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Comment by msie | Hacker News Reader

Well, that made me sick to my stomach.

Why? Because you didn't put in the time to learn how to properly negotiate? Negotiation is a skill that can be learned, just like engineering.

Well, he got really successful through his connections. There wasn't that much negotiation involved.

Hmmm. Where do you get that from this article, or his blog post?

Sure, he did get the 23andMe interview from a friend. But Google? and AirBnB? and Yelp? and Uber? and Twitch? Man, that would be a lot of connections.

Ben Horowitz carefully orchestrated a bidding war when it came time to sell his company. Qureshi "cracked the coding interview" and then orchestrated a feeding frenzy of a bidding war.

A well-played hand. ;-)

That's just how the real world works, in 99% of the cases. You need to know your stuff, but past a certain point, it's almost always better to expand your network + meet new people than to put in an extra hour honing your craft.

People don't just magically get handed a $200-300-500k job. You tend to get recommended by someone, through someone you know (i.e. friend, acquaintance).

Can we go ahead and retire the whole meritocracy idea then?

I tend to agree, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. More so in this case, he won a popularity contest. I will recommend people who I believe have the appropriate experience but this guy hardly has any.

What's a good resource to learn? Also what other than money can/should be negotiated?

why? He makes $130k with a $30k signing bonus?

The RSUs are illiquid assets for private companies like this. Maybe he can get cash on a secondary market or keep them for bank in an IPO. This shouldn't make you sick..., 130k is a pretty average software engineer salary in SF Bay area.

The information about referrals for better compensation packages was really useful.

Why? I believe you know the answer but I'll bite. He's not experienced in building software and yet he commands that much in salary. He can pass tests with flying colours though. I don't think he'll last that long at the company. It will be a grind and not well-suited to his personality.

He has sample projects, functional games actually. Portfolio pieces specifically made to rosy up his portfolio. And he aced the programming interviews by being fresh with that material.

He also had great referrals, and counteroffers.

And wound up with a pretty average salary.

I am envious of the illiquid RSU package, but the 130k salary is pretty average.

He didn't get a "Senior Staff Architect" title. He didn't get "Principle", he landed a software engineering role at an average salary with an awesome signing bonus and RSUs.

This is what you are supposed to be armed with. Portfolio, referrals, counteroffers.

Are you concerned that AirBNB's code will suffer? It won't. Are you concerned that he will burn out? More credentialed engineers burn out.

This is just misplaced jealousy plain and simple, someone else optimized their time and leveraged inefficiencies in this system in a way we already know already works.

If $130k is the actual salary then the title needs to be edited

It is kind of semantical, when the RSUs vest they have to be counted as ordinary income on your taxes.

But with a private company like AirBnB, he can't just sell those shares on the stock market, and MAYBE he could sell them for cash on a private site like EquityZen.

He is set up to make a big profit! It is a nice compensation package and is also great bargaining power for his next move!

But at the same time, it is not cash and what he actually makes is pretty average.

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