Well I certainly can’t complain about my raise this year!

I suppose I complain enough about other things, but I certainly can not be unhappy with my new compensation package. I may or may not have mentioned that my review this year went very well and that I was promoted. These things came together along with the firm’s long term staffing goals around SAP to create a banner year for me. Compared to last year, this year is even more amazing. I’m not entirely sure of how the company decides what level of pay people get. In fact much of the decision making seems to be a little bit mystical as it really comes down to all the partners sitting around a table deciding how much they want to budget for different things, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to figure out what is going on.

Last year I was a bit under whelmed to be sure. Most people who had started with me had a certain level of expectations based on stories from people about their compensation from previous years. In all reality my raise last year was more than adequate. It was more than twice inflation so it was a gain in real wages. However the firm had continuously communicated to everyone that we were so far above plan and how 2006 was a banner year. In fact it was the second banner year in a row. Everyone expected these windfalls to trickle down even to the lowest levels. Well they didn’t. However in retrospect if I had gone into a straight industry job the percentage we were given as a raise was still much, much better. We just had higher expectations based on all the good news we heard.

Well that was not the case. In fact I think because of last everyone has lowered expectations. So I was very skeptical when people started sharing rumors with me that the pool of moneys for people going to consultant from 2nd year analyst was much, much more than last year. Funny really because last year there were no rumors, just assumptions, this year there were somewhat reliable leaks. However these leaks didn’t really get people thinking more positively. I was curious though, so I was able to schedule my compensation call the first day they were allowed. So when I sat down with the partner, he looked where I fell on his excel sheet, and he told me the number I was actually a little shocked. It was way beyond what I thought was even the most outlandish best case. I mean they didn’t double my pay, but it was more than $10 a paycheck too. In fact even if I had gotten the raise I expected last year and the same percentage this year I wouldn’t have ended up at the same place. So I am really pleased. Though as usual with me the money is already spent (the raise covers the cost of airfare every few months to Moscow). Hopefully this doesn’t raise my expectations too high for next year!