My partner and I have recently qualified as architects in the UK, it's taken us nearly 10 years (6 years university (1 year whilst working), nearly 5 years working in practice). We know architects in this country are massively underpaid in general, but our recent salary increase has been a slap in the face. We both work in the same company but in different teams, he will be getting £28,500 and I will be getting £29,000, due to increase to £29,500 and £30,500 in January if we meet our 'goals'. He gets a lower salary because he's not confident in driving our big car to sites (not part of our contract to drive). A new architect 2 years ago got £30k plus her tuition paid for, and she still ultimately left for a 33% pay increase. It honestly feels like they've treated us like one person as they've given us a £2.5k salary increase between us when peers from university are seeing £2.5k + increases individually. For reference, recruiters in the area have told us we should expect £30k – £35k with our experience.
These 10 years have felt like a waste, we have a stupid amount of student loan debt, a masters degree and a crappy salary.
My partner is seriously frustrated and has vented to a few coworkers. But I'm infuriated by some of them telling him he should work additional hours as leaving on time isn't being a team player. I hate this expectation in architectural practices that you have to eat sleep and breath architecture and unpaid overtime is expected. And I also hate that the ability to get better salaries is dependent on moving companies all the time.
Just having a rant but any insights are welcome.