Giving a talk in my old university, how prominently should I tell students my salary?












61















I have offered to do a talk at my old university’s 'employabilty fare' ten years after graduation, where am I now. With some advice on traps to avoid, how to make the transition from university to work life etc., with some anecdotes along the way type thing. Within the realms of software engineering.



The person who asked me to do the talk thinks I should put my current salary on the first slide to grab their attention in a 'this is what you could aim for' type way. But I feel it's a bit crass. I don't mind sharing my salary with the students if they ask, but I think it's a bit odd to stick it on the first slide.



Does anyone have any thoughts on this that could help me make this decision?










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  • 6





    I took the liberty to remove your second question as it is very survey-like and would be two questions per question. You could ask a second question about what general content you can feature in such a talk though.

    – Wrzlprmft
    yesterday






  • 34





    which country is this ? Different cultures handle salary discussions very differently.

    – everyone
    yesterday






  • 3





    I was fortunate enough to rope in some recent graduates at my company to listen to my talk over lunch. They liked it and they felt they would have not appreciated the "this is my salary" approach, They did however comment that my honesty about the profession was what they found refreshing which is perhaps the point of doing something like being transparent about salary p.s. its the UK :)

    – chrispepper1989
    yesterday






  • 1





    This is not an answer, just a personal response: Is this slide misleading, can give false expectations, manipulate someone into thinking something that could turn out false, etc.? Then don't post it.

    – Mikey
    yesterday






  • 5





    Despite the fact that the topic is how you fared gaining employment, you probably mean an "employment fair."

    – Azor Ahai
    yesterday
















61















I have offered to do a talk at my old university’s 'employabilty fare' ten years after graduation, where am I now. With some advice on traps to avoid, how to make the transition from university to work life etc., with some anecdotes along the way type thing. Within the realms of software engineering.



The person who asked me to do the talk thinks I should put my current salary on the first slide to grab their attention in a 'this is what you could aim for' type way. But I feel it's a bit crass. I don't mind sharing my salary with the students if they ask, but I think it's a bit odd to stick it on the first slide.



Does anyone have any thoughts on this that could help me make this decision?










share|improve this question









New contributor




chrispepper1989 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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  • 6





    I took the liberty to remove your second question as it is very survey-like and would be two questions per question. You could ask a second question about what general content you can feature in such a talk though.

    – Wrzlprmft
    yesterday






  • 34





    which country is this ? Different cultures handle salary discussions very differently.

    – everyone
    yesterday






  • 3





    I was fortunate enough to rope in some recent graduates at my company to listen to my talk over lunch. They liked it and they felt they would have not appreciated the "this is my salary" approach, They did however comment that my honesty about the profession was what they found refreshing which is perhaps the point of doing something like being transparent about salary p.s. its the UK :)

    – chrispepper1989
    yesterday






  • 1





    This is not an answer, just a personal response: Is this slide misleading, can give false expectations, manipulate someone into thinking something that could turn out false, etc.? Then don't post it.

    – Mikey
    yesterday






  • 5





    Despite the fact that the topic is how you fared gaining employment, you probably mean an "employment fair."

    – Azor Ahai
    yesterday














61












61








61


4






I have offered to do a talk at my old university’s 'employabilty fare' ten years after graduation, where am I now. With some advice on traps to avoid, how to make the transition from university to work life etc., with some anecdotes along the way type thing. Within the realms of software engineering.



The person who asked me to do the talk thinks I should put my current salary on the first slide to grab their attention in a 'this is what you could aim for' type way. But I feel it's a bit crass. I don't mind sharing my salary with the students if they ask, but I think it's a bit odd to stick it on the first slide.



Does anyone have any thoughts on this that could help me make this decision?










share|improve this question









New contributor




chrispepper1989 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












I have offered to do a talk at my old university’s 'employabilty fare' ten years after graduation, where am I now. With some advice on traps to avoid, how to make the transition from university to work life etc., with some anecdotes along the way type thing. Within the realms of software engineering.



The person who asked me to do the talk thinks I should put my current salary on the first slide to grab their attention in a 'this is what you could aim for' type way. But I feel it's a bit crass. I don't mind sharing my salary with the students if they ask, but I think it's a bit odd to stick it on the first slide.



Does anyone have any thoughts on this that could help me make this decision?







presentation students united-kingdom salary






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edited yesterday









Chris Cirefice

9361818




9361818






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asked yesterday









chrispepper1989chrispepper1989

408125




408125




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  • 6





    I took the liberty to remove your second question as it is very survey-like and would be two questions per question. You could ask a second question about what general content you can feature in such a talk though.

    – Wrzlprmft
    yesterday






  • 34





    which country is this ? Different cultures handle salary discussions very differently.

