Salary Story: I Went From $175,000 To $245,000 With Just One Job Change

Age: 35
Location: New York
Current industry and job title: Ad tech, senior product manager

Current salary: $245,000/year
Number of years employed since school or university: 12
Starting salary: $15 to $17/hour

Biggest salary jump: $175,000 to $245,000. It was a job switch. I got a LinkedIn message from someone who said she was looking for more women in tech in leadership, and that sparked my interest.

Biggest salary drop: $65,000 to $22/hour. I lost a job and had to have one immediately, so I took a pay cut.

Biggest negotiation regret: For a recent job, I was offered $130,000 and I went for $190,000. In the end, we agreed to $165,000. I wish I had negotiated like this — going high — in my initial jobs, because it’s harder to move once you start, and it took me years to build up from there.

Best salary advice: No one is going to ask for a raise for you. Ask every six months — the worst thing to hear is no, but you’ll have it in their minds that you want to move up. I had a boss who told me that once, and it always stuck with me. Also, if your company does reviews, always use that as a chance to gauge where you’re at, and what they would like to see from you. And read your benefits! The impact of bad benefits can really skew what may seem like a higher-paying role. This is something I think about often.