This 26-year-old negotiated his $120,000 salary by finding out how much his coworkers make—here's how. (via CNBCMakeIt)
Nishant Parepalli, 26, is from India and moved to the U.S. in 2017 to earn a master's degree in telecommunications. Two years later, he started his career as an applications engineer in the Bay Area and earned $90,000.
After he added those skills to his LinkedIn profile, a recruiter invited him to apply for a software engineering job with his current employer, a global electronics maker.By the time he interviewed and got the job offer with the electronics maker, Parepalli felt like he was in a good place to negotiate salary. When he got HR's offer of $115,000 a year, the first thing he did was email a few of the people at the company who would be his future colleagues.
Parepalli also knew that his employer at the time was willing to give him a raise in order for him to stay. He wasn't interested in that, since he was leaving in pursuit of more interesting work, but brought that additional leverage to the negotiation table with HR. Parepalli joined the company in November 2020 at a base salary of $120,000 a year. He also got $10,000 to relocate from the Bay Area to San Diego, and he's eligible for a 10% performance bonus every year.Parepalli is a firm believer in discussing pay with peers to understand his value in the job market. He also sees it as a way to understand what he could earn at the next stage of his career, which motivates him to continuously improve his skills and level up.