What actions have had the highest impact in advancing your career (and salary)?

[enFuego]

• Picked the right field (Computer Programming) - a field that had the potential to pay well and offer opportunities (although in honesty I didn't know that when I started out).  Got a degree in that field.
• Picked a field that matched my interests/aptitude/personality
• Pick the right industry to work in if your job is not industry-specific.  Every industry needs programmers, accountants, etc. but different industries have different profit margins and business models and therefore compensate their employees very differently.  This can make a huge difference!
• Be willing to go where the work is.  I peaked in my career earning-wise at one point but being willing to move to another city changed that dynamic and made a huge difference.
• Pick the right companies.  For me early in my career this meant a MegaCorp with a great reputation and one that would offer me learning opportunities and teach me good industry processes.
• Went back at night on the companies dime to get a Masters Degree that rounded out my skills in the industry in which I work
• Always work hard and hold myself to a high standard.  I'm not necessarily talking about long hours as I always resisted that, just demand alot of yourself.
• Learn how to identify great bosses from OK and bad bosses. The great ones are looking out for your best interest too, not just their own.  The bad ones screw you over through bad will or just pure incompetence.  I have experienced the spectrum here.
• Be a low-maintenance employee.  Just get shit done with no drama.
• Learn what your real skills are and use them. For me I consider myself a good, not great developer.  But I am good at dealing with difficult personalities  (see note on being low maintenance) so makes me a little more valuable to my boss as I work with some strong personalities.  This has given me specific opportunities to try to help a bad situation and have gotten recognized for that at review time.
• Another skill I have is the ability to deal with ambiguity around work situations.  I guess I just have a high tolerance for bullshit and where there is a lack of clarity and don't get derailed by that.  Bosses like it when they can count on you in tough times.
• Don't be afraid to fail. Sounds cliche but I took a big risk at one point in my career and absolutely flopped.  My willingness to do that however got me noticed when I interviewed after that.  I was able to tell a good (true) story about my failure; why I took the risk, what I learned, etc.
• Never bring your boss a problem.  Bring her/him a solution to the problem and they'll start to look to you for help more often.
• Your reputation matters.  I got my job at MegaCorp because a director I used to interact with tangentially now worked at another company and knew he could rely on me.

Wow that's really a more than I thought I'd come up with when I started...

[hadabeardonce]

$12/hr - Work Experience (Related Field)
$20/hr - Education (Related Field)
$28/hr - Changed Employers
$34/hr - Applied for a higher level position
$43/hr - Stagnated in a comfy spot

+ Luck
+ Timing
+ White privilege
+ Supportive parents
+ The best wife

[enFuego]

+ Supportive parents
+ The best wife

This too!  Having a supportive spouse or family is a big help too.  I could never have accomplished anything without the support (in many forms) from my wife!  I have witnessed the opposite effect as well in others in my life.  Putting effort into developing the relationships close to you pays dividends.  They may keep you on track when times are tough.  I've seen people who appear to be headed for great things simply get derailed and sort of quit.  A support system helps you to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Perhaps a work mentor could help in this area too.

[Cornel_Westside]

As a counterpoint to the bulk of the advice above, I feel like the most important thing I did was to be born lucky.

Despite being raised poor, I liked school and I read lots of books as a kid, and some of those books taught me that life is an open buffet table to anyone willing to put in the hard work.  I learned to work the system, I got good grades, I aced the high school tests like the SAT, and everything else was automatic from there.  Like clockwork, success just unfolded for me.

The country's best colleges came calling with full ride scholarships for the bright kid from a poor family.  After graduation, grad schools competed for the guy from the top tier school.  After grad school, my academic pedigree opened doors to good jobs, which offered continuous opportunities for self improvement.  At no point between 8th grade and retirement did I feel like I had to make any important decisions that altered the course of my life.  It all unfolded pretty much automatically as soon as I decided to take the reigns in 8th grade.

Of course, being born a tall white guy undoubtedly played some role in my good fortune.  I try not to think about how many equally talented minorities or women I passed on my life's ladder through no fault of my own, because it's depressing.  Part of the danger in privilege is how totally invisible it is to the privileged.  I understand why so many billionaires think "anyone can be rich if they work hard enough" because that's what they did, without recognizing the advantages they had.  Part of it is survivorship bias, certainly, but I suspect a bigger part is that certain types of people are given more opportunities than others without ever understanding why.

