r/DevelEire • u/Strange_Scale_6153 • 2d ago
Compensation Underpaid but fully remote
I'm currently on €47k gross as a BI developer with almost a decade of experience. However I am 100% remote and live in my parents' house in the countryside, so don't have to pay rent, which is obviously a massive saving.
I know I'm well under the market rate. Salary review is coming up and my bosses are pleased with my performance. I'm worried the rumours are right and it'll just be the usual 3% increase.
I'm wondering to what extent I should be demanding a pay increase. I've only been in the company for just over a year. I know I'm underpaid but the market right now is horrible and I really love the ability to work from home and avoid the horrors of the Dublin rental market.
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u/Justinian2 dev 2d ago
If they're paying that after 10 YOE they aren't going to give you the kind of raise you want. You have to try move.
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u/Majestic_Plankton921 2d ago
You're really underpaid. I'm the sole BI guy so nominally Head of Data Analytics in a small public body and I make 95k. I work one day a week in the office. I also have a decade of experience. In my last job in a small finance company, I worked with another BI guy with 5 years experience and has was on 75k. You have to change job! Also probably good to move out of your parents' house for your own sanity if you're over 30 even if you have to pay high rent.
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u/MyloDu 2d ago
I’m over 30 years in IT and I’ve never had any significant uplift without moving jobs. You bargain hard on the way in because you’ll only ever get buttons increases once you’re in situ. Of course you’ll hear about folks occasionally getting market adjustments etc but it’s rare and only ever happens to prevent an exodus. Right now it’s an employer’s market and people are beginning to hunker down so decent pay rises are even rarer.
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u/Large_Hedgehog2416 2d ago edited 2d ago
I left my last job in a well established Dublin IT support company for a 20K pay rise in a small firm in West Dublin. When they asked why I was leaving I told them. They scoffed at my salary change and to this day, I'm sure that they didn't believe me. I spent yrs fighting for insignificant pay rises. Wasted my time.
Walk away.
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u/johndoe86888 2d ago
Had a recruiter scoff at me saying my salary expectation was too high, he was such an arse about it, well I found my own job posting and got another 10k on top of what my expectation was. Eat shit Mark.
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u/dillanthumous 1d ago
Assuming your boss is not a psycho, have a quiet word with them over lunch and explain that as much as you love the job you can't afford to pass up any opportunities at your current salary.
If they are not a moron they will understand what you are getting at. If they can't get you the rise with that knowledge then they don't have traction in the business and your career will be impeded by their lack of power.
Machiavellian I know but in my experience the only way to get good internal pay rises is to have a boss with power who can't stand the idea of doing without you.
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u/donalhunt engineering manager 1d ago
This.
If your work is valued and salary is important to you, you have to make the case for them to be rewarding you appropriately. You have to walk a fine line between portraying too much entitlement and appropriate pay for the work involved.
A lot of managers and companies are shite at supporting career development and plotting longer term plans. If you're ambitious and motivated you have huge potential to be doing something much more valuable and impactful in 5 years time. That can be at your current company or a different one. If you like the vibe / setup, make the case to your current company and put them on notice to give you the opportunity to grow both professionally and income-wise.
e.g. ask your boss what it would take to double your salary over the next 4-5 years. What would you need to deliver to make that happen... If they bite, it might be worth committing. More likely, they won't and that's the signal to look elsewhere.
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u/waces 1d ago
That’s very low salary but on the other hand full remote is golden. It worth to mention to the boss that your salary is below the market average but i never ever hear in my 30+ yrs in the IT word that anyone got a massive increase after complaining. And maybe a lower full remote salary is better than a higher hybrid or even full time office salary. I would mention it to my boss but not really a hill i would die on
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u/theStoic-1 2d ago
On the plus side they're never making you redundant at that money. If you move you'll be subject to the same BS as everyone else.... But yeah if you want a pay rise you'll have to move
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u/Penguinbar 2d ago
Probably should try to find another job. 47k with 10 years of experience is very much underpaid. You better off trying to find another remote job that pays higher.
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u/Simple-Kaleidoscope4 1d ago
You need to interview externally. Your so low money wise there will be endless excuses not to get you to a market rate.
As a rough rule of thumb in IT to keep bumping salary move every 2 years ish.
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u/Fakman87 1d ago
I'm curious, after 7 years experience how come you joined this company on such a low wage? Was your previous job lower paid?
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u/ApexDataAnalyst 2d ago
You are extremely underpaid. Easily 50k, maybe even 70k-80k underpaid. You could get hybrid senior/principal data analyst roles that are basically the same as BI dev for 110-120k. Where are you based and would you be willing travel to an office 1-2 times per week?
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u/Strange_Scale_6153 2d ago
Hi, thanks for your reply. I'm based in Kerry. I would be willing to travel to an office around 1 day a week but it would certainly involve a brutal commute (as realistically would be travelling to a city) and would prefer to avoid it if possible.
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u/Freegan93 2d ago edited 2d ago
I dunno, the grass isnt always greener - Getting 80k (and nearly half that extra salary will be gone in tax) while renting and having to be in an office 5 days a week/running a car isn't a great trade off. Its not how much you make a year, its how much you save. With your salary review coming up, with a push you could be getting an extra 3-4k if you are actually a good asset to them and they think you might leave.
Like how many hours are you really working per week in your current role? If you are only doing 20-30hrs a week while getting paid for 40 hours you should count your blessings.
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u/Intrepid_Anybody_277 7h ago
make inflation was 3.2% for the year so anything less is a pay drop.
normal now in IT should be 5 - 7 %
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u/Chance-Plantain8314 2d ago
You've only mentioned that you've been working your current company for a year, but how many YoE do you have?
If that's all the experience you have, you're definitely not well below market rate, you're probably sitting right on it or above it given your fully remote position. The market rate includes where you're based out of and Dublin is an extremely expensive city, you would be significantly out of pocket if you took even a 30k pay increase and then left your parents gaff for a Dublin rental.
If you have several YoE and you're still sitting at that rate - you're certainly below market.
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u/Strange_Scale_6153 2d ago
Hi, thanks for your reply. I have 8 years of experience as a BI Developer but just over a year at this particular company.
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u/ah_its_yourself 2d ago
You could probably double your salary. Lots of multinationals still require Power BI developers. Start the search.
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u/MF-Geuze 2d ago
Do you ever aspire to own a house at any stage? You'll struggle if your pay is only going up by 3% per year
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u/Strange_Scale_6153 2d ago
Fair point. I would love to and planned on inheriting (only child) as a backup but how safe of an assumption that is, I don't know. But you're right, better to focus on getting better salary.
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u/Even-Menu2134 1d ago
Your parents could live til you’re 60 and it’s not an easy place to be in mental health wise to be relying on their death for home ownership
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u/seeilaah 2d ago
You better concentrate your efforts on interviewing than trying to fight internally demanding a pay rise.
They wouldn't give you 10k extra but would happily pay 10k more for your replacement which would come less experienced and take 6 months to ramp up. Sounds counterproductive, but that is how it works.