Career regrets: Taking a $38,000 salary
Reposted from LinkedIn
My first big girl salary was $38,000 CAD at a tech accelerator in Vancouver in 2014.
I was a big scaredy cat back then and didn’t even try negotiating, so I accepted it and moved on.
I tried negotiating the year after (anyone try Ramit Sethi;s briefcase technique?) and miserably failed.
“We don’t have money in the budget,” said our COO.
And I naively accepted that.
Especially since we were a non-profit. Plus I looked up to our COO, who was a well respected female powerhouse.
Suuurely, she would be looking out for me!
I mean, we did just get a $10.4 million grant from the government… but I was too inexperienced to understand what that was being used for. 😜
Buahaha, no shade. I actually LOOOOVED working there - my fave bosses and colleagues came from that place and it helped catapult me into my 10+ year adventure working as a Product Designer for diff tech companies 🥰💖 (cause I got to meet so many innovative tech startups!).
But me now? I know my worth and am all for negotiating to the range that works best for me. ❤️
(Pssst, and guess what? I’m helping others do the same as well! 🥹)
If you ever need someone to chat with about salaries, freelance rates, contract rates… I’m all ears! Been through the fire so happy to share my stories! 😘🔥
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Photo: Have zero photos from that place so literally had to google my name with the company name to see what would appear and this came up from 2013 when I was an intern there!!
If anyone from BC Tech has any other blast from the past photos from 2013 to 2016, feel free to send them to me 😂