One of the most valuable lessons I've ever had in life was that I undervalued myself significantly. It's extremely common.

During my consulting years, I was at a sales kick-off, and felt a little out of place because the people around me were throwing money around like it was going out of style. Lucky for me, my manager noticed and pulled me to the side. He gave me a ballpark for how much I was actually bringing in to the company, told me to accept it like everyone else there, and to go have fun.

Years later, when I was ready to stop traveling, I decided to just try something on a whim. Worst case, they'd laugh and I kept doing what I was doing. So I picked a client I liked, wrote down what I considered to be an absolutely ludicrous salary, and handed it to someone there. Within an hour, they'd created a new position and accepted me with no arguing whatsoever. Since then, I've done the same thing 2 other times, and it's worked both times.

My point is, whatever you're making, or whatever you think you're worth right now, it's probably nowhere near the real value. So long as you're well rounded ish and have non-horrible people skills, then it's entirely possible that you're selling yourself very very short.

My unsolicited advice? Try to get laughed at. Take your salary, bring it up 30 percent, then start sending it in with your resume. You might be surprised how often it works.

For real, I’ve got an offer for a senior position with $90k pay.