The counterpoint to the above argument is that while I consider myself surprisingly successful, some of my more distant acquaintances do not.  I know guys who are worth over twenty million dollars from doing stuff like making countertops, or political advertising, or buying hotels, and they consider my meager fortune to be evidence of a life wasted.  They think I've settled for mediocrity, that retirement is surrender.  I've never chartered a yacht full of models for a trip to the Canary Islands because I'm too poor to enjoy the finer things in life.  My wife and children are uremarkable, the kind of people they only consider as background noise instead of the Kerouac-style flares that make life worthwhile. 

So success is definitely a relative term, and the kind that I have found, while amazing to me, is disappointing to some.  Any job where you worry about "salary" has already relegated you to my world, where at best you aspire to a few mil and a modest home.  No one who is asking questions about their career progression is ever going to be as successful as the person who learns to work for themselves.  Employees are just servants, and servants don't become kings.

This really rings true to me. While I didn't do grad school, everything else was simple. Great grades, great SATs. From there, the Ivy League. From there, a job offer in the middle of the recession. From there, I moved jobs every few years and find myself in a senior role making decent money.

Nowhere during this did I work particularly hard. In fact, in most of my reviews, I've gotten middling scores that state I do good work but I could work harder and be more proactive. But previous experience and my degree make it easy to simply coast at a company for 4 years until I leave and get a pay bump at a new company. And I have no reason to not coast. My work life balance is nice - I'm at the office 40 hours a week, not more. I probably actually work 25 hours a week. My previous success make it very likely that I'll just continue on this path because I'm less risky than someone without my background. The cumulative advantages of privilege are to my automatic benefit. And I'm not even white! I've just got inertia from high school that made it unlikely for me to fail. If I worked much harder, I could see myself making 40% more money. I would probably be working 40% more hours. Doesn't seem worth it. And that is such an incredible luxury - to be able to turn down opportunity because I have plenty.

[Gronnie]

1. Asking for raises and promotions (often you won't get what you don't ask for)
2. Switching jobs when (1) stops working

[nemesis]

Have the mindset to always be learning.  Don't waste valuable free time on mindless entertainment like watching sports (fun I know), reality TV, junk news, useless entertainment on the internet.

Your biggest asset / commodity is the time you have.  Most people under-value their time and seek to numb their brains with entertaining but useless stuff, like the things I listed above.

I have a friend who watches almost every NFL game religiously.  Several 2-3 hour games every weekend.  I watch no NFL games, but go to the gym 2 hours several times per week.  The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

After 20 years of doing the same habits, I have 20 years of health / fitness built up...my friend has watched 20 years of NFL.  What has he gained? What have I gained?  The difference is massive.

I'm able to FIRE if I want, my friend will be working for the rest of his life (he also doesn't listen to other advice I give him in terms of career, life etc).

Think strategically about your life, your time, and what you need to do to improve yourself every day.

[RyanAtTanagra]

The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

More valuable to YOU.  Maybe your friend values NFL over the gym.  And that's ok.  Try not to judge people by your values.  Everyone values different things.  That's also why he (and most people) don't take FIRE/health/fitness advice.  They don't value those things the way you do.  Even if you think they should, but that's not our call to make.

[Parizade]

Lots of good advice here already, but I'll add my 2 cents.

I found a really good therapist who helped me get out of my own way and quit sabotaging my own success. My income, job satisfaction, and job security all doubled pretty quickly after that. Therapy and life coaching can be pricey, but it's paid for itself many times over in my case.

[nemesis]

The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

More valuable to YOU.  Maybe your friend values NFL over the gym.  And that's ok.  Try not to judge people by your values.  Everyone values different things.  That's also why he (and most people) don't take FIRE/health/fitness advice.  They don't value those things the way you do.  Even if you think they should, but that's not our call to make.

Kind of a strange reply on this site... and I'll completely disagree with you.

It's NOT ok because the same thing could be said about anything.  My friend could be doing weed every day and be perfectly happy, except he'll be nearly broke living paycheck to paycheck.

You missed my post entirely.  What we do with our time matters.  It's the only thing we have control over.  You don't get to mindlessly waste your time and say "it's ok".

My friend started out with a job that made twice as much as my salary after college.  Now I make 5 x his salary, am able to FIRE, and can spend the rest of my life watching all the NFL games if I want, and not worry about money.  My friend lives in an apartment, with very little in the way of life savings, and the only major property he owns is his used car.  He will have to work the rest of his life...I'm not even sure it's possible because he has hit his cap in his career (a low cap due to the low level type of work he does compared to mine), and once he gets over 50+ of age he is going to find it awfully hard to find new jobs if he is laid off or fired because companies are hiring younger people at much less pay rather than overpaying him for the same type of work.

The opportunity cost of him spending 20 years of his prime doing things that add no value to his life has taken away from his station in life.  I maximized / optimized my 20 years of my prime life to advance myself financially so I can rest the rest of my life if I wish.

