In the software development industry, things can change fast. Usually, it’s just projects and deadlines that change, but sometimes it’s personnel changes as well. A recent wave of personnel changes has recently triggered a lot of upheaval in my department at work. Two of our main back-end developers quit, two new people started and the whole team got shuffled around to different work areas.
The abrupt departure of two of our most knowledgeable team members has left management a little rattled. While other team members are picking up the slack, we’re definitely left with a deficit of experience and knowledge. Luckily for me, it actually makes my job more secure because I have a lot of the same skills as the guys who have left.
And that means… it’s time to exercise a little bit of ambition. 🙂 There’s often talk about how women are afraid to advance themselves or negotiate or ask for raises – I am not one of those women. I can’t expect to retire early by being meek!
I have several friends working at another large software development company in Vancouver and they have been asking me for months to join their team. Hiring at this company has been picking up in recent months as they expand. The pool of good developers in Vancouver is thin and from the jobs I’ve looked at, I would have an excellent shot at many of the posted positions. Plus I’m a great interviewee. 😉
The base salary at their company is about 7k more than what I currently make and it’s likely that I would also get stock options and a signing bonus worth a nice chunk of change.
Now, I have no real desire to leave my current job yet. I have been there for a year and I think having another year or two there would benefit my experience level. Plus, I haven’t been able to cash in on all of my signing bonus yet! But, I always believe that if you have a chance to better yourself or your situation, you should take that chance!
I’m planning on speaking with my manager at our next meeting and mentioning that I was looking for a new job and was considering taking up my friends on their offer. I am very certain that management will at least attempt to keep me.
My goal is to negotiate a salary increase of at least 7k or get a combination of promotion and salary increase. In the worst case, they’ll refuse and I can seriously investigate getting a new job and getting a raise anyways. In the best case, I’ll get a bit more money and still get to stay at my current job a little while longer.
Wish me luck!
