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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

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1. \\n

   Hello! Love the show \\u2764\\ufe0f

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   I\\u2019m 6 months into my career as a software engineer at a very large company.

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   As a new engineer, I\\u2019m often lost and confused, especially since my team is working on a green field project. My mentor is very helpful and patient with me despite all of my questions. I\\u2019ve thanked him countless times and publicly called out his support at standup and in front of management basically everyday. But I still feel like this isn\\u2019t enough. He\\u2019d never say it, but I know I\\u2019m such a burden to him and slow down the team.

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   Other than quitting my job to alleviate him from my near-constant \\u201cPlease help\\u201d messages, how can I:

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   1) show him how much his support has meant to me and get him the recognition he deserves

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   2) stop being such a drain on his productivity/life

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   Thank you!!

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2. \\n

   I\\u2019m a Senior Software Engineer, and I played the salary game with a recently promoted Mid-Level engineer on my team, who, in a gross violation of the rules, not only volunteered his own salary, but one of another Mid-Level engineer. In retrospect he was a bad one to play the game with.

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   Anyway, it turns out they\\u2019re both really close to me now, and are both making a good deal more than I was 5 years ago when I was promoted to Senior. This is mostly (maybe entirely) because I was a horrid negotiator when I first started at the company. It was my first \\u201c\\u201creal\\u201d\\u201d job, and it turns out I really lowballed the company during salary negotiations. I\\u2019m pretty ready to leave the company (for reasons both personal and professional), but I\\u2019ve submitted a talk proposal for an industry conference that takes place 6 months from now. In order to give the talk I\\u2019d need to still be employed by the company, so rather than ordering the Soft Skills Engineering Special and quitting my job, I\\u2019m going to give it a shot and ask for a 25% raise.

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   My question is what advice do you have for this conversation? I\\u2019ve read all the usual \\u201c\\u201cstate your value, don\\u2019t make it personal, etc\\u201d\\u201d stuff, but do you guys have anything else that\\u2019s been effective in your experience on either side of this?

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