I've Doubled My Salary Every Year For The Last 3 Years. Here Is How To Do The Same As A Software Developer

We all know that Software Development is one of the most prosperous industries right now but also salaries tend to vary pretty much. In my circle, I've seen salaries range between *40k - 160k$.* Is there another differentiator other than skills & experience? Yes. Negotiation skills.

In this article, I will present how I doubled my salary so that you can do the same.

How I doubled my salary:

  • 1st year: Asked for a raise
  • 2nd year: Changed job
  • 3rd year: Changed job

He (a CEO) said that every time he got a new job, he immediately started looking for a better one. For him, job seeking was not something one did when necessary. It was an ongoing process - Scott Adams

The method sounds harsh, and it is. The simple truth is this: If you want to double your salary, your best bet is to change your job.

Why does this work?

The demand for programmers is bigger than the current supply. Companies will pay extra money to acquire new developers because they know that they will make more money from their skills.

You can almost always expect a raise in salary if you change your job as moving to another company is uncomfortable, and the company will pay to accommodate this change.

Steps to succeeding

1. Apply to new openings

You need to always look for new job openings and apply to them. Here are some places to check constantly:

  • Job boards from your domain
  • Slack channels of #jobs, #remote-jobs from a language, sub-domain in programming
  • LinkedIn Jobs
  • Meetups in your area

2. Don't discuss salary expectations in the discovery call

When a recruiter asks you about salary expectations, she also talks with other developers simultaneously. If they bid lower than you, most likely, the recruiter will cut you out of the process.

Reserve this discussion for later when the company is more invested in you.

3. Be a likable person

Companies turn down excellent developers because of attitude issues all the time. The interviewer will most likely be your future colleague; therefore, he is also figuring out if working with you will be pleasant or not.

Conclusion

I want to mention that you will reach a cap on the salary level you can achieve with this method, but almost always, you will end up in a better situation.

If you want to keep your current job but increase your salary, I write about asking for a raise in the next post.