Honestly the answer to all your questions is "because people traded those items for massive pay increases". I've never had a problem negotiating any of those p

Honestly the answer to all your questions is "because people traded those items for massive pay increases". I've never had a problem negotiating any of those points with any of my employers in the tech industry. Perhaps work for smaller companies if these sorts of things are important to you? If you want to max out salary in silicon valley, I guess your list applies. For almost everywhere else in the country it's simply not the case - if you are truly talented you can almost write your own job description. > I don't understand how you can spend more than a few months on Hacker News without seeing the litany of complaints developers have about their working conditions. I suppose that's one reaction. My reaction is generally amusement at the ridiculous complaints. Once in a while a legitimate one comes through, but most of them are truly "first world problems" to the absolute utter extreme.