Wrong! There was no cheaper option and this engineer/negotiator knew it. (70k? Seriously? Even in 2010...) Everything he said was dead on and I recommend ever

Wrong! There was no cheaper option and this engineer/negotiator knew it. (70k? Seriously? Even in 2010...) Everything he said was dead on and I recommend everyone to follow his lead. Admittedly, you should have a firm grasp of the market, and the way he got it by aggressively pursuing alternative offers is absolutely the right way to do it. Also, he was dead on when he said you should always have an alternative that you'd seriously go to. Asking for a raise without serious alternative in hand is dumb dumb dumb. That all being said, ideally you'd work for a company that didn't force you to do these sorts of shenanigans. Such companies are more rare than they should be.