That is not OK, to be in his station in life and be so far behind vs where he could be, had he adopted my mindset and valued his time properly to set himself ahead in life.

We all make choices in life, and we pay for those choices.  It's foolish to numb yourself and say "it's ok" to do something that doesn't maximize your situation in real life, and put your head in the sand and ignore what you could do better.

I would have expected your reply on other forums, but not on MMM where people here are far more practical, wise, and realistic about what one needs to do in life to get ahead.

[RyanAtTanagra]

My friend could be doing weed every day and be perfectly happy, except he'll be nearly broke living paycheck to paycheck.

I have a friend that does just that.  It's not for me, but it's what he enjoys doing, so who am I to judge his decisions.  He values different things than I do.

You don't get to mindlessly waste your time and say "it's ok".

I disagree strongly.  You absolutely do get to do that, if that's what you want to do with your time.  And that's ok.

People make decisions that make no sense to others, because they value different things.  They buy SUVs instead of funding their retirement because they value the flash and status over the freedom and security, etc etc.  And that's their choice to do so.  It's not up to us to say it's 'wrong', for THEM.  Sure, it's wrong for US, because we don't value the things they do.

[nemesis]

My friend could be doing weed every day and be perfectly happy, except he'll be nearly broke living paycheck to paycheck.

I have a friend that does just that.  It's not for me, but it's what he enjoys doing, so who am I to judge his decisions.  He values different things than I do.

You don't get to mindlessly waste your time and say "it's ok".

I disagree strongly.  You absolutely do get to do that, if that's what you want to do with your time.  And that's ok.

People make decisions that make no sense to others, because they value different things.  They buy SUVs instead of funding their retirement because they value the flash and status over the freedom and security, etc etc.  And that's their choice to do so.  It's not up to us to say it's 'wrong', for THEM.  Sure, it's wrong for US, because we don't value the things they do.

You missed the points of my post again entirely, and really the point of this forum.

It's all about maximizing yourself so you can enjoy/ do whatever the heck you want later in life, including things that add zero value to yourself or others.

To sacrifice your prime doing things that don't add as much value... is it ok? Sure, but don't fool yourself that you're not sacrificing your future in some way. 

It's like if you go and blow a bunch of money on a super fancy luxury car... is it ok to do so?  Sure... but you're giving up a lot of opportunity cost to save that money and have it work for you, and you will pay for it, one way or another.

So don't delude yourself that everything is "ok" in life and there is no opportunity cost.

Everything has an opportunity cost... whether you see it or not, acknowledge it, truly understand what you're giving up in return, is wisdom, or lack of it.

The only constant we all have is our health and our time.  Everything you do to maximize both your health and your future time is the optimal thing to do.  Anything else you do to sacrifice that is not OK... even if you cover your ears and keep repeating "it's ok it's ok it's ok"... it's not, really.  Everything comes to roost one way or another. 

I've made mistakes of not optimizing my time in the past, and I realize now that I could handled my time better.  We all do. But I don't delude myself that it's ok that I was so unaware of how I utilized my time in such a haphazard fashion. I recognized it and learned how to use my time better, so I have way more free time and health in the future.  That is the best way to live.

Most people don't think like this and waste so much free time that could be used to improve their situation in life.  It's very sad, because no one really teaches us how to think like this and manage our lives like this.  And then you have people like yourself who don't understand this big picture and say things like "it's ok that you do what you want to do, without any recognition to the opportunity costs and what you're really giving up for that activity / habit in the big picture"... that's not a helpful mindset to have, imo.

[dignam]

I started FT work out of college right during the worst of the recession in 2009.  I was low balled offers left and right, with overtones of "the economy is in the toilet, so I can get away with offering a super low salary".  First offer was $35k.  I was already working part time for this company, so they knew I could do the work.  After a while I asked if they could offer more than that.  Owner was irate with my request and I thought I was done.  Someone else at the company calmed him down, and a few days later I was offered $40k.  Fine, I could live with that for now.

A year or so later the company was purchased by a large international company which meant my pay had to be bumped up substantially to align with the rest of the company.  Previous owner was so happy to tell me this (of course he was, wasn't his money anymore lol).  For many years after that, it was the standard 3-5% bump each year.  Job was good, had good co workers, and the new owner was a solid corporation that did actually seem to care about the employees.

The last few years I've asked for more responsibilities and have gotten a larger than normal pay bump one year and two promotions (with large pay bumps).  I'm probably ~$5k below market for my experience but I get almost 7 weeks vacation and a ton of flexibility (and I enjoy who I work with) so I am not willing to give that up unless I get a huge offer.  I am not your standard Millennial who hops between companies, and many are shocked I am more traditional when it comes to "loyalty".  Hey, they have treated me well so I stick around!

