How and when to ask for a raise after being promoted out of being an Intern

Question

Hello Workplace Stack exchange,

So let me begin with a couple of details first then go onto the details of the question specifically:

I started working as an intern in the middle of last year, and worked half-time while going to college. I was brought on along with three other interns at the time, and later asked what they were being paid.

While we were each interviewed we were at one point asked what we wanted to be paid, foolishly I asked for 10$ per hour. I later discovered the other interns asked and were paid 12$ per hour, 14$ per hour, and 15$ per hour. Where we all have the near same experience. ( Network Security club involvement during high school)

Being a technical internship ( Programming and Network Security ) I felt I was being underpaid at 10 $ per hour, but figured the experience was worth it. As time progressed each of the other interns quit, or were fired for various reasons, but I stayed on.

Then come the very beginning of this year I was offered a "Salary increase" from 10$ per hour to 12$ per hour. I graciously accepted and made no attempt at negotiation.

Over the course of this last summer I worked full-time for the company and near the end of the summer was told I was no longer an intern, but with no formal context. It was just the CEO and CFO telling me they no longer considered me to be one, with my experience and involvement with the projects we have been working on.

I've made enormous strides in the company from building tool sets that every member uses, to leading development efforts for a number of our products. I've put upon myself purchasing and reading numerous network security and programming books, which has been reflected in my recent work.

It is crystal clear to everyone in my office that I am not an intern, and I am the go-to guy for getting complicated problems solved efficiently or for learning any piece of information for whatever platforms we are working on.

The amount of work I do is as different as day and night from when I was an intern, where I used to test snippets of code for QA purposes and do basic research on how we could implement one of products for a customer, to now leading development efforts, setting up secure systems for pen-testing, or the actual pen-testing itself.

I've done my research and seen on sites like Indeed, payScale, and glassdoor, where people with similar skill and years of experience (1 year of professional) sets get paid 20-24$ per hour.

So putting this aside, I know that both the CEO and CFO see me as valuable, they just put me in for a secret clearance to work on products for a customer they just brought in. They've also offered to put 5,000$ per year towards my education and part of their "education benefits" program.

With these details at hand, how and when should I ask for a raise?

Or should I wait, and see if they will on their own?

Answer 1

First of all, this is why coworkers do not share salaries. It can lead to you resenting your team, but I disgress....

You need to approach this situation as a cooperative one. You, your coworkers, and your boss are a team. The fact that they pay you less is because you asked for less. Sorry to be so blunt, but that's the truth. I am not a good negotiator, but one thing I do know is that you always ask for a little more than you think you're going to get, so when they come back with a lower value, it is close to what you were thinking. It's not what you know that determines how much you get paid, it's how much you negotiate.

Now to this matter. You need to make a case as to why you deserve a raise. Specifically, give your boss a summary of the skills and responsibilities you have obtained on the job, and why that means you are worth more to the company now than when you were hired. Make sure to include examples of why this is so, meaning previous projects you did.

At the end of the day, they may say no, they may say yes. Your only option may be to find another job. At $12 an hour, they are getting a huge steal by having you work there if you are a programmer.

Answer 2

Be relaxed, approach either the CEO and the CFO when he is not super busy e.g. while he is munching on a burrito, smile and say "I really appreciate what you've done for me and I could use a raise, too :)" Don't be shy, we are all friends here in your workplace :) The worst that happens is that they say no and it's not the end of the world if that happens but if you don't ask, you don't get.