26-Year-Old Engineer Revealed The Secret To Negotiate A Salary Of $5,000 Higher Than The Original

Making use of information power, 26-year-old engineer Nishant Parepalli successfully negotiated a salary higher than the original $5,000.
Nishant Parepalli

Source: CNBC

Born and raised in India, Nishant Parepalli, 26, studied for a master's degree in telecommunications in the US. In 2019, he started working as an application engineer in the Bay Area, earning $90,000/year. In the past, he was satisfied with some of the benefits from working in Silicon Valley, including free lunches, company shares and large bonuses.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nishant Parepalli can no longer enjoy these privileges. Therefore, he gradually felt bored with his work and started looking for a new direction. He took up coding in his spare time, with the intention of becoming a software engineer. After finishing school, the 26-year-old applied for software engineer at a global electronics manufacturer.
It is known that the Indian-born turned down a job with an annual salary of $115,000. He used the information from this job to find new jobs and negotiate. Finally, he is working somewhere else with a salary of $120,000 per year with several other benefits. So how did Nishant do it?

Consult future colleagues about salary

Source: Getty Images

Initially, Nishant received a job offer with a suggested yearly salary of $115,000 along with a number of benefits. Although the salary was higher than what he had received, Nishant did not immediately accept; instead, he emailed some people in the company.
He recalls: "They weren't from the HR department; rather, they were in the department I applied. When interviewing me, they told me to contact them should I have any questions. Therefore, when I was offered a salary of $115,000/year, I came up with the idea to ask them for the average salary that I could negotiate and even questioned their current salary."
Although the company was always willing to increase the salary of employees with good performance, Parepalli decided to apply for a different job. With the salary and information he has exploited, Parepalli successfully negotiated an annual salary of $120,000 USD at his new company, not to mention better benefits. He was also given an additional $10,000 by the company to move from the Bay Area to San Diego.

Financial transparency

Source: Getty Images

Parepalli said he was always transparent and clearly discussed with his colleagues about salary and bonuses to know his worth. He also considered this a good way to continuously improve his skills and better himself to get a pay raise or even promotion.
The 26-year-old said: "I often discuss about compensation and personal finances with colleagues at the coffee shop or during my lunch break. I also frequently ask older colleagues for advice on how to manage money. Some of my colleagues who already owned a house enthusiastically showed me what to pay special attention during the transaction. In general, I found the company really transparent about salary and my colleagues were also very open about money issues. For me, that's a good thing."
Basically, the engineer's salary is higher than the average level in the market and his experience. Currently, he has enough to cover his living expenses and basic needs with a salary of $120,000 year, but the Indian-born hasn’t felt enough. He thinks that he can yet save or invest more, so he must try harder to get a raise when accumulating more experience.
H/T: CNBC