Know your worth
A practical guide to navigating compensation and promotion
When it comes to your career, understanding where you stand is the first step to moving forward. Whether you're aiming for a promotion or negotiating a raise, knowledge is your most powerful tool. In this article, we'll break down the key concepts you need to master to advocate for yourself and maximize your impact.
Understanding your company's compensation structure
Not all companies are created equal, especially when it comes to pay. In the tech industry, Gergely Orosz introduced the idea of a trimodal compensation structure: big tech, mid-tier, and startups or legacy companies1. Understanding which category your company fits into helps you set realistic expectations and benchmark your compensation. Start by researching the typical salary ranges for your role across these different company tiers. This can involve reaching out to colleagues, checking resources like Glassdoor, or asking direct questions during interviews. Once you know where your employer sits in this structure, compare your compensation to the market rate for your role and experience. This context is essential for effective negotiation and career planning.
The Compa Ratio
Every company tracks compensation bands for each role, from the lowest to the highest paid. Your compensation ratio, often called the "compa ratio", tells you how your pay compares to others in your position2. Companies have an incentive to keep the gap between the lowest and highest paid within a band from growing too wide, as large disparities can lead to dissatisfaction and turnover. If possible, find out your compa ratio; in some places, such as the Netherlands, transparency around this metric may soon become a legal requirement. Knowing your compa ratio gives you a clearer sense of your negotiation power and future earning potential, and helps you set realistic goals for raises and promotions.
Input → Output → Outcome → Impact
When it comes to career growth, it's not just about what you do, it's mostly about the impact you make. Kent Beck's Input → Output → Outcome → Impact model3 is a useful framework for connecting your daily work to broader business goals.
Here's how this model breaks down in practice:
Input is the work you put in; such as the code you write, the designs you create, or the research you conduct.
Output is what gets produced as a result; like the features your team ships or the documentation you deliver.
Outcome is what changes for your users; customers start using the new features, or colleagues rely on your documentation.
Impact is the broader effect on the business; such as increased revenue, improved customer satisfaction, or growth in your user base.
Reflect on how your work moves through these stages. Are you focusing only on inputs and outputs, or are you also tracking outcomes and impact? The more you can connect your daily work to real business results, the easier it is to demonstrate your value and advocate for your growth. Using this framework helps you prioritize your efforts and clearly communicate the difference you make.
The power of Bragdocs
Keeping a record of your accomplishments isn't just for performance reviews, it's a habit that builds self-awareness and confidence. A Bragdoc, as described in more detail in a separate article, is a living document where you track your achievements, both big and small.
Prepare your Bragdoc template so that it prompts you to record the impact of your work, not just the tasks you completed. Regularly reviewing your contributions and assessing their impact can help you measure and visualize your progress. If you notice that your work isn't having the desired impact, it may be time to reconsider where you're investing your time and energy.
Beyond your accomplishments, I also recommend tracking the people you collaborate with during each project or initiative. This serves two purposes: it helps you remember who to request feedback from (which strengthens your evidence base), and it documents your growing professional network which is a valuable asset in itself.
When it's time for performance reviews or compensation discussions, your bragdoc becomes a powerful resource. I often transform mine directly into promotion cases or raise requests, where all the documented metrics, feedback, and achievements serve as concrete evidence of my value. This approach turns what could be a subjective conversation into one grounded in measurable contributions.
Visual storytelling
When it comes to advocating for yourself, data is your friend. But purely presenting an Excel sheet of numbers won't get you far. To make your case compelling, focus on visual storytelling that transforms raw data into a clear, impactful narrative.
From spreadsheets to stories
Imagine presenting your manager with this:
Now compare that to this:
The difference is dramatic. The first requires your manager to work hard to understand your value. The second does the work for them, guiding their eye to exactly what matters.
Making your data speak
To create effective visual stories:
Choose the right visualization for your message. Line charts show trends over time, bar charts compare quantities, and pie charts display proportions.
Highlight what matters with color, annotations, or callouts that direct attention to your key accomplishments.
Connect to business metrics whenever possible. Show how your work influenced customer satisfaction scores, reduced costs, or drove revenue.
Keep it simple by focusing on one clear message per visual. Multiple complex charts can overwhelm your audience.
Provide context with brief explanations that help interpret the visual without requiring detailed study.
When preparing for compensation discussions, create a small portfolio of 2-3 visuals that tell a coherent story about your growth and impact. These might include your contribution trends, feedback patterns from peers, or direct business outcomes from your projects. This approach transforms abstract accomplishments into tangible evidence that's hard to dismiss.
Conclusion
By understanding your company's compensation structure, knowing your compensation ratio, focusing on impactful work, and tracking your achievements, you'll be well-equipped to negotiate for what you deserve. The more informed you are, the more confidently you can advocate for yourself and the more likely you are to achieve your career goals.