    – everyone
    yesterday






  • 3





    I was fortunate enough to rope in some recent graduates at my company to listen to my talk over lunch. They liked it and they felt they would have not appreciated the "this is my salary" approach, They did however comment that my honesty about the profession was what they found refreshing which is perhaps the point of doing something like being transparent about salary p.s. its the UK :)

    – chrispepper1989
    yesterday






  • 1





    This is not an answer, just a personal response: Is this slide misleading, can give false expectations, manipulate someone into thinking something that could turn out false, etc.? Then don't post it.

    – Mikey
    yesterday






  • 5





    Despite the fact that the topic is how you fared gaining employment, you probably mean an "employment fair."

    – Azor Ahai
    yesterday














  • 6





    I took the liberty to remove your second question as it is very survey-like and would be two questions per question. You could ask a second question about what general content you can feature in such a talk though.

    – Wrzlprmft
    yesterday






  • 34





    which country is this ? Different cultures handle salary discussions very differently.

    – everyone
    yesterday






  • 3





    I was fortunate enough to rope in some recent graduates at my company to listen to my talk over lunch. They liked it and they felt they would have not appreciated the "this is my salary" approach, They did however comment that my honesty about the profession was what they found refreshing which is perhaps the point of doing something like being transparent about salary p.s. its the UK :)

    – chrispepper1989
    yesterday






  • 1





    This is not an answer, just a personal response: Is this slide misleading, can give false expectations, manipulate someone into thinking something that could turn out false, etc.? Then don't post it.

    – Mikey
    yesterday






  • 5





    Despite the fact that the topic is how you fared gaining employment, you probably mean an "employment fair."

    – Azor Ahai
    yesterday








6




6





I took the liberty to remove your second question as it is very survey-like and would be two questions per question. You could ask a second question about what general content you can feature in such a talk though.

– Wrzlprmft
yesterday





I took the liberty to remove your second question as it is very survey-like and would be two questions per question. You could ask a second question about what general content you can feature in such a talk though.

– Wrzlprmft
yesterday




34




34





which country is this ? Different cultures handle salary discussions very differently.

– everyone
yesterday





which country is this ? Different cultures handle salary discussions very differently.

– everyone
yesterday




3




3





I was fortunate enough to rope in some recent graduates at my company to listen to my talk over lunch. They liked it and they felt they would have not appreciated the "this is my salary" approach, They did however comment that my honesty about the profession was what they found refreshing which is perhaps the point of doing something like being transparent about salary p.s. its the UK :)

– chrispepper1989
yesterday





I was fortunate enough to rope in some recent graduates at my company to listen to my talk over lunch. They liked it and they felt they would have not appreciated the "this is my salary" approach, They did however comment that my honesty about the profession was what they found refreshing which is perhaps the point of doing something like being transparent about salary p.s. its the UK :)

– chrispepper1989
yesterday




1




1





This is not an answer, just a personal response: Is this slide misleading, can give false expectations, manipulate someone into thinking something that could turn out false, etc.? Then don't post it.

– Mikey
yesterday





This is not an answer, just a personal response: Is this slide misleading, can give false expectations, manipulate someone into thinking something that could turn out false, etc.? Then don't post it.

– Mikey
yesterday




5




5





Despite the fact that the topic is how you fared gaining employment, you probably mean an "employment fair."

– Azor Ahai
yesterday





Despite the fact that the topic is how you fared gaining employment, you probably mean an "employment fair."

– Azor Ahai
yesterday










8 Answers
8






active

oldest

votes


















96














I agree with you. I feel the request to put your salary on a slide (on the first slide, no less!) is rather unexpected, and quite frankly does not speak highly about the professionalism of your contact. I would decline this, for multiple reasons:




  • Your salary is nobody's business. Not sure what more there is to say about this.

  • Students are, for the largest part, intelligent adults. Many would take this exactly for what it's meant to be - rather crude marketing and hype generation. This would detract from the message you actually want to transport, and would undermine your following talk.

  • Focusing so much on how much you make is arguably not the best way to motivate young people for a specific career path anyway. If you talk about why you love your job (if you do) will encourage more people than a six-digits salary number. More importantly, it will probably encourage the people who will actually be happy doing your job, not the ones who would end up wealthy and miserable.


You can of course provide a salary range as proposed by other answers, but I would not emphasize this point much (and base it on third-party data, such as Glassdoor, not just your own experience).






share|improve this answer





















  • 21





    Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

    – chrispepper1989
    yesterday






  • 14





    About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

    – Allure
    yesterday






  • 5





    @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

    – Servaes
    yesterday






  • 53





    Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

    – NDEthos
    yesterday








  • 3





    @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

    – xLeitix
    yesterday





















24














I would think you can share the salary "Range", but I, like you, would not put it on the first slide.



ie after 3 years experience you could expect xxx to yyy as a zzzzzz.



This answers a second question that the OP had in the original post, now edited:



Sometimes students like to hear about a "real" problem and "how" it was solved - that process is usually interesting and can give them a "focus" of why they have to study xxxx.






