions were in leaving current employers and starting with new ones. Of course, there are sometimes major advances within companies, but they tend to be smaller. My biggest salary bump was going from "full time" work, to working contract positions. Of course, there are quality of life trade offs to get there.

Honestly, wage increases don't always mean more work, harder work, or even more responsibility. Some companies simply just pay a lot more. It also has to do with how bad they need a position filled, because when they are desperate they are often willing to pay for it. I had a company that really pissed me off in a tight spot one time so I had them re-negotiate my contract, more $, and just based out of my annoyance I made them remove the non compete clause out of their contract haha.

The longest I've stayed somewhere in the last 5 years was 2 years with the company above. After two years I was clearly doing better than all my coworkers, had higher audit scores, better run projects, and more certifications that they kept failing over and over. I didn't get a single raise in those two years so I left. The following year after leaving I made 90k more and worked 5 less weeks out of the year. After that, I promised myself I would never be in that situation again, feeling like I owed a company anything when they clearly didn't appreciate me enough.

People commonly get big upgrades in their position within companies, with out raises to seriously reflect the promotion.

[Ocinfo]

I'll do by years covering the last 10 years, which includes when I was an undergrad but working full time. Will also report in terms of a multiple of that base salary from 10 years ago.

Year 1: 1x, started full time job
Year 2: 1.05x, graduated undergrad, small pay adjustment
Year 3: 2.9x, moved to take engineering job
Year 4: 3x, small raise after 9 months
Year 5: 3.15x, regular raise
Year 6: 3.5x, larger merit raise then another raise at mid year
Year 7: 3.78x, another large merit raise
Year 8: 4.73x, promotion and counter offer with 4 raises over a 12 month period
Year 9: 4.87x, regular raise
Year 10: 5x, regular raise

Unlike many, I didn't need to change employers to get big raises but having a strong offer from another company certainly helped accelerate things. I could change companies and get to 6x but I like my current employer a lot.

Edited: Graduated undergrad in 2008 so started at almost the worst possible time career wise and it it still worked out. Also, the multiple approach can be a bit misleading as even a few thousand dollar difference in first salary can really skew things. My 1x was near the median individual income for 2007 as a point of reference.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Freedomin5]

1st year: 1x
2nd year: 1.16x   Same position at different company in a larger city.
3rd year: 3.56x    New credential. Added side hustle that I got because of new credential.
4th year: 10x       Turned side hustle into full-time position. Moved from salaried to contract position.
5th year: 10x       No change from previous year.

[maizefolk]

I only have eight years of real income data (unless you count causal hourly work before or during undergrad).

Year 1: 1x
Year 2: 1.02x (cost of living raise)
Year 3: 1.08x (cost of living raise)
Year 4: 1.19x (cost of living raise)
Year 5: 2.30x (I have my terminal degree! Also new job in a new state.)
Year 6: 3.57x (A potentially permanent position! Another new job in another new state.)
Year 7: 4.77x (Hooray for summer salary (but this is more like a bonus than a raise, could lose it from year to year).
Year 8: 4.91x (cost of living raise)

[rachael talcott]

I have been working for 15 years, for three different employers in different parts of the country.  Adjusted for inflation my salary now is almost exactly what it was 15 years ago when I started, although I now live in a lower CoL area.  I took a pay cut to go from the first employer to the second, so there was a two-year dip in the middle.  I am an academic in a STEM field.  I'm not sure where all the money flowing into higher education is going, but it's not going to faculty.

[SpareChange]

Standard raises of 3% since I've been FT in my current position. Everyone essentially gets the same. In my field, it's unlikely that going to a different place would result in much if any gain. Could add another credential, but at this point I'm not particularly inclined to do so.

[Tabaxus]

I'm on the (mostly) lockstep biglaw salary scale (exception is bonuses, because not all firms are lockstep there, and I'm at one of the firms that has more variance on bonuses), so if you exclude my first year out (which was a much lower paying job that I took for the experience), it's a pretty clear progression with 5-10% raises consistently every year.