To sum it up: factors impacting my salary: luck, asking for what I want, sticking it out at least a while to see if it improves (which it did).

[RyanAtTanagra]

You missed the points of my post again entirely, and really the point of this forum.

I'm not disagreeing with your entire post, just the part of judging other people's actions based on your own values.  I'm guilty of it too, we all are.  I don't like watching sports either (I don't like passively watching people do things.  I'd rather just go do things.), but I get why people do enjoy it (value it), so I'm not going to judge them for spending a whole Sunday (or a whole season of Sundays) doing something, just because I don't find value in it.

Same with not pursuing FIRE, I get why people don't want to.  They don't like thinking about the future.  They want to live as large as they can now.  They want to show off to their peers.  They wrongly think you have to choose one or the other, but they also don't want to bother trying to learn more about it (most people don't want to bother learning anything).  And that's their choice, they value those things and not the things we value, so they make different choices, which to us make no sense and make us do the 'jackie chan wtf' meme in our heads.  Until you realize they don't care about the things we do.

The only time I start caring is when they then complain about where they are because of the choices they've made :-)

[dignam]

Have the mindset to always be learning.  Don't waste valuable free time on mindless entertainment like watching sports (fun I know), reality TV, junk news, useless entertainment on the internet.

Your biggest asset / commodity is the time you have.  Most people under-value their time and seek to numb their brains with entertaining but useless stuff, like the things I listed above.

I have a friend who watches almost every NFL game religiously.  Several 2-3 hour games every weekend.  I watch no NFL games, but go to the gym 2 hours several times per week.  The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

After 20 years of doing the same habits, I have 20 years of health / fitness built up...my friend has watched 20 years of NFL.  What has he gained? What have I gained?  The difference is massive.

I'm able to FIRE if I want, my friend will be working for the rest of his life (he also doesn't listen to other advice I give him in terms of career, life etc).

Think strategically about your life, your time, and what you need to do to improve yourself every day.

Judgmental much?  Granted I agree working out is far better for long term health among other things, maybe your friend loves football that much; more power to him.  It's not your job to judge the value of his time vs. yours.  Does he even see you as a friend? lol

[nemesis]

Have the mindset to always be learning.  Don't waste valuable free time on mindless entertainment like watching sports (fun I know), reality TV, junk news, useless entertainment on the internet.

Your biggest asset / commodity is the time you have.  Most people under-value their time and seek to numb their brains with entertaining but useless stuff, like the things I listed above.

I have a friend who watches almost every NFL game religiously.  Several 2-3 hour games every weekend.  I watch no NFL games, but go to the gym 2 hours several times per week.  The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

After 20 years of doing the same habits, I have 20 years of health / fitness built up...my friend has watched 20 years of NFL.  What has he gained? What have I gained?  The difference is massive.

I'm able to FIRE if I want, my friend will be working for the rest of his life (he also doesn't listen to other advice I give him in terms of career, life etc).

Think strategically about your life, your time, and what you need to do to improve yourself every day.

Judgmental much?  Granted I agree working out is far better for long term health among other things, maybe your friend loves football that much; more power to him.  It's not your job to judge the value of his time vs. yours.  Does he even see you as a friend? lol

Here we go again... another simple minded post / attitude.

You don't understand the big picture. Because I *care* about my friend, is why I call out his activity as a non-value add, for him... it has nothing to do with me.  He could get drunk all day long and do weed all day, I don't care.  It has no impact on me...the impact is his life.

As a *real* friend, I will try to help my friends from my point of view. I don't put on blinders and not help others when I can.  That's why I post on this forum as well - to help others and myself.

You clearly missed the point of my multiple posts.  Amazing that folks who don't understand the big picture such as yourself try to call me out, incorrectly and completely misplaced. The end result is you only hurt yourself, and those people in your life whom you don't fully support.

It's far too easy to just say "it's no big deal, it's ok...." when people could be enlightened better and at least made aware of the opportunity costs of their life style choices.  It's childish not to look at the big picture and understand the ramifications of your actions. I'm sure if you had kids, you would try to help them understand the optimal way in life as well. Maybe not in your case..it seems you don't really understand.

[mm1970]

The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

More valuable to YOU.  Maybe your friend values NFL over the gym.  And that's ok.  Try not to judge people by your values.  Everyone values different things.  That's also why he (and most people) don't take FIRE/health/fitness advice.  They don't value those things the way you do.  Even if you think they should, but that's not our call to make.