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  • I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

    – chrispepper1989
    yesterday






  • 1





    The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

    – Bob Brown
    yesterday











  • @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

    – Solar Mike
    yesterday






  • 2





    @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

    – Bob Brown
    yesterday






  • 1





    @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

    – Bob Brown
    yesterday



















15














As a statistician, I consider that an unrepresentative sample of one is unlikely to convey any useful information at all. You would mislead your audience if you presented them with such stuff.



Those of us with experience of the world know that amazingly high salaries are sometimes available to amazingly under-qualified people. So there is no point in presenting that stuff either.



What I wish someone had told me when I was aged about 20 is what kind of life goes with particular professions. So, in your case: what is it like to be a software engineer? Can you spend your whole career doing that? or, do you need to be on the lookout for something better/ less stressful / more stressful but better paid etc? Where do you hope to be in 10 years time? What is the career path? Is there a career path? If I do moderately well as a software engineer, what sort of place will I be living in?



Your actual salary is irrelevant.






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    6














    Some universities (such as the one where I work) publish their pay scales. There's a level of abstraction between scale points and job titles but with a quick check of the salary bands in job adverts you could use the staff they're familiar with as a point of reference: "After a couple of years in industry I'm earning about as much as a lecturer". The audience can consider that useful information in itself, or they can go to the pay scales to see what range that works out to. In practice numbers on a salary don't necessarily mean all that much to undergrads anyway with taxes etc. to take into account, so a point of reference may be better anyway.



    I use this approach myself as a postdoc with an industry job in the past.






    share|improve this answer



















    • 4





      The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

      – ivanivan
      yesterday











    • The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

      – David Richerby
      18 hours ago











    • @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

      – Chris H
      18 hours ago



















    4














    As far as I can see, none of the other answers mentions the UK aspect.



    In the UK, you just don't go around asking people what their salary is. In this social context, if they're literally asking you to tell this class what you earn, that request is unreasonable. However, it would seem useful to include a typical salary for a position similar to yours. (Even if you don't think it's useful, the students don't have your experience and have a bunch of debt to pay off, so will most likely care a lot about this.)



    That's a win-win: it avoids you having to reveal information that is considered very private in the UK, and it's actually more representative for the students. There are all kinds of reasons that your individual salary could be unusually high or low.






    share|improve this answer































      2














      At most I would publish a range from glassdoor or some other online career place. I personally wouldn't put it on the first slide either.



      Depending on where you live, you might end up selling the salary short or giving them a nearly impossible target. In most regions of the US (not sure if this applies in the UK), salaries are adjusted for cost of living. I make only half as much as one of the kids I went to school with: I live in a moderate cost of living area (rural New Hampshire), and he lives in New York City. When I moved to my current locale, I got a 20% "raise" that ended up being only a minor raise in my take home because my bills and whatnot are higher.



      If you are trying to sell the profession, I might compare it with another field, something like "software engineers make xx% more than mechanical engineers" with a reference.






      share|improve this answer








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      • Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

        – Sean Houlihane
        13 hours ago



















      0














      Your salary is nobody's business and I don't see any reason to discuss it. I don't know what your field is, but in any case you should be able to generate interest to the profession using technical accomplishments and advancements. If not, don't go there to talk; apparently you have nothing to say ...






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        -1














        I would not recommend you share your salary.



        Instead, why do not try the approach of sharing the milestones you have achieved since graduation? Do not hide the struggles so you can empathize with your audience but also highlight why you do not regret studying at your University.



        I am pretty sure you did not learn everything at the school, but some elements were key for you to be the person you are today.






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        • 1





          Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

          – cag51
          yesterday













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        8 Answers
        8






        active

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        8 Answers
        8






        active

        oldest

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        active

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        active

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        96














        I agree with you. I feel the request to put your salary on a slide (on the first slide, no less!) is rather unexpected, and quite frankly does not speak highly about the professionalism of your contact. I would decline this, for multiple reasons:




        • Your salary is nobody's business. Not sure what more there is to say about this.

        • Students are, for the largest part, intelligent adults. Many would take this exactly for what it's meant to be - rather crude marketing and hype generation. This would detract from the message you actually want to transport, and would undermine your following talk.

        • Focusing so much on how much you make is arguably not the best way to motivate young people for a specific career path anyway. If you talk about why you love your job (if you do) will encourage more people than a six-digits salary number. More importantly, it will probably encourage the people who will actually be happy doing your job, not the ones who would end up wealthy and miserable.


        You can of course provide a salary range as proposed by other answers, but I would not emphasize this point much (and base it on third-party data, such as Glassdoor, not just your own experience).






        share|improve this answer





















        • 21





          Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 14





          About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

          – Allure
          yesterday






        • 5





          @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

          – Servaes
          yesterday






        • 53





          Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

          – NDEthos
          yesterday








        • 3





          @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

          – xLeitix
          yesterday


















        96














        I agree with you. I feel the request to put your salary on a slide (on the first slide, no less!) is rather unexpected, and quite frankly does not speak highly about the professionalism of your contact. I would decline this, for multiple reasons:




        • Your salary is nobody's business. Not sure what more there is to say about this.

