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I dislike this greatly, and it doesn't seem like a sustainable path - if the market crashes, and his/her skills don't match the compensation level, then it will
by Bahamut 11y ago
I dislike this greatly, and it doesn't seem like a sustainable path - if the market crashes, and his/her skills don't match the compensation level, then it will backfire greatly & catch up to him/her.
I was able to boost my salary to $160k in 2 1/2 years from a starting salary of $50k, but through tireless improvement of my craft (self-studying, experimentation, and contributions to major open source libraries, including taking over leading development on one 10k+ starred project on GitHub), smart job searching, and being unafraid to walk away from offers that are too low. I never lied about competing offers, and about compensation, although I rarely will disclose my compensation in negotiations - if I do disclose it, then I am not afraid of walking away if the offer does not meet my criteria. The plus side is that this shields you more from engineering employment downturns, lets you do good work to genuinely improve the state of engineering, and opens up doors that are not available to most people - I get emailed about some unique opportunities that most don't get to see. And this is not to say that I could not have gotten more - I have turned down $300k+ positions already (took less $ for better work-life balance & more vacation).
One friend of mine mentioned he turned down large offers in favor of 35 (!) vacation days & a solid salary in a low cost of living area.
One does not need to be dishonest to get the salary & benefits combination one wants - one just needs to be steadfast at attempts to deflect you from those aims (i.e. "But you only make xxxxxx amount" or "We cannot afford to pay that").
- myblake 11y agoI'm with you that the tactics used here seem a little bit scummy (though I've seen plenty of bullshit from the other side of the table more consistently), but the author does at least claim to also be working hard to improve their craft as well, so I'm not sure your initial concern is really relevant.
- Bahamut 11y agoThe OP didn't feel it was important enough to note strongly as part of negotiating tactics of putting yourself in a strong position to command more, and mainly talked about value he/she generated for his/her employer. My point was about the importance it has on generating value to the market at large in hireability. I was making it clear that it is an important part of preparing for negotiations by mentioning it to the extent I did.
- blazespin 11y agoIf the market crashes, yes, it could be hard. But I would argue that the decision to fire people won't be based on loyalty but rather on 'what have you done for me lately'.
- MCRed 11y agoYou realize that "We cannot afford to pay that" is also being dishonest, because they can afford to pay. Basically lying is standard procedure for employers, yet why should it be a moral smear for employees in negotiations?
- cpwright 11y agoIts better to make the extra cash in the meantime and then have to take a pay cut than to not have the money at all. I will say that by the third time he's demanding more money with another offer; they should have said, "good luck." Matching once makes sense, matching twice, maybe. But the third time, you should just let him go.
- mixmastamyk 11y agoYou may have missed the part where he was quite underpaid.