[dividendman]

Tech, by total comp

Year 1 - 60k
Year 2 - 70k (raise)
Year 2 - 80k (raise demanded)
Year 3 - 100k (relocated, new company)
Year 3 - 115k (relocated, new company)
Year 4 - 160k (relocated new company)
Year 5- 175k (raise)
Year 6 - 200k (promo)
Year 7 - 210k (raise)
Year 8  - 260k (demanded promo+raise)
Year 9 - 310k (new company)
Year 9 - 410k (relocated, new company)

[Rubyvroom]

Bachelor in Accounting, no CPA, no graduate degree.
First job in Year 1 was at a Big 4 public accounting firm.
I have had varying roles: Auditor, Financial Reporting (SEC), Accounting, Financial Analyst, and now a bit of treasury and debt management comingled with an FP&A role. I don't consider those new occupations, because they are so related, but my point is I have not stayed with the same exact job throughout the years.

Year 1 (2005): $43K
Year 2: $45K (standard raise)
Year 3: $60K (job hop)
Year 4: $63K (standard raise)
Year 5: $66K -> $63K (left stressful employer for job at a place with a better culture but lower pay)
Year 6: $75K (stressful employer poached me back)
Year 7: $78K (standard raise)
Year 8: $85K (lateral move to new department at current employer)
Year 9: $88K (standard raise)
Year 10: $115K (job hop back to better culture job from year 5, essentially poached back)
Year 11: $118K (standard raise)
Year 12: $122K (standard raise)

If I ever felt like my career was stagnating for any reason or I was beginning to appear "unpromotable" due to no opportunities to advance within a company, I had no qualms with leaving. Finally now I feel very satisfied with my job, level, and pay rate, so I am not actually planning on going anywhere. It was clear though that moving around between companies netted my largest pay increases (and best opportunities for growth).

Also, if you're wondering why such a large jump from year 9 to year 10, the stressful company had a better bonus package than the company I'm with now, so I negotiated a higher salary to compensate for the lackluster bonus opportunity. I didn't include bonuses above because for the bulk of my career they were left up to "management discretion" so they could vary wildly from year to year, and I wasn't cool enough to be in the bonus pool until Year 6 I believe. Even now, bonuses are not a guarantee for me. I might get $2K one year and $10K another. It all depends on company performance.

[marty998]

Bachelor in Accounting, no CPA, no graduate degree.
First job in Year 1 was at a Big 4 public accounting firm.
I have had varying roles: Auditor, Financial Reporting (SEC), Accounting, Financial Analyst, and now a bit of treasury and debt management comingled with an FP&A role. I don't consider those new occupations, because they are so related, but my point is I have not stayed with the same exact job throught the years.

Year 1 (2005): $43K
Year 2: $45K (standard raise)
Year 3: $60K (job hop)
Year 4: $63K (standard raise)
Year 5: $66K -> $63K (left stressful employer for job at a place with a better culture but lower pay)
Year 6: $75K (stressful employer poached me back)
Year 7: $78K (standard raise)
Year 8: $85K (lateral move to new department at current employer)
Year 9: $88K (standard raise)
Year 10: $115K (job hop back to better culture job from year 5, essentially poached back)
Year 11: $118K (standard raise)
Year 12: $122K (standard raise)

This looks a lot like my progression of base salaries, (also an accountant, corporate financial reporting).

I'm at year 10... so hopefully it also goes up like yours over the next 2 years :)

[Zikoris]

Great, a chance to show off my teenage years of screwing around!

Okay, turns out Revenue Canada only has my records online going back to 2006, while 2005 was actually the first year I filed. So I don't know what it was for 2005, but rest assured, it was very low - I think $13,000-ish? Okay, time machine time!

2006 - $16,703. 19 years old. Worked in a hospital kitchen, and a coffee shop.
2007 - $14,282. 20 years old. Worked in a coffee shop, factory, and warehouse temping.
2008 - $23,600. 21 years old. Did temping, then worked for a collection agency.
2009 - $39,545. 22 years old. Still at the collection agency, but a lot better at it than previous year.
2010 - $20,450. 23 years old. Collection agency for a bit, cracked and quit, spent a few months unemployed. then worked in a warehouse.
2011 - $28,977. 24 years old. Warehouse all year. *Discovered ER in August 2011 and got my act together*
2012 - $28,500. 25 years old. Warehouse for two months, then quit and took a part time office job to get experience and not be in a shitty warehouse. Switched to office-clerking at a law firm halfway through the year.
2013 - $39,233. 26 years old. Same law firm and job.
2014 - $42,303. 27 years old. Same law firm and job.
2015 - $42,341. 28 years old. Same law firm and job.
2016 - $44,227. 29 years old. Same law firm, tons of OT, but bored out of my mind and quit December 31st.

