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Comment by dhd415 | Hacker News Reader

Perhaps that is the disconnect here. Negotiations do not necessarily include ultimatums. Obviously, one must be prepared to deal with the situation where an employer declines to meet your compensation requests, but framing it as an ultimatum is probably counterproductive.

That said, at least in the US, there is huge demand for capable developers (see the salaries posted on levels.fyi) and I would encourage anyone who is at all able to take a few interviews to assess their market rate. There are plenty of companies who treat their developers well _and_ pay them well. There's no need to settle for just one of those.

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Looking for a job and pointing out competing offers is a good strategy.

My take was on something different - having an existing job and then using a competing job as leverage. I'm not sure how you'd frame it as not an ultimatum, because the employer almost certainly will regard it as an ultimatum.

Nor did I suggest "settling". I suggested if you get a better offer, take it.

"An old coworker of mine referred me for a job at his company. He says they pay great so I went through the process and ended up getting a much better offer than I expected. I like working here and I want to stay, but the salary from this new place is just too good to ignore. Is there anything you can do to make it easier for me to decide to stay?"

If your manager takes offense to that, it probably isn't a great place to work in the first place.

You may not know if he takes a dim view of your tactic or not, and you may not realize that you're slowly being sidelined.

But hey, it's your career, you get to do as you like! If I was right about everything, I'd be a billionaire.

>You may not know if he takes a dim view of your tactic or not, and you may not realize that you're slowly being sidelined.

Sure, and maybe my manager is sidelining me because I remind them of their ex. Anything is possible. As I said in the original comment, an objection is a sign of a place you probably don't want to be working at anyway. I would definitely jump at the first sign of trouble, but I would wait for that sign. I wouldn't assume there is trouble without any evidence or avoid trying to negotiate on the assumption that it will cause trouble.

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