Am I underpaid?

mad_machine wrote: Yes.. but can't be done. One of the benefits to the Union Call system.. we -all- make the same rate

Ah. Yes, you are being paid too much.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Can you train a monkey to do your job in less than a month? If so, whatever you make above minimum wage is too much. Can your job be outsourced to India? You are being paid too much. Does somebody with some of your skills want your job, and would he be happy to make less than you earn? You are being paid too much.

No.

Maybe.......if you think someone in another country with english as a 2nd language can accurately explain technical concepts without working with engineers or having the product in their hands.

I'm sure there is someone with my title and maybe skills, but I've seen the work others in my profession release. So I'm not terribly worried about it.

mad_machine wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: Does somebody with some of your skills want your job, and would he be happy to make less than you earn? You are being paid too much.

Yes.. but can't be done. One of the benefits to the Union Call system.. we -all- make the same rate

I used to think the same thing until I worked for Stanley for a couple of years. The union guys up north were making $16-$18 per hour. When they found out a non union guy, from the south, that did his own negotiating, was making $22 they were pissed...at the union.

You are worth whatever you can get them to pay you.

Toyman01 wrote: You are worth whatever you can get them to pay you.

Truer words were never spoken. They apply to everyone from the janitor to the CEO. You are your own company. Don't settle.

According to salary.com I am underpaid in my region about $30k a year...

I checked salary.com for giggles, I'm not sure I trust it's assessment of my local salaries.

I've never seen any jobs close to the median of what it's saying a Technical writer with 6-8 years of experience is making.

There are few billionaires listed on that site, so I can't really say where I stack up. I'll have to wait for the next Forbes list to come out.

I'm underpaid but I love my job and it covers more than the bills so I'm happy.

Your colleague doesn't make $20K more than you.

Your colleague was fired. He makes nothing.

Be thankful.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

mad_machine wrote: Yes.. but can't be done. One of the benefits to the Union Call system.. we -all- make the same rate

Ah. Yes, you are being paid too much.

For someone who puts his life on the line everyday he goes to work.. I think I am underpaid compared to some of my fellow Stage Hands. Many of them are glorified Box pushers and it is all they are good at. I am one of the very crazy guys who climbs up onto the truss (and into the ceiling of the venue) to focus the lights.

I can also do it all as far as being a stage electrician goes, something that cannot be said for most of them.

4 years ago the casinos rammed home a 25% pay cut on the union. (new union president who was unprepared for dealing with high priced lawyers) and now one of the casinos is trying to make us work for half that (one of the non-union houses) so far.. they are having a -very- hard time filling those calls.

I know I'm making somewhere between 50% and 25% what this job would pay in a first-world country, and the local guys seem to be making more as well...a lot more, in some cases. These are the guys who come to me with questions.

But there are few of these jobs needed locally and this one is one of the most interesting, just enough to keep me from going insane with boredom.

Years ago, I called up my boss (I worked in Ontario, he was in Michigan) and told him I was quitting. I had found a job that paid 65% more. He counter-offered about 35%. For bunch of reasons I stayed. Money is nice, but it's not everything.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#49-0000

According to BLS my industrial maintenance job wages are right on the money.

I'm almost $5/ hr. behind in journeyman and operator wages tho. These would require a much longer commute but I'm still looking.

fasted58 wrote: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#49-0000 According to BLS my industrial maintenance job wages are right on the money. I'm almost $5/ hr. behind in journeyman and operator wages tho. These would require a much longer commute but I'm still looking.

Wow, thanks for that link. The wages I see there seem to be much more in line with reality.

With 6 years of experience, in a pretty cheap part of the country to live, I'm still a few dollars an hour below the mean wage. But that seems more realistic than salary.com saying my experience and my area should = $81k per year.

A though occurred to me, people often wonder if they are underpaid. But do billionaires ever wonder if they are overpaid? Does it keep them up at night?

fasted58 wrote: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#49-0000

Going by that, I some casinos pay the exact average. The Borgata pays me -way- too much money.. but the yearly average is the same (I rarely work 40 hours.. usually around 30ish)

DeadSkunk wrote: Years ago, I called up my boss (I worked in Ontario, he was in Michigan) and told him I was quitting. I had found a job that paid 65% more. He counter-offered about 35%. For bunch of reasons I stayed. Money is nice, but it's not everything.

Bingo!

exactly. I am much happier not chasing the almighty dollar.

I know some stagehands that do. It is not unusual for some of them to work 100+ hours a week and be away from home for days at a time as they damn near work around the clock (I do it once in a while)

At what point do you sit back and wonder why?

One of the guys who does it has 4 kids.. he wants them to go to a good college and -not- do what daddy does for a living.. but when he does get home, all he does is crash and sleep. I would hate to be there when he wakes up one day and find it is just him and his wife and he realized he missed seeing his kids grow up.