I probably won't ever make much more than I do now, which is fine. Four or five more years to go.

[Dropbear]

Interesting thread!

Year 0:     0.82x  Probation
Year 0.5:  1.00x  Permanent
Year 1.5:  1.17x  Raise
Year 2:     1.33x  Promotion

Despite a low start, it appears this is close to the high end range of salary guides published for my industry from graduation to 1-3 years experience, for what they're worth.

[2Birds1Stone]

2017   $75K+ Third Year in B2B Sales
2016   $172,691 Second Year in B2B Sales
2015   $109,430 Transition to new career in B2B sales
2014   $49,247 Manager
2013   $53,672 Manager
2012   $52,223 Manager
2011   $39,648 Full Time Assistant Manager
2010   $25,898 Entry level part time @ Megacorp

[startingsmall]

Mine is pretty depressing, but what the heck.
Veterinarian here. Some of my pay changes are due to schedule changes, so I'll also include average hrs/wk actually worked for each job.

2006: Job #1. $45k. (40 hrs/wk)
2007-2009: Job #2. Started at $70k (40 hrs/wk).... increased to $100k due to being very productive
2009-2010: Job #3. Started at $100k (45 hrs/wk), but cut to $68k at the end of my first 1-yr contract due to slow economy, lack of business
2010-2012: Job #4. Started at $100k (50 hrs/wk), raise to $105k (55 hrs/wk)
2012-2014: Job #5. Started at $92k (35 hrs/wk)... got a raise at some point to $95k
2014-now: Job #4, again. Yes, I went back. $92k (40 hrs/wk).... voluntarily cut hours and now at $80,500 (35 hrs/wk)

So... my career basically peaked around 2009. The problem with vet med is that, unless you buy your own clinic, your pay is always determined by your production. Medical knowledge doesn't mean a thing if you don't have the staff/energy/etc to churn rooms every 10 minutes and it's been a while since I've had that!

[Goldielocks]

Mine is pretty depressing, but what the heck.
Veterinarian here. Some of my pay changes are due to schedule changes, so I'll also include average hrs/wk actually worked for each job.

2006: Job #1. $45k. (40 hrs/wk)
2007-2009: Job #2. Started at $70k (40 hrs/wk).... increased to $100k due to being very productive
2009-2010: Job #3. Started at $100k (45 hrs/wk), but cut to $68k at the end of my first 1-yr contract due to slow economy, lack of business
2010-2012: Job #4. Started at $100k (50 hrs/wk), raise to $105k (55 hrs/wk)
2012-2014: Job #5. Started at $92k (35 hrs/wk)... got a raise at some point to $95k
2014-now: Job #4, again. Yes, I went back. $92k (40 hrs/wk).... voluntarily cut hours and now at $80,500 (35 hrs/wk)

So... my career basically peaked around 2009. The problem with vet med is that, unless you buy your own clinic, your pay is always determined by your production. Medical knowledge doesn't mean a thing if you don't have the staff/energy/etc to churn rooms every 10 minutes and it's been a while since I've had that!

Why on earth is that depressing?  I think it is great that you can scale back your hours and still make $80k

[Khan]

(The following are ballpark estimates until 2012)
2006 - Navy enlistment, ~25k
2007 - ~30k
2008 - 55k
2009 - 65k
2010 - 65k
2011 - 80k (E6 pay in Hawaii with BAH)
2012 - 65k  (leave Navy, start civ job)
2013 - 70k
2014 - 75k
2015 - 89k
2016 - 92k
2017 - est ~98k

Doesn't include the value of plastic handcuffs post military, ~5k/year.

