Ask HN: Is patio11's salary negotiation guide relevant in today's market?

The market has changed a lot since this classic blogpost[1] on salary negotiation was written. With no specific numbers to back it up, it feels like demand for generalists SWE has decreased, while supply has increased by a lot.

In this market where every company out there tries to minimise costs, is there still room for salary negotiation for generalists that interview with non-FAANG? Do you have any industry insights or anecdotes to share?

[1] https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

If you make it to an offer, it probably means you are the best of the lot. You can always negotiate somewhat. Unless your ask is outlandish, they can always say "no, but the offer stands". If you ask for 10x what youre offered / marker, that's different of course.

It's an employers market, so probably no.

I'd like to suggest an alternate method that worked for me. I only applied to jobs that 1) I thought I'd enjoy greatly, and that 2) I felt my skills could benefit the employer more than most other applicants. Generally I didn't get fantastic salary jumps but I chose jobs in good companies that didn't cause me too much stress. This let me be a better team player.

Over time it meant that I could study for my next job at night while still having a good work experience. I am paranoid so I always worked close enough to the job that I could bike there if necessary, and I saved money for a rainy day. I even chose to avoid Silicon Valley because I didn't like the ultracompetitive vibe.

I ended up with a big payout from one job that started on the path to my own long-term business, but all along the work/life balance was excellent.

I'm sure I could have negotiated higher but programmers tend to make good money anyhow. Never bothered me when I made $90K but it could have been $105K or whatever.

It's long for today's attention, but negotiation guides are fairly consistent maps of a territory. They teach you it is a way to relate and a perspective to start from. It's a way to protagonize yourself instead of competing to debase yourself more than the next person.

Focus on a high quality agreement and a process that feels good independent of the numbers and you will be happy with the result. My confidence comes from knowing I challenge myself to do hard things, can work effectively while relying on others to scale effort, and that I am a peer in high performance environments.

There's a shorter guide that comes from Pfeffer, which is the triad of Performance, Credentials, and Relationships, where each org weights these differently, and the people whose weighted score is highest will prevail. Know the weights in the place you're considering, and know how you rank in those areas. Use that as confidence to engage in a mutual process of discovery, where you are working together to find the best quality agreement possible. Maybe the best one you find is not what you're looking for, but by agreeing to work together to find the best possible outcome, you're already negotiating.