Tara Bhattacharjee

Poeple, listen to what Mark H is saying. Why do we all have such big egos anyway???

Yes, I have been excercising options but as we all know, the stock prices change all the time, it is not a guaranteed income.

I am in the US. Just to clarify, 200K is what I **might** make from the options. My salary is not great, I have 10 years of SW experience.

My company offers no career path whatsoever and most employees are considered disposable entities. We do get stock options but otherwise treated poorly.
If I stay, I will probably make 200K in the next 2-4 years if they don't get rid of me. Am I better off going to that MBA in one of the top 10? I was eventually going to go that route anyway...

Merlin,
What country are you in?

I concur with others- just having a degree does not get you a higher slary. take it from someone that has two Masters degrees and still getting paid less than guys with B.S in comp. sci. You will have to show that you have something to offer to the business. In my case, e-commerce is relatively new to me ( 2 years) and there are people at my work place that not only have more e-commerce experience, they have been w/ the company longer. In most cases this is true.

Angela,
I am in the same situation as you are. But intestingly, where I work, I don't think I can become a product manager directly. I will have to do time as a business analyst before I can get a Product Manager job. There may be be some hoops to jump through...

Ok, looks like I got the 3.7% precious raise. 0-4% was the max anyone got in the company. It basically just showed up on my paycheck.

I am nice looking, 36 and could pass for a 26 year old. But no thanks, I do not want to keep doing coding/lower-level work for the rest of my life.

What's so funny Matt?

Hello,
Thanks for all the responses. I will let you guys know when something comes out. BTW, it is not a big company. About 500 people.

Hi All,
I had a review a week ago, I got good ratings but no salary increment was specified on the form. After I gave my comments both parties signed it. I still don't know what my rise is. Only know that I will get the " best possible". I am starting to feel weird about this. Never happened before. On the good side, my review was done before my anniversary.

All my friends got laid off at least once but found jobs within a year in the sw industry, but had to take a paycut.

Sadanand and Matt,
Ok, I was a little off by talking about nepotism at work place in stead of enterprenuership. But I did not say Americans did not take risks. There are many things I have learned by being in the US and living with the Americans, one of which is just that- taking risks. Also, I was not comparing American workplace to Indian. Having left India real young, I have never worked in India. So, I wouldn't know the nepotism there. Even though I wouldn't doubt that it would be worse there than in the US.
I am not discouraged by my life in the US, I am having a lot of fun. What I am discouraged by is the politics at the top, they do exist even in the US. So, if you want to work for someone else, it is pretty difficult especially if you are ambitious.

Sadanand,
I agree with every thing you said about Indians. But about Americans- I don't think they are necessarily better enterpreneurs. They just know the system in the US better and can play it better because it is their country and they have a natural advantage. In the midwest where I live and work, there is a lot of nepotism at the executive/management level. For most Indians (unless they come with Harvard MBAs and good looks) it is pretty hard to break into those circles.