[gerardc]

Tech, by total comp

Year 1 - 60k
Year 2 - 70k (raise)
Year 2 - 80k (raise demanded)
Year 3 - 100k (relocated, new company)
Year 3 - 115k (relocated, new company)
Year 4 - 160k (relocated new company)
Year 5- 175k (raise)
Year 6 - 200k (promo)
Year 7 - 210k (raise)
Year 8  - 260k (demanded promo+raise)
Year 9 - 310k (new company)
Year 9 - 410k (relocated, new company)

Nice. What made your comp skyrocket in recent years, mostly relocation?

[deborah]

I would like to know why OP has asked the question.

It is certainly interesting what people have done. But they are probably the people who have done the best.

If OP wants to know how salary tends to progress, there have been some interesting studies. People who get increases fast in their 20s tend to continue to get increases throughout their working lives. People who progress normally tend to have their increases stop in their mid-thirties, and even go backwards. People who don't get much in the way of increases early in their career, tend not to get increases later.

[startingsmall]

Mine is pretty depressing, but what the heck.
Veterinarian here. Some of my pay changes are due to schedule changes, so I'll also include average hrs/wk actually worked for each job.

2006: Job #1. $45k. (40 hrs/wk)
2007-2009: Job #2. Started at $70k (40 hrs/wk).... increased to $100k due to being very productive
2009-2010: Job #3. Started at $100k (45 hrs/wk), but cut to $68k at the end of my first 1-yr contract due to slow economy, lack of business
2010-2012: Job #4. Started at $100k (50 hrs/wk), raise to $105k (55 hrs/wk)
2012-2014: Job #5. Started at $92k (35 hrs/wk)... got a raise at some point to $95k
2014-now: Job #4, again. Yes, I went back. $92k (40 hrs/wk).... voluntarily cut hours and now at $80,500 (35 hrs/wk)

So... my career basically peaked around 2009. The problem with vet med is that, unless you buy your own clinic, your pay is always determined by your production. Medical knowledge doesn't mean a thing if you don't have the staff/energy/etc to churn rooms every 10 minutes and it's been a while since I've had that!

Why on earth is that depressing?  I think it is great that you can scale back your hours and still make $80k

Good point. I am glad to have that schedule, though I sold my soul to a corporation to get it. Currently working in a chain clinic located in a big-box store... with no set schedule, required to work 4 weekend days/month (again, with no consistency), and days off have to be requested 4 months in advance. Although the 4 day/wk job was more hours, it offered more work/life balance and higher $$/hr than my current position. But I had to leave when the boss told me "I'm hearing voices that tell me I should fire you... but I've realized those are voices from the devil and so I've decided to let you live." Fun stuff!!

I'm just so envious of people who get "raises" in their jobs. Veterinarian pay is commission-based... My salary will always be set at 19-22% of my expected (or previous year's) production. $80.5k for 35 hrs/wk sounds pretty good, but I periodically receive threats to have that cut.... and it could happen at any time, if they decide to add another doctor at my location or some other factor beyond my control. The concept of raises based on experience and progressive responsibility sounds pretty amazing to me.

[Rife]

Interesting question. At a major corporation changing jobs can have a big bump.

Year 1: 15/hour
Year 3: New job starting in engineering with 2 year degree: 50000
Year 4: Annual raise and promotion: 60000
Year 6: Promotion and Annual raises: 79000
Current: 83000

We get far bigger Annual raises by percent starting out cause it is easier to exceed expectations and the total dollar raise is still less than to a guy making 100000+. I am still paid in the lower 25% or so, but my job is too heavy and many were paid to retire early so that demographic may change.  A jump can come just by moving to a new position in the same job field if it comes with far more responsibility. Taking on progressively more responsibility and moving jobs to do that is key for me.

[dividendman]

Tech, by total comp

Year 1 - 60k
Year 2 - 70k (raise)
Year 2 - 80k (raise demanded)
Year 3 - 100k (relocated, new company)
Year 3 - 115k (relocated, new company)
Year 4 - 160k (relocated new company)
Year 5- 175k (raise)
Year 6 - 200k (promo)
Year 7 - 210k (raise)
Year 8  - 260k (demanded promo+raise)
Year 9 - 310k (new company)
Year 9 - 410k (relocated, new company)

Nice. What made your comp skyrocket in recent years, mostly relocation?

