Pay Disparities

The person sitting in the next cube over from you may be doing the same type of work, perhaps even working on the exact same code that you are. However, she may be making 20% or 30% more than you. Sometimes the pay disparities are even greater. Of course, in most cases you won’t be aware of this since salary information is closely guarded.

Such disparities exist for a number of reasons. Technical skill sets, negotiating skills, etc. factor in, but often it’s just a matter of experience, or tenure if you will. The longer a person is at a job the more raises they’ll get. And even if those are just modest cost of living raises they can add up. If someone has the same job as you but they’ve been in that position for 10 years longer, with a 3% annual raise they could be earning 35% more. And with 4% annual raises the difference would be 48%.

But what if the other person has comparable levels of experience, or worse, less experience than what you have? What would explain the pay disparity then?

It’s possible that the other person may just better at their job. They could be more productive, writing more code with fewer bugs. They may be better at estimation and meeting their dates, and they may have more significant accomplishments. They may also work in a more high profile area and be more visible to management. They may also be better at advertising their accomplishments, as distasteful as that idea may be to some.

If you have accounted for all of these possibilities and still feel that you are underpaid, you need to look inward. Is there a reason why you might be underpaid? Or in fact, are you really underpaid at all? The only true way to tell is to test the job markets. You can probably get a feel for your market value from recruiters, or from doing a few interviews. You might very well find that you are already at market pay. And if not -- well, you already have a head start on finding new job options.