How do I find out what my skills are actually worth?

Having no clear sense of what your skills are worth leaves you negotiating in the dark, and usually short-changing yourself. It's an uncomfortable blind spot, but a common one; most people avoid looking because the answer feels either scary or hard to find. The not-knowing costs you more than the truth would. Your market value isn't a mystery. It's mostly knowable from public information: salary ranges for your role, what similar people earn, what the demand for your skills looks like right now. You don't need a perfect number. You need a realistic range, so you stop guessing and start deciding from something real. Pick three sources, a salary site, a job listing with a posted range, and one honest conversation with someone in your field, and gather rough numbers this week. Even a rough range changes everything. You can't ask for, or walk toward, what you've never let yourself measure.