        • Students are, for the largest part, intelligent adults. Many would take this exactly for what it's meant to be - rather crude marketing and hype generation. This would detract from the message you actually want to transport, and would undermine your following talk.

        • Focusing so much on how much you make is arguably not the best way to motivate young people for a specific career path anyway. If you talk about why you love your job (if you do) will encourage more people than a six-digits salary number. More importantly, it will probably encourage the people who will actually be happy doing your job, not the ones who would end up wealthy and miserable.


        You can of course provide a salary range as proposed by other answers, but I would not emphasize this point much (and base it on third-party data, such as Glassdoor, not just your own experience).






        share|improve this answer





















        • 21





          Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 14





          About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

          – Allure
          yesterday






        • 5





          @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

          – Servaes
          yesterday






        • 53





          Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

          – NDEthos
          yesterday








        • 3





          @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

          – xLeitix
          yesterday
















        96












        96








        96







        I agree with you. I feel the request to put your salary on a slide (on the first slide, no less!) is rather unexpected, and quite frankly does not speak highly about the professionalism of your contact. I would decline this, for multiple reasons:




        • Your salary is nobody's business. Not sure what more there is to say about this.

        • Students are, for the largest part, intelligent adults. Many would take this exactly for what it's meant to be - rather crude marketing and hype generation. This would detract from the message you actually want to transport, and would undermine your following talk.

        • Focusing so much on how much you make is arguably not the best way to motivate young people for a specific career path anyway. If you talk about why you love your job (if you do) will encourage more people than a six-digits salary number. More importantly, it will probably encourage the people who will actually be happy doing your job, not the ones who would end up wealthy and miserable.


        You can of course provide a salary range as proposed by other answers, but I would not emphasize this point much (and base it on third-party data, such as Glassdoor, not just your own experience).






        share|improve this answer















        I agree with you. I feel the request to put your salary on a slide (on the first slide, no less!) is rather unexpected, and quite frankly does not speak highly about the professionalism of your contact. I would decline this, for multiple reasons:




        • Your salary is nobody's business. Not sure what more there is to say about this.

        • Students are, for the largest part, intelligent adults. Many would take this exactly for what it's meant to be - rather crude marketing and hype generation. This would detract from the message you actually want to transport, and would undermine your following talk.

        • Focusing so much on how much you make is arguably not the best way to motivate young people for a specific career path anyway. If you talk about why you love your job (if you do) will encourage more people than a six-digits salary number. More importantly, it will probably encourage the people who will actually be happy doing your job, not the ones who would end up wealthy and miserable.


        You can of course provide a salary range as proposed by other answers, but I would not emphasize this point much (and base it on third-party data, such as Glassdoor, not just your own experience).







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited yesterday









        CodyBugstein

        1053




        1053










        answered yesterday









        xLeitixxLeitix

        102k36245385




        102k36245385








        • 21





          Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 14





          About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

          – Allure
          yesterday






        • 5





          @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

          – Servaes
          yesterday






        • 53





          Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

          – NDEthos
          yesterday








        • 3





          @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

          – xLeitix
          yesterday
















        • 21





          Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 14





          About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

          – Allure
          yesterday






        • 5





          @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

          – Servaes
          yesterday






        • 53





          Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

          – NDEthos
          yesterday








        • 3





          @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

          – xLeitix
          yesterday










        21




        21





        Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

        – chrispepper1989
        yesterday





        Funnily enough I completely forgot I already had a side with a glass door table on it that has salary averages, the reason I'd forgotten it was because I included it for the job satisfaction column!

        – chrispepper1989
        yesterday




        14




        14





        About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

        – Allure
        yesterday





        About the third bullet point, I beg to differ. Salary is objective. It's a number that everyone can measure + easily judge how valuable that number is to themselves. On the other hand personal enjoyment is harder to measure + varies from person to person. Maybe I love being a postman, but that doesn't mean you will, and you won't know until you try my job. Aiming for a particular career path because someone else thoroughly enjoys it is a dangerous place to be.

        – Allure
        yesterday




        5




        5





        @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

        – Servaes
        yesterday





        @Allure Which is why it makes more sense to talk about why you enjoy the job, in stead of plainly stating that you enjoy it. In this way students can better judge whether they might enjoy it themselves. This is also what the third bullet point suggests.

        – Servaes
        yesterday




        53




        53





        Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

        – NDEthos
        yesterday







        Not discussing salary is a trained response that benefits only one side, the business you work for. We should be changing that. It is like believing that money does not buy happiness. Money does buy happiness by giving people piece of mind and the ability to be able to pivot to things they enjoy.

        – NDEthos
        yesterday






        3




        3





        @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

        – xLeitix
        yesterday







        @Allure That's why I said "talk about why you love your job" - if I were to talk about why I love being an academic I would explain what aspects of the job are great (and which aren't), and you would be able to judge for yourself if that sounds appealing to you as well. A typical salary for academics can easily be looked up, the benefit for the audience is rather small. You are right that what I specifically make is an objective number, but it's also completely useless to my audience since they will likely not end up at the same university with the same sort of contract.

