Ok, I've got a salary negotiation question, and hopefully no one will mind me tacking it onto this thread.

When I first accepted my current position, I accepted a low-ball offer in part because a) the job was (is) awesome, b) I had no higher education, c) I only had a few years of professional programming experience. I just felt the job was much cooler than any job I could hope to find at that stage of my life, and for the most part, I was right. That was about five years ago. Since then, I have gone back to school and I have almost completed my bachelor's in Physics. I have received incremental raises (cost-of-living, or slightly above) but I do not believe that these raises have been commensurate with my increase in experience and education. I am now well below the salary indicated as "average" by every salary survey I can find (Salary.com, Salary Fairy, GamaSutra, etc.) -- about 25% below.

This is not a game programming job, by the way. I'm a graphics programmer for a company that makes training simulators (which are very similar to your video games in most respects!). I want to keep the company identity confidential, so I'll leave it at that.

So here's the rub: my company is not doing very well, and they are in no position to be handing out raises. Additionally, I am in no position to be searching for another job because I still have 6 months left at school. I talked to our CEO to see if we could maybe come up with a plan to bring me up to speed (say) by the time I graduate next year, and I was rebuffed. I was told that we could revisit the question in a year or so, and if the company is doing better, then maybe.

So after having become "that guy" who brought up salary negotiations in the company's time of need (yeesh), and was turned away, I don't know what to do. My main concern isn't the short-term earnings, it's what it will mean for my salary track in the long-term. What if (heaven forbid) the company folds, and I find myself looking for a new job? I will get low-balled by every company out there on the basis of my previous salary. In addition to that risk, I feel that they're essentially asking me to take a pay cut for the company, which wouldn't even be out of the question if I felt like it would be appreciated, but I don't think they see it that way. Lastly, we are a small company, but our overall costs run in the millions of dollars per year, and so even if the company is not doing well, I hardly think that a $15k salary bump for one employee is going to affect things very much.

What does decency and decorum demand that I do here? Should I just drop the issue until the company is doing better? Or at least until I graduate? Should I be looking for other work, or should I not even bother until I'm done with school?

stuff

They may have given you your first job but you don't owe your employer anything. You need to look out for yourself first. If the place does close you can bet the CEO is going to be worrying more about his paycheck then yours.

If there are any other places in your area that you could work at and still go to school I'd start looking in to those. If there isn't, suck it up for the six months and then make plans to move and start sending out resumes a couple of months before you graduate. With several years of real world experience and a degree it shouldn't be too hard to find a job elsewhere. Your previous salary is only a portion of what goes into the equation a new employer is going to offer you. But there is no reason why you can't negotiate yourself up into your "average" range. If an employer really wants you then $10k over their offer is a drop in the bucket compared to all the other operating expenses.

You also have to figure in cost of living when looking at salaries. If you get a job at Google and make $120k/year but have to pay $4k/month in rent you aren't coming that far out a head then if you get a job in a smaller city and only get $90k/year but have $1.5k/month for a much bigger place.

Well, I don't want to derail the thread any further, but I do want to thank Tom, Quat, and stupid_programmer for all of your advice. Very helpful, and I appreciate it.