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Comment by _bxg1 | Hacker News Reader

This is my number one criteria for a job offer. I will not sign anything that brings into question my right to freely pursue creative projects in my own time. I'm fortunate that, as a programmer, I am in the minority of the population that actually has some bargaining power when it comes to employment contracts.

It seems to me time and again that the United States' priorities were in far better shape a hundred or so years ago.

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I've done similar things when I was in a position to, and held my nose and signed when I wasn't. It sucks that bargaining position has become a substitute for legal rights.

I have to regularly remind myself that there was plenty of bad in the 'old days' because trends today, especially to boundless corporate power, are so deeply depressing.

Do you have any tips on how to make this happen? When I graduated I felt like I didn't have much leverage on the job offer, but now that I have a couple years of experience I think I can negotiate a better deal.

begin with having multiple offers in hand.

And in practice, this is quite difficult when companies only hand out "exploding" offers.

And then you're back to how good the candidate's negotiating skills are, rather than that person's skill at whatever occupation you're hiring them into. Companies would rather not think too hard about the moral implications of trying to cheat someone out of what they're worth, though.

Don't accept exploding offers. Ever. It's a scam.

Exploding offers are bullshit (a meaningless scare tactic, almost never enforced) and you should politely but explicitly make it clear that you know this. At the offer stage, all the power is in your hands.

If you are a hiring manager, and this is policy, refuse to disrespect the experts you are hoping to entice.

When your rights are dependent on being in a strong bargaining position, you're already screwed. No one is always in a strong bargaining position.

Strike out the terms you don't like, and send the offer back. They may decline your changes, but they may not.

This has always worked for me. My employers have only cared that they fully own all code that they pay me to write and are willing to change the language of the contract to make that clear.

I've never gotten a company to actually change terms, but I have turned them down on that basis. I would say, make sure you look for jobs while you either still have one, or have comfortable savings. That way you can hold out for what you want instead of having to take what comes along.

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