Sounds like your negotiation skills aren't quite as good as your engineering skills. The most important thing I luckily learned early was you never, ever say h

Sounds like your negotiation skills aren't quite as good as your engineering skills. The most important thing I luckily learned early was you never, ever say how much you currently make when negotiating salary for a new position. Tell them to make an offer first or kick rocks. If you want to be more polite about it, say you believe firmly that what your current compensation is is not relevant, what matters is the value you can bring to the company. I would say that had I not followed that rule, I'd have lost tens of thousands in salary already in my relatively short career.