> Make sure you start high then request a 5% raise Every year! If you wait five years and request 25% it's Never gonna happen! If possible, try to get 2.5% every six month.

It's worth noting that due to compounding, these are not mathematically the same.

In 5 years:

5%/year: 27% raise from base

2.5%/6mo: 28% raise from base

Thanks! I was hopping someone would interpret that. Also, your boss probably hates these talks just like you do, and want to get you out of the room as fast as possible. So go low and often.

Depending on where you are and how good you are, 5% (or 2.5% semi-annually) annually is likely low. Any competent developer should be able to negotiate $5000+ raises in 6-12 months based on performance (or jump to a job paying much better).