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Comment by kmonsen | Hacker News Reader

Not asking for raise is "good karma".

Why would anyone want to work for Microsoft at this point if they have options?

Apparently he also said "That's good karma. It will come back," Nadella said. "That's the kind of person that I want to trust, that I want to give more responsibility to."

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/9/6953697/microsoft-ceo-saty...

This reminds me of David Graeber's bullshit jobs[1] thesis, that those doing more "real work" tend to get paid less because real work is enjoyable. It sounds awfully like Nadella is saying that "more responsibility" might be a substitute for better pay, and that people should be happy with that.

[1] http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

My experience at MS was that the only way to get promoted was to have a good relationship with your manager, and for them to have a good relationship with their manager, and so on (the higher level you are the more layers need to be persuaded).

So if you are in that position you don't need to ask. What to do to get your next promotion, and whether you are on track, is just something that gets discussed in 1:1s from time to time.

If you are not in that position, then no amount of asking is going to make any difference, coming into work with an offer from Google/Amazon/Facebook/etc. will maybe get you escorted from the building, maybe get you a counter offer.

So, while I don't have an opinion on the karmic consequences of asking for a raise, I do believe that it will not achieve anything other than friction, either your boss knows you need a raise and is working with you to get it, or you should look for another job

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