It's not okay if he's not healthy.  I don't know if he is or not, but if the guy eats crap and doesn't exercise...then it's really not ok.

[mm1970]

Kind of a strange reply on this site... and I'll completely disagree with you.

It's NOT ok because the same thing could be said about anything.  My friend could be doing weed every day and be perfectly happy, except he'll be nearly broke living paycheck to paycheck.

You missed my post entirely.  What we do with our time matters.  It's the only thing we have control over.  You don't get to mindlessly waste your time and say "it's ok".

My friend started out with a job that made twice as much as my salary after college.  Now I make 5 x his salary, am able to FIRE, and can spend the rest of my life watching all the NFL games if I want, and not worry about money.  My friend lives in an apartment, with very little in the way of life savings, and the only major property he owns is his used car.  He will have to work the rest of his life...I'm not even sure it's possible because he has hit his cap in his career (a low cap due to the low level type of work he does compared to mine), and once he gets over 50+ of age he is going to find it awfully hard to find new jobs if he is laid off or fired because companies are hiring younger people at much less pay rather than overpaying him for the same type of work.

The opportunity cost of him spending 20 years of his prime doing things that add no value to his life has taken away from his station in life.  I maximized / optimized my 20 years of my prime life to advance myself financially so I can rest the rest of my life if I wish.

That is not OK, to be in his station in life and be so far behind vs where he could be, had he adopted my mindset and valued his time properly to set himself ahead in life.

We all make choices in life, and we pay for those choices.  It's foolish to numb yourself and say "it's ok" to do something that doesn't maximize your situation in real life, and put your head in the sand and ignore what you could do better.

I would have expected your reply on other forums, but not on MMM where people here are far more practical, wise, and realistic about what one needs to do in life to get ahead.

Okay this one, and some of your other comments...I want to agree with Ryan.

I think as people, we have a duty to ourselves to ... take care of ourselves?  I mean the basics. Sleep, exercise, decent food.  Work a job, pay our bills, etc.

But beyond that?  I don't think there's a duty AT ALL to not "waste our time".  You don't get to decide that for him. 

There's always something "better" I could be doing.  But I've got a FT job and 2 kids and a house to maintain...and *I* get to decide how I spend my 168 hours a week  - nobody else.

So if I spend 10 hours exercising, 60 hours sleeping, 40 hours working, and 10 hours crocheting while watching old reruns of friends, it's none of your fucking business.  Yeah, I could spend those 10 hours on Khan academy with my kids, or learn an instrument, or teach myself to program.  So what?

[nemesis]

Kind of a strange reply on this site... and I'll completely disagree with you.

It's NOT ok because the same thing could be said about anything.  My friend could be doing weed every day and be perfectly happy, except he'll be nearly broke living paycheck to paycheck.

You missed my post entirely.  What we do with our time matters.  It's the only thing we have control over.  You don't get to mindlessly waste your time and say "it's ok".

My friend started out with a job that made twice as much as my salary after college.  Now I make 5 x his salary, am able to FIRE, and can spend the rest of my life watching all the NFL games if I want, and not worry about money.  My friend lives in an apartment, with very little in the way of life savings, and the only major property he owns is his used car.  He will have to work the rest of his life...I'm not even sure it's possible because he has hit his cap in his career (a low cap due to the low level type of work he does compared to mine), and once he gets over 50+ of age he is going to find it awfully hard to find new jobs if he is laid off or fired because companies are hiring younger people at much less pay rather than overpaying him for the same type of work.

The opportunity cost of him spending 20 years of his prime doing things that add no value to his life has taken away from his station in life.  I maximized / optimized my 20 years of my prime life to advance myself financially so I can rest the rest of my life if I wish.

That is not OK, to be in his station in life and be so far behind vs where he could be, had he adopted my mindset and valued his time properly to set himself ahead in life.

We all make choices in life, and we pay for those choices.  It's foolish to numb yourself and say "it's ok" to do something that doesn't maximize your situation in real life, and put your head in the sand and ignore what you could do better.

I would have expected your reply on other forums, but not on MMM where people here are far more practical, wise, and realistic about what one needs to do in life to get ahead.

Okay this one, and some of your other comments...I want to agree with Ryan.

I think as people, we have a duty to ourselves to ... take care of ourselves?  I mean the basics. Sleep, exercise, decent food.  Work a job, pay our bills, etc.

But beyond that?  I don't think there's a duty AT ALL to not "waste our time".  You don't get to decide that for him. 

There's always something "better" I could be doing.  But I've got a FT job and 2 kids and a house to maintain...and *I* get to decide how I spend my 168 hours a week  - nobody else.

