Ask HN: I have just turned down my first contract. Am I an idiot?

I'm a new CS graduate and I started looking for a job.

I interviewed at a company in Paris, France, and the day after they proposed to me a "non-negotiable" contract that would have been around 1900 euros/month (40 hours/week).

After reading it I felt that they were not very honest about, paid leaves, bonuses and my exact role in the company.

I turned it down, but now I'm kind of starting to regret it since people are telling me that's the kind of "standard" contracts right now.

What does HN think? If I get offered another similar contract should I take it?

PS: I don't have an immediate money issue, I have some savings and my family is willing to support me.

Whether or not that contract is acceptable or not is down to the local market and the cost of living. I guess it depends where you live in Paris but when I was there I found that my cost of living was roughly equal to London, and 1900 EUR/mo would be equal to roughly £20k/mo which is on the very low end of a developer salary. In fact, 20k/mo was a low developer salary a few years ago and perhaps you could only do entry-level testing for £20k/mo now. I feel that even as a new graduate you can get quite a bit more than that.

But if you're happy to take a lower salary in exchange for some other perk then that's OK. I took low salaries to work for start-ups for the first 4 years of my career and that worked out very well for me, as I was given a higher level of responsibility than most companies and I now feel I am further ahead than my peers.

A company should be able to be very specific about what it will offer you. If not, it might be in the early stages and run by inexperienced people, which can be either a good or bad thing depending on your career goals.

If in doubt, negotiate or reject. It sounds like you're in a comfortable position anyway.

Don't worry, you did the right thing.

1900 euros/month is peanuts. Even considering that you're fresh CS graduate, you're worth more.

Also, the fact that the contract is "non-negotiable" is a huge red flag. This company doesn't respect their employees. Trust me, you don't want to work in the environment like that.

Keep looking for job, the market is huge, you'll definitely find something decent.

You have to think about what your BANT is - Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. And that can change, so if you get a similar offer again, that just might be your worth. And sometimes one needs to take a bad deal to get their foot in the door. But, it's also a question of the market and the risk of a company lowballing you is that you won't take it. But ask around to get a sense of market conditions.

> the fact that the contract is "non-negotiable" is a huge red flag

Yes, but also because most employers in the CS field are simply not in the position where they have the negotiating power. As a CS grad you get to pick your employer, not the other way around.