I think avoiding negotiating salary in advance is the best way to waste one's own time in the hiring process. Why do a phone screen, one or more interviews, and

I think avoiding negotiating salary in advance is the best way to waste one's own time in the hiring process. Why do a phone screen, one or more interviews, and possibly some day-long coding challenge only to find out that the company wants you but does not want to pay your rate? This has been exactly my experience a multitude of times. Figure out what you want to make and what the market pays and ask for it up front. Add a bit of wiggle room so they can knock off a few thousand on their end and you're still getting what you want. That would be my advice because many negotiations will get to the offer stage and be out of reach or unwilling to pay, even if they really want you. You can try to play the game of not giving out a figure first, but it's much harder to do when you're avoiding a direct question ("What will it take for you to join our company?") in salary negotiations with the CEO after an interview. When you've had enough time wasted by the process and companies not willing to pay an extra $10 or $20k to even be at market rate, eliminating fruitless job-seeking endeavors is much more important than trying to play games around salary.