The MM Network

[Senor_Taylor]

How much is okay to ask for in a raise after your first year?

I'm paid fairly well for my age, but I wouldn't say it's anything crazy for the role/responsibilities I have. My performance review, and subsequent raise will be coming in a month or so and I'm eager to see how much I can improve my situation. I'm not trying to be greedy, and I know I'm young, but I'm hungry and I've been doing my best to make a name for myself and climb the ladder.

Last week, I was awarded a quarterly performance award during our technology company wide for my ownership of an emerging product line we have and how much responsibility I've taken and impact I've made. My manager wrote a very nice and flattering statement about why I was given this and it was signed off by the CTO and the VP of my department, so it's clear they think I'm doing better than any expectations (and they've said this to my face). I'm already training new people, meeting with PMs to discuss the direction to take the product, and I've picked up tasks that no other people at my level have.

The only problem is, my department/role is small and niche (40 people in my department globally in a company of almost 3000), so I have no basis for what the pay should be for what I do. I'm definitely going to wait and see what they offer, but is something like 10-15% unheard of for a software engineer after one year or stellar performance? I don't think I "deserve" anything, but I'm out for what I can get and I think I've been doing extremely well.