<prompt> Human: I went to school for engineering, and have been working for a company that designs and builds solar power plants. I have been working at this company for about a year and a half in an entry level position. But my title has not included engineer. Now there is a restructuring in our department, and my hard work has paid off, because Im being moved to an engineering position. That change will officially take place the second week in January. And Im not sure how to approach the salary discussion.For reference, I am currently making 43,000. I have heard through the grapevine that people that have made similar changes in the past have been bumped up to around 55,000. Doing some research, Ive found that similar positions at other solar companies are often in the 70,000-80,000 range. But some of these are in areas with a much higher cost of living like the Bay Area.My company is somewhat infamous for barely competitive salaries. They also offer everyone a 15 bonus at the end of the year, which helps, I guess. And I believe the company likes to factor this into overall compensation figures, which is unfair. First, because its a non-guaranteed bonus that depends on factors outside of my control. And second, theres the time value of money. Money in my pocket every two weeks is obviously more valuable than getting it at the end of the year.Someone else in my department already tried to negotiate a raise given the pending restructuring, and apparently they told him that its not in the budget. Our department deals with maintenance, so it can be hard to put a value on what we do. Our job is basically to minimize the amount of money we lose, so its kind of like we dont get noticed unless something really goes wrong. Which means we get the short end of the stick with budgeting and resources.Given all of this, how should I approach the discussion? Is it appropriate to negotiate a promotion like this, or should I take whatever they offer? What happens if they flat out say there is no room in the budget? Whats my next step? My only thought would be to put it back on them, to ask what I can do to show I deserve a raise, and then schedule a meeting in a few months to show my progress.___Edit: In regards to everyone saying look for a new job, I dont disagree. I just dont feel the timing is right. Obviously Ive developed some skills that earned me this promotion, but my day to day work was a little of this, a little of that. Id like to have this new position on my resume for even 6 months to strengthen my credentials before I go looking for a new job.___Edit 2: Lots of good information, thanks. I guess I want to emphasize that I do intend to pursue other opportunities, no matter when that may be. But that doesnt preclude me from maximizing my earnings in the short term too, especially with such an obvious opportunity to negotiate.Assistant: My advice would be to start looking for another job if youre being undercompensated. Ask for what youre worth, and if they wont give it to you, get it somewhere else.Same thing happened to me at my job. Got restructured, took on new responsibility, killed it for a year and a half, asked for a raise, got told no. I start my new job in three weeks.Human: Lots of people saying this, so Ill reply to yours since its at the top.I agree, I should look elsewhere. However, Id like to wait until I have some concrete experience and am able to put this new position on my resume. Obviously I have some skills that earned me the promotion, but I dont feel it would look as impressive to an outside employer yet. Edit: I stand corrected. No harm in looking, I guess.  <response>: Thats fair. I think the base advice is the same, though- get what you can, while you can you wont get blood from a stone and start looking. It took me 10 months to find a position I wanted and get it. I took slightly less salary than I was looking for to get into an organization with a ton of prestige in the number one city on my list.So even though youre not there right now, its a great time to start looking. 