        – xLeitix
        yesterday













        24














        I would think you can share the salary "Range", but I, like you, would not put it on the first slide.



        ie after 3 years experience you could expect xxx to yyy as a zzzzzz.



        This answers a second question that the OP had in the original post, now edited:



        Sometimes students like to hear about a "real" problem and "how" it was solved - that process is usually interesting and can give them a "focus" of why they have to study xxxx.






        share|improve this answer


























        • I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 1





          The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday











        • @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

          – Solar Mike
          yesterday






        • 2





          @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday






        • 1





          @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday
















        24














        I would think you can share the salary "Range", but I, like you, would not put it on the first slide.



        ie after 3 years experience you could expect xxx to yyy as a zzzzzz.



        This answers a second question that the OP had in the original post, now edited:



        Sometimes students like to hear about a "real" problem and "how" it was solved - that process is usually interesting and can give them a "focus" of why they have to study xxxx.






        share|improve this answer


























        • I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 1





          The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday











        • @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

          – Solar Mike
          yesterday






        • 2





          @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday






        • 1





          @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday














        24












        24








        24







        I would think you can share the salary "Range", but I, like you, would not put it on the first slide.



        ie after 3 years experience you could expect xxx to yyy as a zzzzzz.



        This answers a second question that the OP had in the original post, now edited:



        Sometimes students like to hear about a "real" problem and "how" it was solved - that process is usually interesting and can give them a "focus" of why they have to study xxxx.






        share|improve this answer















        I would think you can share the salary "Range", but I, like you, would not put it on the first slide.



        ie after 3 years experience you could expect xxx to yyy as a zzzzzz.



        This answers a second question that the OP had in the original post, now edited:



        Sometimes students like to hear about a "real" problem and "how" it was solved - that process is usually interesting and can give them a "focus" of why they have to study xxxx.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited yesterday

























        answered yesterday









        Solar MikeSolar Mike

        13.8k52551




        13.8k52551













        • I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 1





          The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday











        • @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

          – Solar Mike
          yesterday






        • 2





          @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday






        • 1





          @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday



















        • I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

          – chrispepper1989
          yesterday






        • 1





          The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday











        • @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

          – Solar Mike
          yesterday






        • 2





          @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday






        • 1





          @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

          – Bob Brown
          yesterday

















        I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

        – chrispepper1989
        yesterday





        I like your suggestion, I don't really have anything like that yet and I was feeling the presentation was lacking heart! So thanks

        – chrispepper1989
        yesterday




        1




        1





        The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

        – Bob Brown
        yesterday





        The Glass Door chart probably has medians. Median is anyway the right measure for salary as mean can be skewed easily by a couple of outliers.

        – Bob Brown
        yesterday













        @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

        – Solar Mike
        yesterday





        @BobBrown what glassdoor - you've lost me? I tend to find HR always give a salary range for x years of experience, y qualifications etc

        – Solar Mike
        yesterday




        2




        2





        @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

        – Bob Brown
        yesterday





        @SolarMike Glassdoor.com is a job search web site mentioned in a comment to another answer. Among many other things, they publish median salary information for many occupations. The real point of my comment is that median is the right measure when talking about salaries.

        – Bob Brown
        yesterday




        1




        1





        @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

        – Bob Brown
        yesterday





        @SolarMike I'm workin' on it! HR people in large organizations often administer salaries on a "Grade and Step" system. So, an associate professor of computer science might be "Grade 15." A newly-appoint associate prof would start at "Step 1" of grade 15 and advance until "topped out" at the highest step in the grade. However, for comparing salaries across institutions, I want to know the median salary across the whole group and at each institution.

        – Bob Brown
        yesterday











        15














        As a statistician, I consider that an unrepresentative sample of one is unlikely to convey any useful information at all. You would mislead your audience if you presented them with such stuff.



        Those of us with experience of the world know that amazingly high salaries are sometimes available to amazingly under-qualified people. So there is no point in presenting that stuff either.



        What I wish someone had told me when I was aged about 20 is what kind of life goes with particular professions. So, in your case: what is it like to be a software engineer? Can you spend your whole career doing that? or, do you need to be on the lookout for something better/ less stressful / more stressful but better paid etc? Where do you hope to be in 10 years time? What is the career path? Is there a career path? If I do moderately well as a software engineer, what sort of place will I be living in?



        Your actual salary is irrelevant.






        share|improve this answer




























          15














          As a statistician, I consider that an unrepresentative sample of one is unlikely to convey any useful information at all. You would mislead your audience if you presented them with such stuff.



          Those of us with experience of the world know that amazingly high salaries are sometimes available to amazingly under-qualified people. So there is no point in presenting that stuff either.



