Salary Story: I Was Laid Off During COVID-19 & Now Make $134k In UX

Age: 26
Location: Austin, Texas
Current industry and job title: Senior UX researcher, Tech

Current salary: $134,000/year, plus stock and annual bonus
Number of years employed since school or university: 4
Starting salary: $33/hour

Biggest salary jump: My biggest jump was in 2020 when I went from a contract position making $33/hour to another contract making $51/hour. I am now FTE, and each year I have had at least a 10% raise due to promotions or switching jobs.

Biggest salary drop: I have not experienced a salary drop.

Biggest negotiation regret: I wish I had negotiated more. Not necessarily for more in salary, but for more perks like sign-on bonuses or better titles. I’ve only worked for huge companies, so it has always felt intimidating going up against what feels like rigid systems.

Best salary advice: Share your salary with your coworkers — at least those you feel comfortable with sharing. Recently, many of my coworkers and I on my previous team either took severance or another internal position, so we all shared our current salaries with each other. We were shocked at the disparity even though many of us had the same title and level. We were able to get a much clearer picture about what to ask for in our subsequent roles.