Saturday, November 19, 2005

A Bit of Personal Good News

Forgive me for this piece of vanity.
This week, my boss calls me in to let me know I've received a promotion and a raise. In company lingo, I am now a level 5!!! Eventhough my salary is still a ways behind most of my peers, I feel much better knowing that management made an effort to rectify my situation. (Others have attributed "my situation" to my gender or the fact that I have never jumped from job to job.) Whatever the cause, it was a little frustrating knowing I was performing the same job as a "5" but for 20% less than he (most of all them are "hes" in my line of work) is making.

And for those that thought I should be glad to "suffer" because I am a single Christian woman and afterall, "you're a single woman -you don't need as much as a married man supporting a family"(Believe me I've heard that, but if the company practiced that openly, it would have serious legal consequences -that sort of practice is against the law.), here's a thought- my male Christian co-workers aren't paid less than their peers. As for my suffering in silence as a Christian, I have mostly been silent, complaining once a year to my boss when he hands my "better than average percentage raise" which I know dollar-wise is still less than what the guy with the larger base salary got with his average percent boost. The gap between us worker bees just got bigger.

The EETimes has published their annual salary survey if you're curious, BUT I would warn those paid by non-profit organizations not to look. Although I have never met an engineer in the profession for the money (you're better off going to B school if that's what motivates you), EE salary is a direct reflection of how valued you are by your company. We are often seen as expensive pieces of equipment to be moved around as needed - the company tells those in our management as much. To be of lesser value is a very bad thing -why not replace you with a "newer" model if you need to be cheap?

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