          What I wish someone had told me when I was aged about 20 is what kind of life goes with particular professions. So, in your case: what is it like to be a software engineer? Can you spend your whole career doing that? or, do you need to be on the lookout for something better/ less stressful / more stressful but better paid etc? Where do you hope to be in 10 years time? What is the career path? Is there a career path? If I do moderately well as a software engineer, what sort of place will I be living in?



          Your actual salary is irrelevant.






          share|improve this answer


























            15












            15








            15







            As a statistician, I consider that an unrepresentative sample of one is unlikely to convey any useful information at all. You would mislead your audience if you presented them with such stuff.



            Those of us with experience of the world know that amazingly high salaries are sometimes available to amazingly under-qualified people. So there is no point in presenting that stuff either.



            What I wish someone had told me when I was aged about 20 is what kind of life goes with particular professions. So, in your case: what is it like to be a software engineer? Can you spend your whole career doing that? or, do you need to be on the lookout for something better/ less stressful / more stressful but better paid etc? Where do you hope to be in 10 years time? What is the career path? Is there a career path? If I do moderately well as a software engineer, what sort of place will I be living in?



            Your actual salary is irrelevant.






            share|improve this answer













            As a statistician, I consider that an unrepresentative sample of one is unlikely to convey any useful information at all. You would mislead your audience if you presented them with such stuff.



            Those of us with experience of the world know that amazingly high salaries are sometimes available to amazingly under-qualified people. So there is no point in presenting that stuff either.



            What I wish someone had told me when I was aged about 20 is what kind of life goes with particular professions. So, in your case: what is it like to be a software engineer? Can you spend your whole career doing that? or, do you need to be on the lookout for something better/ less stressful / more stressful but better paid etc? Where do you hope to be in 10 years time? What is the career path? Is there a career path? If I do moderately well as a software engineer, what sort of place will I be living in?



            Your actual salary is irrelevant.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered yesterday









            JeremyCJeremyC

            1,179310




            1,179310























                6














                Some universities (such as the one where I work) publish their pay scales. There's a level of abstraction between scale points and job titles but with a quick check of the salary bands in job adverts you could use the staff they're familiar with as a point of reference: "After a couple of years in industry I'm earning about as much as a lecturer". The audience can consider that useful information in itself, or they can go to the pay scales to see what range that works out to. In practice numbers on a salary don't necessarily mean all that much to undergrads anyway with taxes etc. to take into account, so a point of reference may be better anyway.



                I use this approach myself as a postdoc with an industry job in the past.






                share|improve this answer



















                • 4





                  The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

                  – ivanivan
                  yesterday











                • The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

                  – David Richerby
                  18 hours ago











                • @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

                  – Chris H
                  18 hours ago
















                6














                Some universities (such as the one where I work) publish their pay scales. There's a level of abstraction between scale points and job titles but with a quick check of the salary bands in job adverts you could use the staff they're familiar with as a point of reference: "After a couple of years in industry I'm earning about as much as a lecturer". The audience can consider that useful information in itself, or they can go to the pay scales to see what range that works out to. In practice numbers on a salary don't necessarily mean all that much to undergrads anyway with taxes etc. to take into account, so a point of reference may be better anyway.



                I use this approach myself as a postdoc with an industry job in the past.






                share|improve this answer



















                • 4





                  The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

                  – ivanivan
                  yesterday











                • The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

                  – David Richerby
                  18 hours ago











                • @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

                  – Chris H
                  18 hours ago














                6












                6








                6







                Some universities (such as the one where I work) publish their pay scales. There's a level of abstraction between scale points and job titles but with a quick check of the salary bands in job adverts you could use the staff they're familiar with as a point of reference: "After a couple of years in industry I'm earning about as much as a lecturer". The audience can consider that useful information in itself, or they can go to the pay scales to see what range that works out to. In practice numbers on a salary don't necessarily mean all that much to undergrads anyway with taxes etc. to take into account, so a point of reference may be better anyway.



                I use this approach myself as a postdoc with an industry job in the past.






                share|improve this answer













                Some universities (such as the one where I work) publish their pay scales. There's a level of abstraction between scale points and job titles but with a quick check of the salary bands in job adverts you could use the staff they're familiar with as a point of reference: "After a couple of years in industry I'm earning about as much as a lecturer". The audience can consider that useful information in itself, or they can go to the pay scales to see what range that works out to. In practice numbers on a salary don't necessarily mean all that much to undergrads anyway with taxes etc. to take into account, so a point of reference may be better anyway.



                I use this approach myself as a postdoc with an industry job in the past.







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered yesterday









                Chris HChris H

                6,6801527




                6,6801527








                • 4





                  The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

                  – ivanivan
                  yesterday











                • The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

                  – David Richerby
                  18 hours ago











                • @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

                  – Chris H
                  18 hours ago














                • 4





                  The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

                  – ivanivan
                  yesterday











                • The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

                  – David Richerby
                  18 hours ago











                • @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

                  – Chris H
                  18 hours ago








                4




                4





                The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

                – ivanivan
                yesterday





                The college I work for is a state school, and so falls under "Sunshine laws" - our name, job title, and current annual salary are available on request.

