Higher Salaries for Women in Tech
How to increase your value and your income
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I’m writing this blog post in response to a Twitter discussion where women were frustrated that they are not paid equitably compared to their male colleagues. I’ll share some tips that helped me increase my salary over the years. I can’t say that I was always paid as much as the men on my team in all cases, but I did substantially increase my income as explained below. I know in at least one case I was paid more.
I have a motto. It may or may not work for everyone, but it works for me.
If you are dealing with something you don’t like you have three options: change it, accept it, or leave it.
Change it
When you’re dealing with something you don’t like, your first option is to try to change it. You’ll need to figure out the most effective way to make that change. Simply complaining generally doesn’t get you on people’s good side or win them over to your point of view. You need to present a compelling argument for why the change is needed. Often some psychology is involved, not just pure logic. I know this. However, often I don’t have as much patience for this one as I probably should. For longer-term systemic changes, you may need to understand how government legislation works if you want new laws or explore legal alternatives if existing laws can help your cause.
Accept it
If I can’t change it but don’t want to leave it then it’s time to stop complaining and accept it. Complaining doesn’t get you anywhere and it’s a waste of energy. In some cases, it will make people want to avoid you. I had a friend that worked in the military and he wanted to get ahead. He was frustrated that all these people were getting promoted and he wasn’t. Eventually, he figured out that the difference between them and him is that they were being more positive. He made it to Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force.
If you want to be in corporate America you will have to learn to play the game. One of the best and unfortunate pieces of advice I can give you if you are in a less than desirable situation you have decided to accept: Make your boss look good. Full disclosure: I’m not always good at this because I often want to affect change and solve problems quickly — and you can’t always do that in a large organization without bucking the system. If you are like me you might want to work in a startup or smaller organization where you can work faster and have more influence over the outcome of your work.
Leave it
If you can’t change it or accept it, then leave it. Don’t take this option too lightly and throw away something good. But if you really can’t do either of the above and you aren’t breaking any commitments then you might just want to get yourself into a new situation. Too many times I’ve clung to an existing scenario thinking there’s nothing better out there but as soon as I let go I feel this complete sense of relief and something better comes along. One of the best ways to get a big salary jump is to move to a new company. Some of my salary increases when I moved companies: 33%, 75%, 125%.
Note that in between salaries I ran my own company, which was not necessarily for the money but for independence — the same word used by Troy Hunt in his interview on Tanya Janca’s podcast about cybersecurity careers.
If you decide to leave your current situation do the following before you make a move:
- Try to leave on good terms without burning bridges. You’ll need references. Make sure you are delivering value at your current place of employment.
- Don’t leave an existing job before you have a new one.
- Research salaries on sites like GlassDoor.com and Indeed.com. Generally, smaller companies pay less than bigger companies but not always. In-demand skills and experience get more than a job title alone. Understand how much you are worth.
- Make sure you have relevant skills. Sometimes you have to work on these skills on your own time to prepare for your next move. I taught myself to program by reading books. I started a meetup to learn more about AWS.
- Understand the job requirements are sometimes a wishlist. If you feel you have relevant skills, don’t be afraid to apply if you are missing one or two of the items on the list.
- Keep in touch with recruiters. I know some of them can be annoying at times, but if you have a handful of good recruiters in your contact list and up to date skills you can probably find a new job very quickly.
- Begin promoting yourself in advance of changing jobs by posting projects on GitHub, public speaking, or writing a technical blog if you can. Develop a body of work over time that shows you can provide value to the organization if you want a higher salary. Not everyone will want to do this but if you can it could lead to more income.
- Learn to negotiate. Negotiation skills will help you get much higher salaries — the ones that are fair and that you deserve for the corresponding value. One of the books that I read on the topic you might want to check out is called Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.
- Don’t be afraid to negotiate. Some women of color told me that they would not be able to do this. I cannot possibly claim to share their experiences, but I did some research and found these articles which may help. Other women are doing it — so I presume you can too. You are worth it. I believe the right company out there will see that and benefit from it. If they don’t, move on.
If enough women leave an organization due to inequitable pay, things will change. The organization will suffer from losing great talent and others will benefit. If you are an organization reading this, review your salaries to determine if your pay is currently equitable for all genders before highly qualified women start leaving for that reason.
I hope these tips will help someone out there get a better salary. Good luck!
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Teri Radichel | © 2nd Sight Lab 2021
About Teri Radichel:
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⭐️ Author: Cybersecurity Books
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