Quality Career Advice

I began my quality control career in CA in 2015 starting at $18/hr . Worked at an aerospace company where I learned GD&T basics and took an online course with SAE. I was there until 2019 and joined an aerospace company starting at $27/hr. Got lots of SAP knowledge as well as inspection knowledge. In 2022, I was promoted to Quality Analyst I/MRB Coordinator making 70K a year. We moved to Nevada and I found an inspector job through a staffing company starting at $20/hr and managed to negotiate $23/hr. The responsibilities are both inspection AND MRB coordination as they do not have an MRB coordinator here. During an introduction meeting, I was asked if I liked working here. After a long pause, I said Yes, but I feel as if the Inspector role is a step back from MRB Coordinator. The Quality Manager mentioned that he does not believe that and encouraged me not to as it is harder to find a “good inspector” in this area. Then went on about how my predecessor had left due to them not receiving a raise when asked. The inspector lead mentioned that the prior inspector quit due to the raise after the probation period being very “small”. He mentioned he has seen folks come in and demand a raise and “put their foot down” and it worked.

I am a very humble/soft-spoken person so doing that would be “out of my character”. It does not feel right having this much of a pay cut in my opinion and in need of guidance of the appropriate compensation to ask for. The lead here will be retiring soon and there are not other parts of the team. It’s a great opportunity to grow to the Quality Lead but I want to be compensated for what I deserve. Any input helps. Thank you.