[goo]

You could make more -- how much you make depends on what the market will bear, and the more sales savvy you have, the higher price you'll get for your product (you!).

The only way to know how much more you could make is to find out -- salary markets vary substantially between regions, so a developer making 140k in the bay area may struggle to find a job paying more than 80k in TN.

Salaries are a result of a negotiation with the organization at hand, and one of the key elements to a successful negotiation is to be both providing more value than you cost to that organization, and to have the ability to walk away from the table. Your best alternative, which gives you that power, is the most important element of a negotiation. Read up on BATNA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiate...

Also keep _their_ BATNA in mind -- if they don't have anyone who can replace you, and it's making a bunch of money, then they have a poor position to negotiate from, and you can get more from them.

[x0ry]

This points out one of the hardest challenges for me. I'm not a great sales person / negotiator. I'm a geek. When I clock out, I go home and do this same stuff for fun. Managers can see right through this and use it as leverage. Add to the fact I don't have a college degree, and the rest is history. There's a tricky balance between confidence and arrogance and I think its an area I need to improve.