Never ask for a raise or a promotion
I mean, of course, you can discuss your salary if you are already doing a compensation discussion. But hear me out here and try to imagine what your boss might think.
There are 3 main reasons your boss would discuss your salary which are:
- You are doing more work than you should?
No, he is happy because you are efficient.
- Your client gives frequently excellent feedback regarding your work
No, gladly you are doing your job right
- Did you get yourself a degree or certificate? I think I don’t need to answer this one.
So, what makes a boss promote and give raises?
Fear
Every boss is afraid an employee goes somewhere else. Nowadays, it is getting harder and harder to find IT people who can be a company's culture and technical fit. So, because of that, it is common trying to maintain their resources as hard as they can.
In this video, Simon Sinek explains how hiring is basically finding a partner in a relationship. Think… that is not something you find every day, right? So, the company should fear you leaving, but how are they going to worry if you don’t value yourself?
The moment they got comfortable with you being where you are, not showing stoning progress, I’m sorry to say: you will not get a raise. Perhaps you can get a promotion with 2% raise as a “good boy” to go on if you are a good fit in the culture and are OK technically (but on a level they think they can easily replace you).
Trust
This is subjective to build. You can create the perfect web app, a highly available app distributed across the globe, and still, get less paycheck than another coworker.
If you are working for a dinosaur and you are a woman, you have an extra problem. There is an unsaid belief (which needs to be thrown in garbage) that companies can rely better on man (they don’t get pregnant, they don’t culturally take care of babies, and so on) but my point is not focusing on a culture problem here.
Another way to earn trust is showing how you can endure under pressure, and for that, you need to pass over some challenging situations which will only exist over some time.
There is an enormous difference between the delivery of an application and being there to support the clients when everything breaks, taking care of the business while fixing the solution. Your boss needs someone like this, and this is not something you can see at an interview, or in one month of work. The more faith the boss puts in you, the more you are getting paid.
Not always the best technically worker is the one who deserves the raise, but that one who can make the best technical decision out of the hard situations.
I’m working very hard and getting great feedback from my clients, why my boss is not giving me a raise?
- You only think you are working hard enough
In that case, you should see your colleagues and their results. Be always aware of what they do. Please don’t get me wrong here. You must never undermine them. The better way to grow your own sense and learn is through collaboration.
- You don’t know how to show your work
Here I’m not meaning publishing on Medium or whatever you may be thinking. Endomarketing is extremely important, and it is something you need to work on.
Be aware that you are not supposed to be someone who self-promotes yourself posting on the general slack channel “Hey, I did this commit and it was outstanding”.
However, you need to make them see you as the best version of yourself. They need to not only respect you, but whenever your results come, they already know they are good ones.
- You seem too needy
Although it hurts, this may be a reason for your boss subconsciously doesn’t feel the need to give you that raise. So, you are working hard and you show that. You do receive good feedback and still nothing? This may sound like the boss' mistake (and it is) but you are a grown-ass adult. You can’t blame anyone for your life path, can you?
Lucky you, I can give you a hint on how to fix it. Are you going to like it? I promise you will love the result.
So, feel like you do everything perfectly but your boss smelled your fear of losing your job?
- Never stop doing your job perfectly
- Start learning more than you need
- Make everyone in your possible circle know how much you value yourself
- Be careful, you got to be friendly but don’t get confused between empathy and sympathy
- Embrace yourself with confidence by creating content, personal project, studying, reading, etc.
Bosses are people, coworkers are people, and recruiters are people… learn how to deal with people and you are going to be fine.
And hey, next level? Read this.
The result
Either you got yourself a raise or another job with a better payroll and your former boss is spending a lot of time and money trying to hire and train your replacement to do a job you could easily do.
Funny fact, if you don’t get the raise soon enough, you are going to have the chance to choose between your new job and the old one, because your boss will realize it is less expensive to give you the raise.
The reason I’m saying this is that anyone who works properly and learns how to show it eventually thrives. It is impossible to get stuck working hard and knowing how people think.
