Yup take the promotion and run. I've been in similar situations myself and was forced to change to catch up pay wise. Your best shot at negotiating a pay increase is with a new company. Your current employer won't give you a big raise.
I completely empathize with Fan....as I'm in the "same boat". Part of the problem is the IT job market has become highly political, especially because of cheap foreign labor pools. It's not WHAT you know, or how good you are, it's WHO YOU KNOW. Case in point: I contracted at one of the largest healthcare insurers in the world, came in at low rate because of excessive agency fees, was finally given an offer after 6 months by my new MercedesBenz-coupe-driving boss. The offer was way under $100k. After taxes and other expenses, the offer left me with $30 / day to live on. I declined...and moved onto the next contract at another company. How did my boss get "in" ? He was recruited by his former boss. They both came from a large bank who laid off massively after the financial crisis. But They had it made in their new "home" ! BTW: When I left, my boss never showed up for my final luncheon party send-off. I was truly a "nobody" there despite having done good work to save their a**es from a previously shoddy-built system. Welcome to the sh*t world of IT contracting in this H1B visa era.
Now, now volpunter. I understand you are likely currently cranky due to your monthly menstruation cycle, but let's try to keep it polite and civil on my thread please. thanks fan27
All the more reason to create your own product/service/etc. and sell it. Whether $50 or $200 per hour, being a wage slave is not going to build considerable wealth. Of course, coming from a fellow wage slave...for now.
Oh yes it is....for the agencies and body brokers. At my current gig, my agency is getting $4k per month just from me. Takes them 15 minutes to write me a check every month. Even if you included a prorated effort of 10 hours per week in acquiring a new contract, still that's an awesome rate of pay, wouldn't you say ? Now multiply that by 20 contractors : $100 x 20=$2000 per hour. Have you heard of any agencies going out of business ? I have not.
Well, you need to differentiate IT work. There is a difference between Excel cell manipulatiin/toying a bit with SQL vs putting on Rome serious heavy lifting. If your skill set is aligned with IT H1B visa holders then that is where you must compete. But the world still very much works what skills you have not just who you know.
What else can one say to advise you? First you moan and seem to be serious then you tell everyone you need your music to be happy thats why you cannot consider other locations and mumble shit about Scientology. Are you serious about your job and IT career or not for heaven's sake? Others travel thousands of miles from India to compete with you. Are you too dumb to see that? If music or other ridiculous reasons are more important to you then this is your lack of focus and eagerness and you should be paid well under 100k