Salary Story: I Went From 35k To 75k In 3 Years

Illustrated by Holly Farndell.

In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions and job loss, with the hope it will give young women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

Been in the workforce for at least five years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here. Published stories receive £100.

Age: 28
Location: Manchester
Current industry and job title: Tech lead, healthcare
Current salary: £75,000
Number of years employed since school or university: Five

Starting salary: £23,000
Biggest salary jump: £56,000 to £75,000
Biggest salary drop: N/A

Biggest negotiation regret: Taking the counter offer and not believing in myself.

Best salary advice: Know what people are being paid out there. Discuss salary with your peers – you can help each other be paid right. If you need to, fake confidence to ask for what you’re worth.

Another thing I think it's so important to say: you don't need a degree to get a job as a software engineer.

There are so many code courses you can complete full-time over 12 weeks and most of them offer you a guaranteed job at the end of it. It's hard to grasp at first but believe in yourself and stick at it. It didn't always come naturally to me and there have been many times where I have wondered if I'm cut out for it but I kept going. Don't let the media fool you into thinking software developers are hyperintelligent nerds.