Another is single, has always been single, will probably always be single. Drives crappy old cars, lives in a crappy old house, but pulls in over a hundred grand a year. We often wonder how much he is really worth.

"I am not domestic, I am a luxury and, in that sense, necessary. " That pretty much describes my job. Whenever a company goes south the writing/marketing group usually takes the cut first. I'm great to have on staff and I can make a huge difference in sales/customer satisfaction but when the bean counters take over they usually list my job title as a "nice to have".

I told my wife when we got married that we will never be rich. We will have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and be warm at night. We will have nice things, go on vacations, and enjoy life. But I will not work myself into an early grave and miss my kids growing up just to have money.

My dad worked seven days a week building his business. When my older brother was little he screamed when my dad went to pick him up because he didn't know who dad was. That story stuck with me. Dad says he tried to be better for me and it shows in our relationship. I swore to myself I'd never turn into my dad and so far I've been pretty good about it. it has probably cost me at my current job because I don't put in the long hours that some people (for some reason) seem to think equates to being productive. I decline most requests to work outside normal weekdays.

We live in a small house that we rent, have zero debt, and a decent amount in retirement savings. It works for us.

mad_machine wrote: For someone who puts his life on the line everyday he goes to work.. I think I am underpaid compared to some of my fellow Stage Hands. Many of them are glorified Box pushers and it is all they are good at. I am one of the very crazy guys who climbs up onto the truss (and into the ceiling of the venue) to focus the lights.

I've been a stage hand. Wish I still was. You sound a lot like me- I used to do a lot of the same things, with the same drive.

But, with all due respect...

"Putting your life on the line every day", or being "one of the very crazy guys" does NOT necessarily make you a better employee, nor worth more.

You may only be more of a liability.

From a business perspective, that does not really add value to your efforts. You and I both know that a lot of those risks are unnecessary- there are other ways to do it.

Consider this... if you demonstrate to someone a way to "git-r-done" which is risky, and they later try it and hurt themselves, you may have just cost whatever company they are working for several million dollars in claims. That doesn't make you worth more.

it's not the git-r-done attitude. It is the fact I am only one a handful of people in the city willing to do the climbing. I do it fully harnessed up and I practice my safety (I have several certificates from climbing schools) but it it is a dangerous profession. The more work you do, the more dangerous it becomes.

Over the years, I can count off a list of things that have fallen on me (and most of them -just- missed) that would have killed or badly hurt me that would make most people's hair curl. This includes a hammer dropped from 90 feet (why wasn't it safetied on?) and a traveler track that came down in the middle of a show and shredded my shirt and gouged my shoulder as it went by.

Good.

I applaud your safety efforts, and the fact that utilizing them probably means that you are not "crazy", or "putting your life on the line every day".

i worked 9 years at a place where everyone knew what everyone else was making... the pay chart was posted right in the break room, and it showed very clearly how much you made on each shift for your pay grade and years of service. it was a great way to know where you stood with everyone else. it was also funny that we were a non union workplace that made almost a third more per hour with much better benefits than our union competitor 8 miles away... we took a lot of workers from that place and heard stories about how the union reps would make up tall tales about how crappy the work conditions were at my place..

so it was a bit of a culture shock when i quit that job and got a job at a place where you could get fired (yes- fired) for telling other employees how much you were making. not asking people what they make- voluntarily telling them... one guy got written up, got a pay decrease, and almost got fired because he left his pay stub laying at his work area when he went home. he never asked anyone else what they were making and never bragged or complained about his wage- he just accidentally left his pay stub laying on a table when he left work on friday morning.

anyways, i've come to the conclusion that if you think you are underpaid then you need to figure out what others in your area are getting paid for the same work and what you think your time/effort/skills are worth to you. this is good info to know even if you are satisfied with the money you are making, because you might be leaving a good chunk of money in the hands of your employer that should be in your hands if you don't keep up on what wages in your area are doing.

Back from the dead. I moved within the company. They bumped me 14%. I no longer think that I am underpaid. The new paycheck starts the second week of July.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Everyone is underpaid. :-) The cynical take on it is, employers will pay you just enough so you don't leave. And employees will work just hard enough so they don't get fired. The reality is though often the new hire salaries go up a lot faster than the current employees' raises. That's pretty common in engineering especially. Which is why job jumping, in moderation, can be beneficial to the bottom line.

Except me. I'm probably overpaid. I'm sitting in bed ac on, next to a phone. If it rings in the next 10 hours I have to wake up, answer it, and maybe call 911. Then go back to bed. I've used 4gb of cell data on Netflix in the last week at work. I don't get paid E36 M3... But I quite literally get paid to sleep.