[stcredzero]

If you are living in an industrialized country and have real technical skills, just do a good job, cover your bases, then ask for 12% more every year. As is often said around here, often your salary is just a line item in the books. You can actually do stuff like look for a new job and say, "You know, I've never made 6 figures. How about you pay me $100k?" and a lot of places will just do it, even if this means they're jumping your income by 25% I know this for a fact, because years ago, that's exactly what I did.

Hint: if you want to do this, try working for companies with money. Energy and energy related companies are like this. Also be prepared for lots of politics and soul-grinding nonsense.