Got curious about my own salary history and found out I left $12k on the table at my first job

I was cleaning out old emails last weekend and stumbled on my offer letter from a marketing gig back in 2018. For fun I looked up what the average pay was for that role at the time on Glassdoor. Turns out they started me at $38k but the median was $50k for the same title. I just accepted their first number without negotiating because I was scared to ask for more. Idk, has anyone else gone back and realized they lowballed themselves hard early on?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_spencer16d ago

That's rough buddy, at least you didn't pay them for the privilege of working there. I'm still trying to forget my own spreadsheet from my first job that makes me cringe every time I open it.

lucas16516d agoTop Commenter

@the_spencer those old spreadsheets are like a time capsule of bad decisions, aren't they? I still have one from a temp job I did back in 2004, and every time I open the file it's like staring at a train wreck. All those merged cells and random colors, no headers that make sense. At least yours reminds you where you started, even if it makes you wince.