                – ivanivan
                yesterday













                The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

                – David Richerby
                18 hours ago





                The pay scales are standardized across the UK higher education sector, aren't they? (With a separate scale for London, because everybody knows that's the only place in the UK where the cost of living is higher than average.)

                – David Richerby
                18 hours ago













                @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

                – Chris H
                18 hours ago





                @DavidRicherby to some extent they are. The UK tag is new since I answered so I didn't assume a location. I hear your subtext; I'm only a bit luckier than you in that regard.

                – Chris H
                18 hours ago











                4














                As far as I can see, none of the other answers mentions the UK aspect.



                In the UK, you just don't go around asking people what their salary is. In this social context, if they're literally asking you to tell this class what you earn, that request is unreasonable. However, it would seem useful to include a typical salary for a position similar to yours. (Even if you don't think it's useful, the students don't have your experience and have a bunch of debt to pay off, so will most likely care a lot about this.)



                That's a win-win: it avoids you having to reveal information that is considered very private in the UK, and it's actually more representative for the students. There are all kinds of reasons that your individual salary could be unusually high or low.






                share|improve this answer




























                  4














                  As far as I can see, none of the other answers mentions the UK aspect.



                  In the UK, you just don't go around asking people what their salary is. In this social context, if they're literally asking you to tell this class what you earn, that request is unreasonable. However, it would seem useful to include a typical salary for a position similar to yours. (Even if you don't think it's useful, the students don't have your experience and have a bunch of debt to pay off, so will most likely care a lot about this.)



                  That's a win-win: it avoids you having to reveal information that is considered very private in the UK, and it's actually more representative for the students. There are all kinds of reasons that your individual salary could be unusually high or low.






                  share|improve this answer


























                    4












                    4








                    4







                    As far as I can see, none of the other answers mentions the UK aspect.



                    In the UK, you just don't go around asking people what their salary is. In this social context, if they're literally asking you to tell this class what you earn, that request is unreasonable. However, it would seem useful to include a typical salary for a position similar to yours. (Even if you don't think it's useful, the students don't have your experience and have a bunch of debt to pay off, so will most likely care a lot about this.)



                    That's a win-win: it avoids you having to reveal information that is considered very private in the UK, and it's actually more representative for the students. There are all kinds of reasons that your individual salary could be unusually high or low.






                    share|improve this answer













                    As far as I can see, none of the other answers mentions the UK aspect.



                    In the UK, you just don't go around asking people what their salary is. In this social context, if they're literally asking you to tell this class what you earn, that request is unreasonable. However, it would seem useful to include a typical salary for a position similar to yours. (Even if you don't think it's useful, the students don't have your experience and have a bunch of debt to pay off, so will most likely care a lot about this.)



                    That's a win-win: it avoids you having to reveal information that is considered very private in the UK, and it's actually more representative for the students. There are all kinds of reasons that your individual salary could be unusually high or low.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered 18 hours ago









                    David RicherbyDavid Richerby

                    29.6k661125




                    29.6k661125























                        2














                        At most I would publish a range from glassdoor or some other online career place. I personally wouldn't put it on the first slide either.



                        Depending on where you live, you might end up selling the salary short or giving them a nearly impossible target. In most regions of the US (not sure if this applies in the UK), salaries are adjusted for cost of living. I make only half as much as one of the kids I went to school with: I live in a moderate cost of living area (rural New Hampshire), and he lives in New York City. When I moved to my current locale, I got a 20% "raise" that ended up being only a minor raise in my take home because my bills and whatnot are higher.



                        If you are trying to sell the profession, I might compare it with another field, something like "software engineers make xx% more than mechanical engineers" with a reference.






                        share|improve this answer








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                        • Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

                          – Sean Houlihane
                          13 hours ago
















                        2














                        At most I would publish a range from glassdoor or some other online career place. I personally wouldn't put it on the first slide either.



                        Depending on where you live, you might end up selling the salary short or giving them a nearly impossible target. In most regions of the US (not sure if this applies in the UK), salaries are adjusted for cost of living. I make only half as much as one of the kids I went to school with: I live in a moderate cost of living area (rural New Hampshire), and he lives in New York City. When I moved to my current locale, I got a 20% "raise" that ended up being only a minor raise in my take home because my bills and whatnot are higher.



                        If you are trying to sell the profession, I might compare it with another field, something like "software engineers make xx% more than mechanical engineers" with a reference.






                        share|improve this answer








                        New contributor




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                        • Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

                          – Sean Houlihane
                          13 hours ago














                        2












                        2








                        2







                        At most I would publish a range from glassdoor or some other online career place. I personally wouldn't put it on the first slide either.



                        Depending on where you live, you might end up selling the salary short or giving them a nearly impossible target. In most regions of the US (not sure if this applies in the UK), salaries are adjusted for cost of living. I make only half as much as one of the kids I went to school with: I live in a moderate cost of living area (rural New Hampshire), and he lives in New York City. When I moved to my current locale, I got a 20% "raise" that ended up being only a minor raise in my take home because my bills and whatnot are higher.



