How much do you expect on your current CTC? we all have answered that. Did you respond with a conservative number and later regretted it? Here is a way you could add some thought before you respond.

Two years back, 2X salary hikes in the IT sector made some buzz. It became a norm for some time and then cooled off.

But have you heard of a 10X raise as a norm?

This happened 100 years ago. The person who did it revolutionized the automotive industry. His name was Henry Ford.

A worker could earn 10 times more in the factory than his daily wage outside.

How did Henry Ford do it?

Through an assembly line. He just built a system that allowed someone to be 10X productive. There is a lesson here.

Some systems are not so productive. There is hardly anything you can do about it. The average speed of the sled is defined by the average speed of the sled dogs, especially the lead dog.

But some systems are very productive. You have no choice but to be more productive!

The system enables you to be so! Recall the Charlie Chaplin Modern Times video.

So it is not about your productivity but the productivity of the system. We often fail to consider this when the TA calls. The Henry Ford system was more linear than the agile systems now. But it helps if you consider how much more the system will enable you to do. Difficult math but worth doing it before you throw a number.