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Comment by theshadowknows | Hacker News Reader

One time, many years ago now, I was interviewing and made it through several rounds. The topic of salary didn’t come up until the end when I spoke with the CEO and she asked how much I was looking for. When I told her she laughed and said “I think we can do better than that.” And my entire world view shifted and I realized I’d been undervaluing myself for years.

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My first job doing software was in 2013 with a university - it was a student specific position. I had pretty low confidence in my ability to negotiate, had lost my previous IT job, and just wanted this job to break into software because I couldn’t get an internship. So, when it came to them asking how much I wanted, I asked for $0.25 more than what my last job was. So, $14/hr. He came back with, “why not $15?” At that point I realized I probably could’ve gotten 20-25. Felt like a complete idiot - should’ve done some digging around before that point but I didn’t. I’m still terrible at negotiating but mostly because I interview with too many companies that aren’t competitive with pay. I’m at one that’s more competitive now.

> “why not $15?” At that point I realized I probably could’ve gotten 20-25

I hear this a lot, but always wonder why? You where happy with 14, got 15, so why feel like an idiot? If all you care about is the highest maximal rate, you will be job hopping forever, getting better at negotiations but will it make you feel less like an idiot?

EDIT: I never cared for how much my fellow employees made. I know what I "need" and when I accept a certain rate, I can only be proud of being able to bring home what I make.

I had a similar hiring manager/boss a few years back. During the interview I took what I was getting previous and padded it a bit. He said something like "ok, I think we can work with that" and later came back with a offer that was at least 10% more than I asked. Knew I'd found a good place to be.

That must have been such a serendipitous moment :)

Was it that big of a difference?

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