I think just constantly looking for new opportunities. I switched companies twice in a year. I also negotiated a lot. I was also willing to go anywhere and do whatever the job is.

[ZagNation]

Upon graduating in 2012, at the age of 22 I began working for a Fortune 50 retail corporation and knew I had to pay my dues at the bottom. That meant a part time position but by fall of 2013 I began working full time in HR and put my degree to use. I still remain working for the same corporation and our standard annual raise is currently capped at 2.5%. My progressions below are a result of moving around internally. Last year I experienced a 30% salary increase after leaving the HR world and securing a business intelligence analyst position.

Salary Progression: 23K @ 9/1/12 --> 32K @ 10/1/13 --> 45K @ 10/1/14 --> 53K @ 7/1/15 --> 69K @ 8/1/16

[RangerOne]

I started my first real career track, bit of a late start at 27 held mostly office jobs before that were temp jobs with no consistent wage growth making between $18 and $25 dollars an hour avging beween $30k and $40k per year working around 3/4 time.

2012: 1.00x Intern Salary,  at big company more than I got payed at any job before
2013: 1.40x : Intern to normal employee big raise
2014: 1.44x : Standard Raise
2015: 1.60x : threaten to quite, got better job and more pay
2016: 1.66x : standard raise
2017: 1.79x : merit raise and job grade bump

Trying to leave for another job definitely got me more money but in this case by staying. Switching to a new employer only gets you a pay raise if you move to a comparable company. For instance a fortune 500 company hands down overall pays better than a start up can.

Early wage growth, at least at a big company is pretty good early career, but only if you have a good manager. Had a somewhat low energy manager my first 2 years and got crappy raises even though he said my work was good.

Switched under new manager and my last two years have seen much larger raises.

Just about 5 years into my career. Unless I advance to management or become a tech expert in theory there is a soft cap on pay I will reach at which point standard raises will become pretty weak at some point over the next 5 years.

[Lanthiriel]

Yay for being an English major. My job growth looks sad compared to a lot of these. Here's my list from my first year of full-time employment.

2010: $25,000
2011: $35,000 (raise... I was grossly underpaid)
2012: $42,000 (changed jobs)
2013: $45,000 (raise)
2014: $57,000 (changed jobs)
2015: $61,000 (raise)
2016: $65,000 (raise)
2017: I'm casually looking for a new job and will only move for $80,000+. I just had an interview, and she kept talking after she asked for a number, so fingers crossed.

[Slow&Steady]

Looking at SS earnings reports from college graduation forward.

2007: 1x
2008: 1.215x (New employer Aug, took a paycut)
2009: 1.127x
2010: 1.136x
2011: 1.178x
2012: 1.199x
2013: 1.069x (Not completely sure. I did not take a paycut, this must have been when I increased 401k contributions)
2014: 1.069x (Wage freeze, company sold)
2015: 1.419x (New employer, with sign on bonus, better benefits, and better work/life balance but no pay increase)
2016: 1.284x

I really need to change jobs more often and negotiate better, I am barely doing better than inflation.

[REAL WORLD EXPAT]

2003   $40,000   First job after getting engineering undergrad degree
2004   $52,000   New company and relocation  to new state but higher CoL than where I moved from
2005   $70,000   New company 
2006   $75,000   Promotion to manager and position/department change in same company
2007   $71,000   Company wide pay cut due to recession
2008   $75,000   Got back what was cut the prior year
2009   $77,000   Standard yearly increase
2010   $80,000   Standard yearly increase
2011   $100,000   New company
2012   $125,000   Promotion - started part time MBA
2013   $130,000   Standard yearly increase
2014   $137,000   Standard yearly increase
2015   $148,000   Standard yearly increase - finished part time MBA
2016   $162,000   Promotion
2017   $125,000   Requested less stessful position - very happy with new pay vs. workload/stress

Overall very happy with my progression and then self-requested regression just recently - my best decision is really having minimal lifestyle creep (aside from buying a house) since 2004/2005 - just kept putting all extra into Vanguard (lucky timing) and everything worked out. The irony now is with my new position and less stress I'm a lot happier working and don't really obsess about quitting like I did for the last 5 years or so as the pressure built (along with the rewards!). Not interested in any more progression and will happily put in a few more years before taking a sabbatical and see what happens.

