I don’t think I’ve ever had a job or boss that set out any salary roadmaps or targets. In fact, most most organisations actively tried to hide salaries (some were paid more than others and it caused a stink when a few people shared salaries and found out and a couple resigned when management refused to bump their salaries to match).
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So this is a good thing?
Yes, though I’d look for something more concrete than ‘in 3-5 years’. Show me the money for 2025, 2026 etc.
Well he can‘t do that as there are many factors that play into it. But as he is planning to keep me there for 10+ years, he will probably deliver on his words.
That’s a funky way of putting it. A manager could want to keep a good employee, but planning to…? There will be opportunities for you, lateral, parallel, external. So many things around salaries and bonuses are discretional and opaque. People negotiate all sorts of stuff that’s not writen in black and white, and can cause a stink if socialised as @PhilMongoose said, and that’s not necessarily always transparent to their direct line managers.
I know of a company who made a huge cloak and dagger theatre around bonus time, told everyone they were special snowflakes who’re getting a little bit more than their colleagues because they are very amazing and the company deeply values them… Turns out that when people started talking they figured out they all got the same bonus lol - but hey, they felt extra special for a while and if nobody talked they’d continue feeling like God’s chosen children 
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That was my concern - I’ve seen before managers dangle a carrot that was 3 years out that never arrived.
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You work for a global Bank. Global banks treat their employees as assets. Meaning that they will constantly evaluate the Net Present Value you have to them (your Benefit vs. Your Total Cost incl, Risk and Overhead), the value you had for other banks, whether they will be able to utilize/saturate you going forward and what competition paid you.
That means:
- you have a negative Market NPV (you cost more than what you would bring to any other competing Bank) => they fire you (even if your NPV with the Bank was positive; you are way to expensive and/or of no use)
- you have a positive Market NPV but a negative within the Bank (they can either not saturate you with work, use you effectively given their non changeable way of working or the cost of risk & overhead was higher than in the market) => they will sell you and get the benefit for themselves (yes, they sell you like an asset; seen it, done it)
- you have a positive NPV but competition pays more => they will increase your salary to the extent the remaining gap was less than what they perceive your switching cost was. Surprise, surprise your switching cost reduces over time (longer in the company, better CV given tenure, more eager to learn/see something else, more frustrated as you realise you were underpaid for a longer period)… so if the gap was big, they increase your salary in several small steps
- you have a positive NPV but competition pays less, they keep you but cease any salary increases
Conclusion: you are currently underpaid and they will adress it, but just over time and by doing so they monetizing on the situation. This is probably ok for you as switching comes with high cost and risk for you. So go along and enjoy BUT always watch the space, if they in a years time stop their steps to increase your comp, their evaluation of yourself and/or the market has changed and its time to carefully re-visit the situation.
The only way to get out of this process is by becomming an insider where it becomes to risky and expensive to either fire you, or to underpay you. Once you are there, you make big money (to both keep you quiet and within the Bank). You can generally identify such peple based om their rank (MDR).
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I’m sure he got the message so we can stop piling on poor @Cortana and wish him all the best, right ? 
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This is the only thing that matter I think he is also a grown man and already thought about what could happen for him and set his mind if something could go wrong. I’m maybe naive, but I’m the kind of person who put trust on his/her manager if he/she truly is interested to keep people on board.
So @Cortana, just do your best as usual and build your own path 
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I should start consulting, since i’m not the best programmer anymore and I’m not enough esperienced as manager. I am very picky (see IB’s posts eheh) so I think that I should be a good Technical PM or whatever it’s called.
Status update for 2023.
Progression:
2019: CHF 92,000 (8 months of work)
2020: CHF 155’000
2021: (mixed bag, but starting with 100K salary and increased a bit)
2022: CHF 140K salary, increased to 170K by end of year
2023: CHF 200K salary → got a raise some months ago.Apart from the salary, the stock options are going well. Approximately 1M of vested options and quite a bit more unvested (2.5M with current valuation). These are startup stock options as mentioned before, so of course they are extremely high risk and I don’t count them as part of my NW. I did get some opportunities to sell some of them, which is nice. In a scenario of a big liquidity event, it would be a nice insta-FIRE (even with a lower than current valuation)
Status update for 2024
Progression:
2019: CHF 92,000 (8 months of work)
2020: CHF 155K
2021: (mixed bag, but starting with 100K salary and increased a bit)
2022: CHF 140K salary, increased to 170K by end of year
2023: CHF 200K salary
2024: CHF 220K (then raised to 260K in October) + ~50K in bonuses
This was a good year for salary growth. I got some opportunities to sell some of my startup stocks (not accounted in income above), which was good for NW boost. I expect no compensation growth for next year, but we’ll see!
