[sjcrank]

I would recommend a small variation of this technique in order to maintain good working relationships with your manager/employer.

Start with a conversation explaining why you believe you should be better compensated, highlighting the value you add to the company, rarity of your skills, market rates, etc.

If the request is rejected, or the increase offered is inadequate, then find an offer at another employer and use this to negotiate (or simply accept the offer and move on).

This approach shows good will, in that you gave your employer an opportunity to make things right before escalating to a threat of leaving.

[icedchai]

Yes, the key is to never make ultimatums, as that creates too much conflict.

Just say you're "unhappy". Keep it vague. See what they do. It's tough finding good people in this market.

[Kalium]

Ultimatums can be useful both for cutting the negotiation process short (to avoid pain from inferior negotiation skills, for instance) or to show your business understanding. If you want executives to respect your business acumen, demonstrating your skills like this is one way to go about it.

[kvcrawford]

This. OP is immediately rolling in the tanks, when some tactful diplomacy could achieve the same result.

[w0rd-driven]

Not necessarily. A salary negotiation initiated by an employee out of the blue raises a huge red flag. You've just alerted management that you're merely "possibly" not happy so they can start the ball rolling in finding your replacement well before you've even started the ball rolling in finding their replacement.

I work in Georgia, an at will state, meaning I can be fired at a moment's notice for anything. There's no notice period, my salary stops right then. If I quit I don't have to give notice either but I do it as a professional courtesy because I wanna seem like an adult, even if the places that force my hand are nowhere near that. That means to follow the given advice I have to navigate a minefield to just keep my job at neutral, at best get the raise I wanted and at worst be escorted out the door right then and there.

I feel like this puts me in a terrible spot and it's one of the reasons I'm making well well below what I'm worth. This negotiation also can be attributed to why I hate the interview process and tend to stick with a place well beyond my time. Once I'm in a spot I can prove without fail that I'm worth well more than I'm paid but no one believes that can come from such a shy introvert with few hobbies outside of video games. I feel like things are changing on all fronts but it's a glacial pace at best.

[Jemmeh]

Save up an emergency fund, it'll do wonders for your confidence to negotiate knowing that if they fire you on the spot, you can float for a month or two until you find a job (though hopefully it would be much faster than that).