[Jessamine]

Gross salary:

2008: 45k (1st job out of college)
2009: 51k (promotion)
2010: 64k (new company, hourly contractor w/o benefits)
2011: 62k (conversion to employee w/ benefits)
2012: 66k (standard raise + merit increase)
2013: 72k (standard raise + merit increase)
2014: 78k (standard raise + promotion)
2014: 90k (new company)
2015: 100k (new company) + 22k severance
2016: 101k (standard raise) + 3k bonus + 31k severance
2017: 101k (new company) + 3k bonus + 50k retention bonus (pending end of 2017)

Yay for company reorgs...?

[Cap_Scarlet]

1986 Starting salary - €7,980
2016 Finish salary - €587,000

CAGR 15,4%

[Davids]

At the end of the day it is not how much you make, it is how much you save. I say though as long as you are on this path based on your age then all is well for salary.

20s making at least 2x age
30s making at least 3x age
40s making at least 3.5x age (or be FIRE)
50s - this is MMM we should all be FIRE by then

[big_slacker]

Not gonna type out my salaries or exact years because that would require some brainwork. However it fulfills the OP's question to say that I had spotty/lower levels of employment till 30 years of age. After that almost all of my decent sized increases were from job hopping and the biggest by far that broke me into 6 figures was due to a very hard technical certification and a job hop almost immediately after obtaining it.

[ysette9]

This thread prompted me to open up the spreadsheet I have been keeping since early in my career. I keep expecting the progression to deviate from the linear curve fit I established early on, but it has pretty much kept pace.

My salary over the past 12 years has a slope of 24 $/day which translates to approximately 6,366$/year. Every year I tell myself that this will be the year that it starts to plateau, but it hasn't happened yet. For the super nerds out there, the R^2 value of my linear curve fit is 0.985 :)

[SnackDog]

I know the starting point many years ago but kinda vague on where I am today, especially with stock options. Promotions averaged one every three years the last 20.  I recently got what seems like one of the bigger promotion steps - more than 30%. The pension and stock handcuffs mean I can't very easily hop companies, but this one suits me fine as the work is still fun.

After an employee request I got a plot of pay grade versus years with company for his function. It was a complete shotgun scatter plot. Some people had ten years without any progression! There really is no rule.

[A Definite Beta Guy]

Heh, I am definitely in the "peanuts" range here:

2011    $19,760.00       Initial Hire: Contractor
2011    $22,880.00    15.79%   Demanded Raise
2012    $46,000.00    101.05%   Hired Full-Time
2013    $49,000.00    6.52%   "Band Standardization"-essentially underpaid for the market. The company upped their pay range to stop a mass exodus.
2014    $50,715.00    3.50%   Standard Raise
2015    $53,000.00    4.51%   Standard Raise
2016    $56,000.00    5.66%   Switched companies late in year. Little bargaining power (on PIP Last job)
2017    $57,288.00    2.30%   Standard Raise
2018    $64,000.00    11.72%   Expected (promotion)

I'm a business major currently in Accounting, but I'm in A/R. I'm pretty much at the top of my pay band locally for my role. Pretty hard to transition OUT of A/R...most people are here to die. I'm expecting some vertical movement. This job likes me much better than last job.

My long-term budgets are all set assuming nothing but 2% raises from here on out.

[runewell]

1996: x (Underpaid as entry-level actuary)
1998: 1.45x (Passing actuarial exams, new job)
2000: 1.84x (Passing actuarial exams, new job)
2005: 2.75x (Credentialed, new job, relocated)
2006: 2.91x (New job)
2011: 3.24x (5 yrs at job, then downsized, couldn't find a comparable job)
2012: 1.94x (Different line of work)
2013: 2.43x (Different job, better)
2015: 2.78x (Back in actuarial work despite grossly underpaid)
2016: 2.98x
2017: 3.18x (Mini pro-motion, still underpaid, need to find another job so I can negotiate up to 3.56x). 

Still, living just fine off of 3.18x plus decent bonus and benefits. 

It's been a bumpy road.  I could just accept the role I'm in, anticipate 2% raises forever and maybe one more promotion.  But I'm more ambitious than that.