money

My biggest regret before leaving my developer job to start theSeniorDev was being constantly underpaid.

I’ve been underselling myself for my whole developer career.

Don’t get me wrong, I got pay raises and did pretty well for myself. But not even close to what I could have done.

While there were many reasons behind this (such as poor timing, lack of confidence in my skills, and impostor syndrome, one of the most important was....

My beliefs about money! My "money mindset"!

Wherever it was time to negotiate, bad feelings would hold me back.

I felt greedy.

I felt like I didn’t deserve it.

And I felt like the company already made me a reasonable offer.

So instead of negotiating with them, I negotiated with myself. I would tell myself to take the job even if it doesn’t pay well... "The team is nice, and you will learn a lot. You can negotiate next time."

What a bunch of BS.

Instead, that next time would never happen, and I would repeat the same vicious cycle.

Now that I help developers negotiate daily, I realize many suffer the same challenges as I did regarding money.

This is not their fault but the result of a complex process. Fixing it will help you get paid what you are worth and ensure your talent, effort, and dedication as a developer pay off.

First, you must realize how your limiting belief about money has been formed.

We grew up in a scarcity mindset.

For the first half of your life, money was something scarce.

When you were a kid, you had to ask your parents for. And they never gave you enough. Then when you were a student, you had to survive with very little. So most of us carry this mindset with us in our adult life.

Leaving aside biases that come from our culture, aka “Money doesn’t bring happiness.” or worse, “Money is the root of all evil.”

Well, money doesn’t bring happiness, but it certainly enables it! And money can be the root of good as well as evil.

With more money usually comes more responsibility.

Also, money allows you to invest in yourself and your tools and get a well-deserved break from time to time. Money is a great tool, and you should always keep an eye on it during your developer career.

On top of that, at some point, you will retire from this coding thing and live around 30 to 40 years more. You need money for that.

So now that you know money is good for you, understand there is also plenty of it going around. Developers are a bit away from the financial data of the companies we work for, but take a look at their revenue and turnover.

Most companies have piles of cash around!

And trust me, they are willing to pay for good talent.

Yet they won’t give it away unless you seem to deserve it. That's why the first part of that is asking for it. Good developers ask for more. The second part is making sure you deliver. But that’s another topic.

For now, I want you to use a simple rule when negotiating your salary.

Always ask for 10% more than what you thought you should ask for. Give them a range, but one that is on top of what you think you deserve.

There are a few more details regarding the negotiation, but this is already a long email.

Remember that the negotiation starts the moment you apply for the job. Everything that happens from there, including how your CV is structured, will influence the kind of offer you get!

No amount of negotiation tricks will outweigh a good interview performance and a solid CV! It is the second thing we look at with our mentees when they join (right after the technical gaps).

Okay, this is it for today.

I wish you a happy Monday, and keep an eye on your inbox because this week, we have truly exciting news for you, particularly if you are looking to join the Software Mastery Mentorship soon.

Take care, Dragos

P.S. Regardless of what you want to do with that money, you should always get paid what you are worth. If you want to spend it on flashy cars, a gaming computer, holidays, or the latest iPhone is up to you. You can even donate it to the causes you care most about!