Let’s be real for a second. There is nothing worse than that sinking feeling you get when you talk to a peer—someone with the same years of experience as you, maybe even working on “easier” tech stacks—and you find out they are making double your salary.
It stings. It makes you question your skills. But usually, your coding skills aren’t the problem. The problem is that you don’t know the rules of the game.
This is exactly where Miguel found himself a few months ago. He was a talented software engineer working with Python and React. He was comfortable in his job, the project was cool, and the company was nice. But then the realization hit him: he was massively underpaid.
Today, I want to break down exactly how Miguel went from feeling “lucky” to get an interview, to generating 30 interviews a month and closing a deal for a 70% salary increase.
The “Comfort Trap”
Miguel was doing well. He had his own consulting gigs and a steady job. But when he started talking to other developers at parties, he realized something painful. People with 5 to 8 years of experience—the same as him—were earning 50% to 100% more than he was.
He tried to fix it the “traditional” way. He applied to a few places. The result? Crickets. Maybe 1 or 2 interviews a month. He felt like he was shouting into the void.
Does this sound familiar? You send out CVs, you wait, and you hope. That is a strategy based on luck, not potential.
The Mindset Shift: It’s Just a Game
When Miguel joined us, we didn’t teach him how to code Python better. He was already an expert. We taught him that recruitment is a game, and you have to play by the rules.
As Miguel put it in our recent interview:
“You know, man, this is a game. And these are the rules. I know that maybe this is not working, or maybe you think that this is stupid. But this is the rules, and you have to play with these rules.”
Once he stopped fighting the system and started “hacking” it, everything changed.
From 2 Interviews to 30
The change wasn’t gradual. It was explosive.
Miguel went from scraping by with a couple of interviews a month to flooding his calendar with 20 to 30 interviews a month.
When you have that many options, the dynamic flips. You aren’t begging for a job anymore. You are choosing the best partner. Miguel actually had to start rejecting companies. He had so many processes open that he had to turn people down because he didn’t have the time.
That is what we call a Bulletproof Mentality.
When you know you can generate interviews on demand, you walk into the room differently. You negotiate differently. You don’t smell like desperation; you smell like success.
The Result: 70% Increase in Record Time
In less than three months (roughly 60 days of active searching), Miguel landed a new position. The result? A 70% increase in his annual income.
Think about that ROI. As Miguel said, the investment he made in learning these skills paid for itself in just one month of his new salary. The rest is pure profit.
He went from feeling like an “orphan” in the industry to realizing he can achieve whatever he wants. He’s now even planning to use his extra capital and time to start his own freelance business.
Stop Leaving Money on the Table
The market might feel “broken” right now. You might think companies aren’t hiring. Miguel proved that is a lie. The opportunities are there, but they are reserved for the developers who know how to sell themselves, how to investigate the company, and how to play the game.
You don’t need to wait two or three years to get a raise. You can change your life in months.
If you want to stop guessing and start winning, you need to be around people who are doing it right now.
Full interview with Miguel: here
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See you on the inside. Let’s get you that raise.
Senior Software Engineer with over 9 years of experience and entrepreneurial background. Most often, apart from delivering good quality code on time, responsible for introducing good practices, teaching programmers and building team bonds andestablishing communication on the line of development-management. Privately Kākāpō and Wombat enthusiast, traveler and retired acrobat.