So if I spend 10 hours exercising, 60 hours sleeping, 40 hours working, and 10 hours crocheting while watching old reruns of friends, it's none of your fucking business.  Yeah, I could spend those 10 hours on Khan academy with my kids, or learn an instrument, or teach myself to program.  So what?

Completely agree it's none of my fucking business.  You can snort cocaine all day for all I care.

You completely missed my points and post.

This thread is about how to get ahead in life.  Living obliviously without intention is not the way to get ahead in life.  I do the basic things you mention, but I choose my free time activities intentionally, to improve my mind / skills so I am more effective in the rest of my life / work.  This is why I am far more skilled / knowledgeable than most of my peers. I am able to out-work and out-earn them.  I'm glad most other people are not like me...they don't work as hard as me, don't take advantage of the free time to their benefit. It makes me stand out and I have financial freedom as a result.

If you want to go and do drugs, get drunk, whatever ever floats your boat...go ahead. You don't need my permission.

The only thing I'll add is we live in a network of relationships. society.  Your actions have impact on others.  If you don't take care of yourself and end up costing millions / billions in unnecessary medical costs, those costs are passed on to me, a healthy person who still has medical insurance to avoid catastrophes in life.

Imagine a society where everyone was healthy as possible, happy as possible because they have financial security...that would be fucking bad ass.

But no, you fucking do what you want, without any responsibility for the consequences. More power to you.

[Cool Friend]

Settle down, Beavis.

[nemesis]

Settle down, Beavis.

Interesting. My last post in this thread.  People don't seem to like the fact that actions have consequences / opportunity costs. I guess the truth hurts, and you have to resort to personal attacks.

My point was to optimize your free time for your advantage.  A few seem to take my example the wrong way, perhaps triggered by their inadequate optimization of their time.

I love it...you keep doing less of what's successful...it makes people like me even more stand-outs and successful compared to you.  It's far better for me (individually) if the vast majority of people live life obliviously, but worse for society as a whole.

Honestly this is what it's like dealing with kids...they don't want to hear the truth / reality, only self-affirming garbage even when it's not in their best interest.

[Just Joe]

The action that had the biggest impact on my career was lying on my resume years ago.

Funny, I did the same thing.  Didn't even think about it, but it was also one of the biggest positive impacts on my career.  Not that I recommend anyone else doing the same. "Fake it 'til you make it" worked in my case.  Sometimes talent is more important than experience.

Whatever you do. don't tell them what you actually made at your last job. I had an employer that asked that question. How stupid would I be to say I was making peanuts? I gave them a fair price and got that salary and then built upon that. That employer would take your low salary and give a couple thousand raise starting pay. They would screw you if you allowed them to basically.

[RyanAtTanagra]

You completely missed my points and post.

Honestly this is what it's like dealing with kids...they don't want to hear the truth / reality, only self-affirming garbage even when it's not in their best interest.

Maybe you need to step back and re-read the previous replies to your posts and consider that maybe you're the one missing the point.  Sometimes it's not everyone else that doesn't get it.

[mathlete]

Being born into a household with married parents, in the top quintile of the household income distribution. (Above about $50K for the year of my birth)

Not even close.

[HBFIRE]

A lot of people are mentioning being born lucky.  I think the OP is going for actionable things you can do to move the needle.  Original post mentions "things you have done" to impact your career.  Since none of us can change what type of situation we were born into, probably not very useful.  That said, the importance of a 2-parent household and the impact it has on the children is quite massive, lots of research on this. 

For me, the action that I took that had the biggest impact (through a lot of luck, since I'm an introvert) is networking with the right people.  You essentially become like those you surround yourself with.  Success is largely surrounding yourself with those you want to be like.  You've gotta find top mentors in whatever it is you're trying to become good at, then spend a lot of time around them.  This has worked well for me in my career, and in my hobby pursuits (high level bridge).

[mathlete]

A lot of people are mentioning being born lucky.  I think the OP is going for actionable things you can do to move the needle.  Original post mentions "things you have done" to impact your career.  Since none of us can change what type of situation we were born into, probably not very useful.  That said, the importance of a 2-parent household and the impact it has on the children is quite massive, lots of research on this. 

For me, the action that I took that had the biggest impact (through a lot of luck, since I'm an introvert) is networking with the right people.  You essentially become like those you surround yourself with.  Success is largely surrounding yourself with those you want to be like.  You've gotta find top mentors in whatever it is you're trying to become good at, then spend a lot of time around them.  This has worked well for me in my career, and in my hobby pursuits (high level bridge).

Good point. An amendment!

Going to college. Not even close.

