I (M24) work as a Technical Lead for a company that mostly does large scale corporate conferences with a few bands thrown in there every once in a while during events. As a technical Lead Im in charge of coordinating equipment, set and strike schedule, and often run A1 for general sessions of whichever group I get assigned for the week. Now for my issue: First, I’ll state that I know all of these numbers I will be mentioning are low in general. I know eventually I will simply have to change companies or go solo to be truly sustainable but for now this works for me and I’m working on moving up in my career. I am hourly and my current rate is $19/hr. When I applied at the beginning of this year there was a 2 year AV gap in my resume due to COVID and moving to the middle of nowhere for almost 3 year. But I was eager to just get back into the field (and have money to eat) so I took the job at $19 as they said it was the average pay in this company. When I got there they already had 1 other Tech lead and have since hired a 3rd and final Lead. Upon talking to both of them I found out they are making $25/hr…we all have similar amount of experience and the same education (exactly the same audio school). I have requested a meeting with my manager to discuss a raise, but I don’t know what to focus on as my reasoning during the meeting. I know the general rule is to focus on the value you bring to the workplace, but according to my manager himself and all my coworkers, the quality of my work and effort has never been questioned. So my main reason is simply I’m making 6 less dollars than my peers. I’m wondering if I should simply lead with this during the meeting or also pad it with my accomplishments and such. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you guys!