When i was directly managing developers (now I manage dev managers), I always loved it when someone would talk about their expectations and targets.
As a manager, there are usually many areas or topics that could be going in a better direction. and someone who is more engaged because they want to earn a higher salary in exchange for taking responsibility in some area of the team is a huge asset.
If someone wants to earn a higher salary in exchange for taking more direct accountability for our outcomes (which can be in an IC or lead capacity), there's usually plenty of opportunity in the typical team, if the manager can structure it right with the various stakeholders and budget authorities.
Just wanted to say, don't hesitate to start the conversation with your manager. I know some probably don't handle it well but some do.
What I'd recommend is, a conversation based on the question "what would I need to be bringing to this team to hit salary level X". if the manager doesn't come up with an answer to that, well you probably should be looking elsewhere. but it might be the shortest path to what you want especially if you like your current environment.
I agree with you, but that’s only part of the story.
There are two ways to make more money in software development. Either take on more responsibility and be a force multiplier or gain skills/experience where the demand outstrips the supply.
During the first part of your career. Gaining experience to make more money without taking more responsibility is pretty easy. After that, you really do have to take on more responsibility or go into consultancy.
you're right. also, there's a type of responsibility i'm hinting at here that's less formal, more like: "this person can handle tasks of complexity X and is willing to do what it takes to create a quality solution", that is the nuts and bolts to my mind of a successful and high functioning team.
That’s what happened to me. I left a job as the dev lead at a medium size company with a small development department to work at a small software company where so specifically negotiated not to be a team lead. I told my now manager that I could be a lot more effective working across teams as needed as an IC and just demonstrating and mentoring the team leads who I felt were much more qualified than I was to be a team lead. They knew the software stack and they were all much stronger on the front end than so was. They all needed help with infrastructure and process.
I make more now and have more influence using relationship and expert power than I ever did with the role power I had before - the three levers of power in an organization.
