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1) Based on my research, the average salary for someone with my experience and licenses is a good 12% more than what I am being paid - after my raise. That is average. What I am saying is that I feel I am being underpaid for my value in this industry. I think my job performance supports that.
IMO, the main reason that you are paid less than average is because you stayed at the same company for 7 years. You usually need to change companies in order to get the big pay jumps. I bet your higher paid co-worker came from a different company and got a competitive pay hike coming to your company. Your company had to pony-up the salary in order to get him to resign from his other position.
You could be in the same boat if you get your resume out there and start interviewing. You goal should be a 15% increase by changing companies. You can push for an internal promotion but it's highly unlikely that you will get more than a 6%-7% pay increase, if you even get that much.
I started a position at a different company where I had a finance degree from a prestigious school and earned less/was in a lower position than someone with NO degree at all. We even had the same amount of years of experience, only I had the degree. Did I whine and moan about how this person didn't deserve that job title or to be that rate? Absolutely not.
The person was hired at this rate by someone else. It was my job to prove that I deserved an internal promotion to a higher rate and better title. I ended up changing companies and receiving a 32% raise.
If you feel like you are undervalued where you are, start looking externally and realize this has absolutely nothing to do with the other guy.
It doesn't matter if you are doing the same job. The title is key to your salary. Ask for a promotion to the second level (or higher if you can). Hopefully they have a position... Our supervisors get paid more and barely do more than other employees but their pay is different..
boxus - I think there may be two things that I am somehow failing to make clear.
1) Based on my research, the average salary for someone with my experience and licenses is a good 12% more than what I am being paid - after my raise. That is average. What I am saying is that I feel I am being underpaid for my value in this industry. I think my job performance supports that.
2) I do not see why he should have a higher title than me. You keep using that to justify why he is paid more than me, but my point is that I do not think his having a masters justifies a higher title more than my license does. In the engineering industry, a license is simply more valuable than a masters. This was part of my surprise, I was shocked that he has a higher title than me despite having (slightly) less experience and not having the extra license. I had (erroneously) assumed that since he had less experience, did not have the higher license, and was hired 5 years after me that I was higher on the totem pole.
1. Average is an average for a reason. Some make more, some make less.
2. You do not get to decide whether the masters is more important than the certification. For your company, they clearly must value the masters degree more. If you are unhappy with how your company measures these experiences, find another company; they are under no obligation to pay the employees based on what YOU deem important.
If the going rate is 12% higher, then leave. If nobody is willing to give you 12% more, then you may be overestimating your value. It's not really that hard. It has nothing do with another person that you are spying on.
I increased my salary by 100%, when I left for another company. After 3 years, I increased my value with a certification and got a 40% bump at a new company. I went from $24k/yr to over $80k within 4 years. I never entertained the thought of digging into another co-workers salary.
Knowing someone's else salary is one thing. Ignoring distractions and increasing your own salary is what works. It's frightening. Doubts creep up. You may ask yourself, "What if nobody believes in my value? What if I have overpriced myself?" Then, you would find ways to increase your value such being more professional and not snooping into colleague's personal business.
Get over the idea of "my college is better than yours" because it isn't.
Maybe 20-25 years ago it was but,,,that was then and this is now.
Us girls will be paid a bit less in our science and engineering fields unless we are really, really good at what we do, stand out among our co-workers, work harder and get along with others.
Do us fellow STEM chicks a favor, stop looking for problems that are out of your control, seek more education on your own time/ dime and grow up!
Last edited by skibarbie; 11-03-2013 at 10:43 PM..
The OP seems to think that the Masters in Engineering does now matter or determine how someone is paid. I know a few Engineers and having a Masters makes a world of difference in pay. I didn't write the rule book but know how to read it. Maybe consider getting a Masters and more pay.
Any discrimination issues aside (which do exist but aren't universal), companies will more or less pay you what you're worth given that YOU know what you're worth.
This guy might have been hired at a time when newly graduated engineers with a masters where getting a certain salary across the field in that area. The market could reverse and nose dive, and the next guy they hire might get a much lower salary (and would it be "fair" for them to lower your salary to match the new hire's lower salary? No, most companies wouldn't since that would devastate morale).
A sneaky way to figure this out is to ask what it is you can do to get paid what this guy does.
NOT sarcastically.
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