Before I try to answer the "should", I can tell you that you certainly "could". I have lived and worked in DC/NoVA area and there is definitely possibility to get more. But coming back to the point about "should", you need to ask yourself the following questions and assess your situation:
1. How critical is your position/situation at the current company ? Is it possible to have a frank discussion about salary with your manager and see where it goes ?
2. Have you tried looking outside just to get an idea of how much someone is willing to pay you ? With 2 years of experience, 75K is not a bad number necessarily but again I know a few 2 years experienced Java devs making more than that.
Bottomline is that it comes down to whatever you can negotiate. Pay attention to the word negotiate again. Thats what it really is all about. If you don't try hard, your employer will obviously not do charity even if they love you. So go out there, talk to current employer and look outside at the same time. You will know where you stand.
Thanks for your time an input. To answer your question, yes I believe my position is critical. I don't have any backups as of right now that are familiar with what I do, but that is not to say there aren't other employees that could potentially pick up when I leave but I believe the projects can be at huge risk if leave suddenly. I don't know if the managers are open to negotiation but I think it doesn't hurt to ask. To answer your second question, I haven't looked at other employers, but I have a lot of friends that work in the area and they say people in their company with similar responsibilities make a lot more than I do. But I will take your advise and try to negotiate and if that doesn't work out try looking into other places.
Comments
Before I try to answer the "should", I can tell you that you certainly "could". I have lived and worked in DC/NoVA area and there is definitely possibility to get more. But coming back to the point about "should", you need to ask yourself the following questions and assess your situation:
1. How critical is your position/situation at the current company ? Is it possible to have a frank discussion about salary with your manager and see where it goes ?
2. Have you tried looking outside just to get an idea of how much someone is willing to pay you ? With 2 years of experience, 75K is not a bad number necessarily but again I know a few 2 years experienced Java devs making more than that.
Bottomline is that it comes down to whatever you can negotiate. Pay attention to the word negotiate again. Thats what it really is all about. If you don't try hard, your employer will obviously not do charity even if they love you. So go out there, talk to current employer and look outside at the same time. You will know where you stand.
Thanks for your time an input. To answer your question, yes I believe my position is critical. I don't have any backups as of right now that are familiar with what I do, but that is not to say there aren't other employees that could potentially pick up when I leave but I believe the projects can be at huge risk if leave suddenly. I don't know if the managers are open to negotiation but I think it doesn't hurt to ask. To answer your second question, I haven't looked at other employers, but I have a lot of friends that work in the area and they say people in their company with similar responsibilities make a lot more than I do. But I will take your advise and try to negotiate and if that doesn't work out try looking into other places.