                        If you are trying to sell the profession, I might compare it with another field, something like "software engineers make xx% more than mechanical engineers" with a reference.






                        share|improve this answer








                        New contributor




                        Eskimoalva is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                        Check out our Code of Conduct.










                        At most I would publish a range from glassdoor or some other online career place. I personally wouldn't put it on the first slide either.



                        Depending on where you live, you might end up selling the salary short or giving them a nearly impossible target. In most regions of the US (not sure if this applies in the UK), salaries are adjusted for cost of living. I make only half as much as one of the kids I went to school with: I live in a moderate cost of living area (rural New Hampshire), and he lives in New York City. When I moved to my current locale, I got a 20% "raise" that ended up being only a minor raise in my take home because my bills and whatnot are higher.



                        If you are trying to sell the profession, I might compare it with another field, something like "software engineers make xx% more than mechanical engineers" with a reference.







                        share|improve this answer








                        New contributor




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                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer






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                        answered yesterday









                        EskimoalvaEskimoalva

                        211




                        211




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                        New contributor





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                        • Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

                          – Sean Houlihane
                          13 hours ago



















                        • Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

                          – Sean Houlihane
                          13 hours ago

















                        Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

                        – Sean Houlihane
                        13 hours ago





                        Agree that sourced regional averages are much more useful than a single datapoint.

                        – Sean Houlihane
                        13 hours ago











                        0














                        Your salary is nobody's business and I don't see any reason to discuss it. I don't know what your field is, but in any case you should be able to generate interest to the profession using technical accomplishments and advancements. If not, don't go there to talk; apparently you have nothing to say ...






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                          0














                          Your salary is nobody's business and I don't see any reason to discuss it. I don't know what your field is, but in any case you should be able to generate interest to the profession using technical accomplishments and advancements. If not, don't go there to talk; apparently you have nothing to say ...






                          share|improve this answer








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                            0












                            0








                            0







                            Your salary is nobody's business and I don't see any reason to discuss it. I don't know what your field is, but in any case you should be able to generate interest to the profession using technical accomplishments and advancements. If not, don't go there to talk; apparently you have nothing to say ...






                            share|improve this answer








                            New contributor




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                            Your salary is nobody's business and I don't see any reason to discuss it. I don't know what your field is, but in any case you should be able to generate interest to the profession using technical accomplishments and advancements. If not, don't go there to talk; apparently you have nothing to say ...







                            share|improve this answer








                            New contributor




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                            share|improve this answer






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                            answered 5 hours ago









                            PirxPirx

                            1




                            1




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                                -1














                                I would not recommend you share your salary.



                                Instead, why do not try the approach of sharing the milestones you have achieved since graduation? Do not hide the struggles so you can empathize with your audience but also highlight why you do not regret studying at your University.



                                I am pretty sure you did not learn everything at the school, but some elements were key for you to be the person you are today.






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                                • 1





                                  Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

                                  – cag51
                                  yesterday


















                                -1














                                I would not recommend you share your salary.



                                Instead, why do not try the approach of sharing the milestones you have achieved since graduation? Do not hide the struggles so you can empathize with your audience but also highlight why you do not regret studying at your University.



                                I am pretty sure you did not learn everything at the school, but some elements were key for you to be the person you are today.






                                share|improve this answer








                                New contributor




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                                • 1





                                  Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

                                  – cag51
                                  yesterday
















                                -1












                                -1








                                -1







                                I would not recommend you share your salary.



                                Instead, why do not try the approach of sharing the milestones you have achieved since graduation? Do not hide the struggles so you can empathize with your audience but also highlight why you do not regret studying at your University.



                                I am pretty sure you did not learn everything at the school, but some elements were key for you to be the person you are today.






                                share|improve this answer








                                New contributor




                                Will AE is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                Check out our Code of Conduct.










                                I would not recommend you share your salary.



                                Instead, why do not try the approach of sharing the milestones you have achieved since graduation? Do not hide the struggles so you can empathize with your audience but also highlight why you do not regret studying at your University.



                                I am pretty sure you did not learn everything at the school, but some elements were key for you to be the person you are today.







                                share|improve this answer








                                New contributor




                                Will AE is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                                share|improve this answer



                                share|improve this answer






                                New contributor




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                                answered yesterday









                                Will AEWill AE

                                9




                                9




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                                • 1





                                  Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

                                  – cag51
                                  yesterday
















                                • 1





                                  Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

                                  – cag51
                                  yesterday










                                1




                                1





                                Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

                                – cag51
                                yesterday







                                Welcome to Academia.SE. I am not sure that this answers the question -- your first paragraph answers the question, but gives no justification. You then take a left turn into "general advice", which was unsolicited and is difficult to do when OP is a successful professional who knows all the details of this particular talk and we do not.

                                – cag51
                                yesterday












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