A Raise Thank Goodness!

I got a raise!

I was bummed out last summer. First, I was hit by my dentist with a proposal for $18k in dental work. Then, my audiologist told me I needed new hearing aids at $8k. In addition, I had several prospective clients that fell through, so I was temporarily "on the bench". While I was still being paid, the lady I was dating did not take any of those as an indicator that I was a good provider, and dumped me. She said that all the men in her life had had money problems, and she didn't want that any more.

I found an inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics online. Crank in income and year and adjust that to the current. I found out that my current 2015 salary was almost identical in purchasing power to my starting salary in IT in 1985. No wonder I was having problems paying my bills. I wasn't getting anywhere!

My phone rings off the hook all the time from recruiters, which I ignore, generally. From 2010 through 2014 I was doing contracting work, and I was constantly looking for new contracts, so my resume seems to be everywhere. And there are a number of recruiters that will see that one keyword they are looking for and want to plug you in somewhere. So normally I don;t bother. But in September I decided to talk to one, and I wound up interviewing with another consulting firm. I finished the interviews and then things went on hold as they waited for their client to approve a Hadoop project.

I am very lucky to be in an area of IT that is booming. Big Data in general and Hadoop in particular (along with NoSQL and Enterprise Search) are doing well, and there is a known skills shortage in those areas. It is a major limiting factor in the implementation plans of a number of companies. That's what is keeping my busy in consulting, as regular employees of the company try to ramp up their skills. SO I have seen a good deal of interest.

Finally the consulting firm made me a very generous offer: A 45% base pay increase, a smaller bonus (10% vs. 17.5%), a management title, Solutions Applications Architect Senior Manager vs. Senior Consultant, and a lot less travel.

I was very conflicted. When I joined my current company, I intended it to be my last position. It's a small firm, less than 100. I know the Senior management; the CEO went to Notre Dame (he was a couple of years behind me). I didn't want to leave, and I didn't want to start over.

So I called the CEO and outlined my salary concerns. We had a good talk, and I verified that my company wanted to keep me. They countered with nice incentives, and I was happy to be able to stay. Not quite as good as the new offer, but the company is superior, and the raise will help my financial situation.

It won't get me that lady back, but I no longer want her. It's tough to find out someone cares more about your wallet than you, but better sooner than later. There's 7 billion people in the world and half of them are women. Plenty of fish in the ocean!