[Bloop Bloop]

A lot of people are mentioning being born lucky.  I think the OP is going for actionable things you can do to move the needle.  Original post mentions "things you have done" to impact your career.  Since none of us can change what type of situation we were born into, probably not very useful.  That said, the importance of a 2-parent household and the impact it has on the children is quite massive, lots of research on this. 

For me, the action that I took that had the biggest impact (through a lot of luck, since I'm an introvert) is networking with the right people.  You essentially become like those you surround yourself with.  Success is largely surrounding yourself with those you want to be like.  You've gotta find top mentors in whatever it is you're trying to become good at, then spend a lot of time around them.  This has worked well for me in my career, and in my hobby pursuits (high level bridge).

The corollary of this is knowing how to cut shit people out of your life - lazy people, unkind people, complainers, leeches and passive-aggressive people. Get rid of them, drop them, shun their company. As you say, you become like those you surround with; by osmosis, you pick up their traits, good or bad. Learning to draw boundaries and learning to drop negative people is a great first step.

[MsPeacock]

Left a low-paying career to go back to grad school and do what I really want to do. Won a substantial full ride scholarship for my 3rd-5th year of my doctorate. Worked hard, been excellent at what I do, always learning, etc.  But, really - going back to school resulted in 4x higher salary than what I was making from my undergrad degree.

[PDXTabs]

• Got a degree in a field that was in demand (BS in Computer Science).
• Got good at my craft (software engineering).
• Changed jobs multiple times when my salary sank below market norms,

EDITed to add - but also during the great recession I kept my head down with a below average salary when the market sucked and bided my time until I could fix the salary while working hard to improve my skills.

[dignam]

Sheesh, I bet someone is the life of the party.  But hey, I'm just simple-minded I guess.

[Parizade]

The corollary of this is knowing how to cut shit people out of your life - lazy people, unkind people, complainers, leeches and passive-aggressive people. Get rid of them, drop them, shun their company. As you say, you become like those you surround with; by osmosis, you pick up their traits, good or bad. Learning to draw boundaries and learning to drop negative people is a great first step.

Also, if you allow these people space in your life they WILL resent your discipline, ambition, and success and they WILL undermine your efforts. They will WANT you to fail, they can't help themselves.

[honeybbq]

Stop seeing yourself as a special snowflake and see yourself as a commodity that can and should be bought and sold to the highest bidder.  Being willing to move (change states) and find someone who wants me bad enough to pay me well. Rinse and repeat after you get stale.

Make friends in your community/profession. Use word of mouth to get better jobs.

Be a leader. Or have leadership traits. Or learn to be a leader.

Being willing to live in a HCOLA. Even with increased costs, with a 2 working household, we make far more here in the PNW than we did in our previous state.

[effigy98]

Nothing has made me more money then being friends with people who are technical. Almost all my high paying jobs have been from referral from friends.

[RyanAtTanagra]

Being willing to live in a HCOLA. Even with increased costs, with a 2 working household, we make far more here in the PNW than we did in our previous state.

Good point, this was actually a big one for me, too.  HCOL areas can be a savings playground for the frugal.  If you're in a field where your salary compensates for the AVERAGE person's COL, being above average (financially), and willing to step outside the box, it means accelerated savings.

[FIRE 20/20]

As a counterpoint to the bulk of the advice above, I feel like the most important thing I did was to be born lucky.

Despite being raised poor, I liked school and I read lots of books as a kid, and some of those books taught me that life is an open buffet table to anyone willing to put in the hard work.  I learned to work the system, I got good grades, I aced the high school tests like the SAT, and everything else was automatic from there.  Like clockwork, success just unfolded for me.

...

Wow, fantastic post sol, and one that resonated a lot with me.  The details are different, but ultimately I definitely feel like my success has been due to being born lucky.  I didn't choose my parents.  I didn't choose exactly which chromosomes I would inherit from them.  I didn't choose to be born in the U.S., and in an area of that country with low crime and good schools on top of it.  I didn't choose to invest public money in roads, intellectual property rights protections, relatively stable social and legal structures, or any other things that let me study things I was naturally good at.  I didn't choose for math and science (things I enjoy and am good at) to be relatively well compensated fields.  I feel like I was born on third base. 

But of the things "I" did that had the biggest impact were choosing to work high visibility projects that demanded extremely long hours over a few weeks with no extra compensation.  While I didn't get paid for those projects with overtime money, it all came around during raise, bonus, and promotion time.  For more than half my career I've been ranked in the top 10% of my pay band and it's largely due to people multiple levels above my boss seeing me in late working on those projects that were important to them.  I'd say that on average I've worked 200-300 extra hours every other year over about a decade, but it's raised my compensation by far more than if I had been paid for those hours.  It has also opened a lot of doors to more interesting work, and I used that to get a super chill job for the last year and a half as I coast in to FIRE. 