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2023 2024 was eventful. Got fired from my job (again ^^) and found a new one quickly (good job market for civil/environmental engineers right now in the région lémanique at least) I’ll work part time (80%) starting January 1st 2024 I’ve started working full time again since November. That’s a pure lateral move with slightly better salary conditions (the whole salary is guaranteed and paid over 12 months but I can still get a bonus if I seriously overperform).
2016: 75K
Entry salary - environmental engineer MSc working on road projects - Wallis
2017: 77K
Environmental engineer MSc working in hydraulics - Wallis
2018: 90K
Public, Gemeinde of 1k to 2k inhabitants, head of a very small infrastructure department - Wallis.
2019: 90K
2020: 90K
2021: 90K
2022: 92K
2023: 95k (previous job)
2023: 105k: 95k base, 10k variable
Project manager, environmental engineering - Wallis
2024: 82k (80%): 76k fixed, 7k variable (104k equivalent at 100% - previous job).
2024: 106k (@100%).
Different practice, still project manager, environmental engineering - Wallis
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I’m really sad to hear that… But fortunately, you’ve found a new job that seems to suit you better and with a better salary. I wish you all the best for the future!
There’s been a lot of movement on my part this year 2024!
I successfully passed the bar exam in January 2024, I learned at the ceremony (in November 2024) that I was even the 2nd best of the January 2024 session, a real pride when I think back to my difficult academic years where my grades were mediocre, which severely damaged my self-confidence and my difficulties in finding a lawyer internship. I’ve received a lot of negative feedback about “not being part of the excellence” among law students from very prestigious law firms… Nice revenge!
I passed the Module 1 CSI, but I was very disappointed with the training. It can be interesting, but the teachers just recite the course material that we have to read at home. They didn’t add any value.
My work also became less interesting, I was bored and very disappointed to learn that my lawyer’s certificate, my CAS and the CSI training had no impact on my salary… This and my growing boredom motivated me to apply elsewhere in order to progress and open up new perspectives. I felt that if I stayed in my job for another year, my professional future would be dead.
So, for the year 2025, a new job opened up for me (at 80%… I hope it will quickly turn into 100%).
Salary evolution:
2018: ~50k (internship, unemployement benefit, fixed-term employment)
2019: ~50k (fixed-term employment, unemployement benefit, trainee lawyer)
2020: ~50k (trainee lawyer, open-ended employment, unemployement benefit)
2021: ~45k (unemployement benefit, trainee lawyer)
2022: ~40k (trainee lawyer, DPO internship)
2023: 99k (Legal Counsel in the public sector)
2024: 103k (Legal Counsel in the public sector)
2025: 100k (Legal Counsel in the public sector for the first two month, then Clerk for the Federal Administrative Court - 122k equivalent at 100%)
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Congrats on your career path! It does feel good to get positive feedback that shows others who didn’t believe in us were wrong. Enjoy your success!
You shouldn’t: it’s like in a couple relationship, sometimes it doesn’t work and it’s just better for the partners to move on. There’s nothing sad in that and there’s plenty of enjoyment to have on my own way.
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For 2025, I received a modest 1% cost-of-living adjustment. Since I changed employers, I’m not eligible for a raise until 2026.
I see this job as a stepping stone for my future and know it’s not where I’ll build significant wealth. For 2025, I’m not expecting a raise (though I hope my efforts in 2024-2025 will be recognized).
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How come that you will not have an increase salary being in the public sector (except for the 1%) ? Is there any particular condition to be eligible of the “traditional” rise?
2019: 118k + 30k
2020: 123k + 31k
2021: 126k + 32k
2022: 128k + 33k
2023: 143k + 34k
2024: 150k + 45k
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Yep, there’s no automatic salary increase in the first year. It’s granted after one year of service. Since I started mid-year and increases are only applied in January, I’ll receive mine in 2026, with retroactive adjustment for 2025.
I’ll also discuss my performance for the second half of 2024 with my manager, as we’ve already implemented significant projects that have greatly improved our organization and efficiency.
In the public sector, there are theoretical principles, but some employers use them as guidelines to act as they see fit. This wasn’t mentioned during my onboarding, but it doesn’t really matter, as this job is a stepping stone for my career.
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I’d add that not all public institutions have automatic yearly raises beyond cost of life adjustments (which also leave a lot of leeway and may not come every year even if some inflation occurred). Gemeinden/communes, in particular, may have different policies. I’ve spent 5 years in a communal administration and have only ever gotten a “raise” (that is, a cost of life adjustment) when inflation started really ramping up, in 2022 and 2023. To my knowledge, most of my coworkers (if not all) haven’t gotten a raise either.
Working in the public sector is becoming less and less attractive: more pressure and less benefits than before, just as many worries, if not more, than in the private sector that you bring back home. I do commend those who do it. Of course, it depends on each one personality. Those who want to just get paid to be there and not care can do it in many positions. They can do it in the private sector too.
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