Hi OP here, thanks all for advice & motivation - really appreciate the wake-up call that 29M with
NS and only getting 4k really ish joke. I am applying for jobs now. Just v frustrated at work cos D, DD, AD all say until I jin good and therefore throw lots of work (technical & non-technical) to me, but never reward with anything other than words. Now that colleague left, like doing 3 roles for price of half.
Some additional information: Was from Private Sector IT sector, but got hired as fresh grad without com sci degree & coding bkgrd which is why I low confidence and settled for less. Have talked to Govtech counterparts but they dun want to offend my side by poaching me (apparently)
My salary history:
Year 1: $3900, no AWS, 0.5mth bonus (low bonus cos American company believe in gd performance reward with increment but not bonus)
Year 2: $4600, no AWS, 0.5mth bonus
Year 3: $4000, AWS, 2.8 mth bonus - switched to ministry, base lower, but overall more
Year 4: pending increment, currently contract-less cos HR screw up on renewal