I spent my teenage/young adult years (2006-2016) doing "freelance" work, mostly as a hobbyist, probably making under minimum wage, through PayPal donations and non-contract, short term roles.

Around May 2017, I worked as an intern for J.B. Hunt for $15/hour in Lowell, Arkansas.

Around August 2017, I was hired as a consultant for Walmart for $55/hour in Bentonville, Arkansas at the recommendation of a coworker from J.B. Hunt.

In January 2019, a recruiter from Amazon Web Services reached out to me on LinkedIn. I believe he found my online presence through my Medium publications. I was offered ~75% raise to move to Seattle, Washington. With the difference in cost of living, this only amounted to ~10% raise, but I took it for the personal growth potential.

Throughout my entire duration at AWS, I asked about promotion/raise criteria and spend every managerial one-on-one making sure I was reaching these goals. Around the one year mark, I was approved for a ~7% raise and at 1.25 years I received it.

I'm targeting a promotion within the next year. I'm not sure what I'll be making then, but I know what I'll be asking for.