Episode 158 - The Raise You Want Requires the Reality Check You Avoid

Most engineers ask the wrong question: “Am I being paid market rate?” The better question is harder: “Am I a market rate engineer?” In this episode, Steve and Jake break down the uncomfortable truth behind pay, performance, perception, feedback, and career growth. Not theory, practical, tactical advice for engineers who want to stop blaming the system and start building the value, visibility, and trust that create better opportunities.

Key Topics Covered
• Why “market rate” is not the goal if you want to be more than average
• The difference between being underpaid and being unclear on your value
• Why performance and perception both affect your career growth
• How emotional labels like “brown nosing” can blind you to useful behaviors
• Why high performers still get passed over when leadership perception is weak
• How to think like the person approving your raise or promotion
• Why feedback usually starts small and only gets deeper after you prove you can handle it
• How inverse thinking helps you identify the behaviors keeping you stuck
• Why refusing reality does not change reality, it only delays your growth
• How blind spots quietly limit pay, promotions, influence, and opportunity

Actionable Steps
• Stop asking only if you are paid market rate and ask if you are delivering market value
• Write down what an average engineer does, then identify how you can exceed that standard
• Use inverse thinking: list what would make you less valuable, then do the opposite
• Look at higher-paid or faster-moving peers without emotion and study their behaviors
• Separate useful career behaviors from the negative labels you attach to them
• Ask for feedback with humility, then act on it even if it is uncomfortable
• Build trust by showing you can receive small feedback before expecting deeper feedback
• Audit both your actual performance and the perception others have of your performance
• Think from your leader’s seat and ask whether you would approve your own raise
• Replace “that’s not fair” with “what action can I take now?”

Who This Episode Is For
• Engineers frustrated with pay, raises, or promotion timing
• Individual contributors who feel overlooked despite working hard
• Early-career engineers trying to understand how value is really judged
• High performers who struggle with visibility, feedback, or perception
• Engineers who want more influence but keep resisting the behaviors that create it

Why It Matters
Your career does not grow just because you feel underpaid. It grows when your value becomes obvious, your behavior builds trust, and your performance is backed by perception. The raise you want may be valid, but it still requires proof. Engineers who avoid the reality check stay stuck. Engineers who face it, adjust, and execute become hard to ignore.

Where to Listen
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
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Or wherever you get your podcasts

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