I'm A Technical Account Manager & I Made More By Going Hourly

In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions, and job loss, with the hope it will give young women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

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Age: 32
Current Location: San Francisco, CA
Current Industry & Title: Online Advertising, Technical Account Manager
Starting Salary: $24,000
Current Salary: $100,000 + $15,000 potential bonus
Number Of Years Employed: 9
Biggest Salary Jump: From $55,000 to $67,000 in 2014
Biggest Salary Drop: No true drop, but a change in pay structure in 2018, when I went from $130,000 (working an hourly rate + overtime and bonuses) to a $100,000 salary with potential of up to $15,000 in bonuses.

Biggest Salary Negotiation Regret: "My biggest negotiation regret was in my early 20s, when I was transitioning out of law and into advertising. I was getting paid nothing at the law firm I spent over a yeah and a half at. I worked for really aggressive and demeaning lawyers who would tell me that I was lucky I was employed by them every time I brought up salary. Looking back, I would have brought up the salary discussion in a different way, but as a 23-24-year-old, I did not know how to confidently and appropriately request a salary increase. Working for those types of lawyers/employers made me feel like I wasn't worth a higher salary."

Best Salary-Related Advice: "The best salary-related advice would be to 'know your worth. It's very cheesy but very sound advice I got from my parents. Going in for an interview seems very one-sided from the perspective of the interviewee, but we often forget that we need to look at the interview process as a way of assessing if the employer is a good fit for us as well. Employers will more times than not initially offer a salary below their threshold, and that is where we can lose confidence in negotiation. Do your research on similar positions in the industry, understand your potential value to the employer, and always ask for more than you're comfortable asking. Setting the bar higher will increase the possibility that you'll get an initial offer closer to what you really want."