[Bloop Bloop]

If you're born lucky you're born lucky. You don't owe anyone for having been so and you don't need to downplay your achievements simply because you're smart. Perhaps if all your achievements are genes-related (e.g, you are a tremendously good sprinter, or you are incredibly beautiful like Zoolander) then there might be an argument that you owe your genes, but otherwise I feel like the "I was born lucky" argument just tends to confound the fact that, even aside from genes, you still need the willpower and wherewithal to do something with them.

As for roads, intellectual property and social stability, most people in a first world country have the same opportunities; they just fail to make anything of them.

[sol]

The more times I keep seeing this thread pop up, the more I think about it, and the more I lean towards a slightly different interpretation of the title question.  The single biggest impact to my career and salary was deciding to retire at age 41.  I figure I conservatively gave up at least two, maybe three million dollars in today's salary, and I absolutely torpedoed my career to the bottom of the ocean.

I also couldn't be happier about that decision.  No regrets. 

Was this thread operating on the assumption that we were only supposed to talk about the big impacts that increased our salary and advanced our careers?  Because it sure does seem easier to make a big impact in a hurry in the other direction.

[mstr d]

showing confidence.

At a interview they had doubts, I was told I was so youngh and had only 2,5 years experience.

I quickly improvised and said:  I worked 70 hours a week so it counts dubble. And I learn fast so I actually have 10 years of experience. He had laughes and I got the job with the same salary as the 40 and 50 year olds.

Job hopping helps.

And it helped a lot working on satudays 150%. and sundays double the pay.

And I got two jobs because you dont get extra money for vacation hours , pension etc in our field if you work more then 40 hours a week. bud you get it with two jobs :)

[OtherJen]

I got a PhD in my research field. A master's would have taken less time, but the doctorate was paid in full by the university, plus a living stipend (and it was truly satisfying work). Then I escaped the hamster wheel of academic research to work as a freelancer in a related field. I make as much as I did as a postdoc researcher while working half as many hours, can work at home, and have control over my own schedule. I've built an excellent reputation for myself by producing meticulous work, always meeting client deadlines, and being professional in all communications, and I'm often offered more work than I can feasibly accept.

[use2betrix]

The more times I keep seeing this thread pop up, the more I think about it, and the more I lean towards a slightly different interpretation of the title question.  The single biggest impact to my career and salary was deciding to retire at age 41.  I figure I conservatively gave up at least two, maybe three million dollars in today's salary, and I absolutely torpedoed my career to the bottom of the ocean.

I also couldn't be happier about that decision.  No regrets. 

Was this thread operating on the assumption that we were only supposed to talk about the big impacts that increased our salary and advanced our careers?  Because it sure does seem easier to make a big impact in a hurry in the other direction.

You know - reading this really made me think about the topics question in another factor, that may be somewhat hard to put into words.

I am 30, not yet FIRE’d, but deciding to retire early has also snowballed my career in many more aspects. My drive to retire early has specifically given me more drive to excel in my job, work harder, more hours, etc. All of this makes me a better employee. To my employers, they look at this very much of a, “wow, this guy sure as hell is valuable and contributes to the project.” What they don’t know, is that my effort is driven more towards moving up, increasing my pay, just so I can leave sooner.

If I didn’t have FIRE in mind, I don’t know that I would work so hard. I don’t know that I would pick up all these extra hours, days, etc. of work. While working Saturdays gives me an extra days pay, it also allows me to catch up on my work, learn more, excel more, and add a positive impact in my employers eyes.

[G-String]

Have the mindset to always be learning.  Don't waste valuable free time on mindless entertainment like watching sports (fun I know), reality TV, junk news, useless entertainment on the internet.

Your biggest asset / commodity is the time you have.  Most people under-value their time and seek to numb their brains with entertaining but useless stuff, like the things I listed above.

I have a friend who watches almost every NFL game religiously.  Several 2-3 hour games every weekend.  I watch no NFL games, but go to the gym 2 hours several times per week.  The way I spent my time is far more valuable than my friend's time spent.

After 20 years of doing the same habits, I have 20 years of health / fitness built up...my friend has watched 20 years of NFL.  What has he gained? What have I gained?  The difference is massive.

I'm able to FIRE if I want, my friend will be working for the rest of his life (he also doesn't listen to other advice I give him in terms of career, life etc).

Think strategically about your life, your time, and what you need to do to improve yourself every day.

Why does it have to be either/or?  I watch several NFL games per week and I go to the gym 3-4 times per week.