Thread by @GergelyOrosz

I helped a few software engineers negotiate an extra €20-40K/$30-50K in annual comp at tech companies in the EU and the US.

Here's the advice I gave them (thread).

1. Know what is negotiable. At many companies, salary has little wiggle room. Equity & signing bonus does.

2. Understand how equity works: usually this is where you can negotiate a lot, and it can convert to real money. Details: blog.pragmaticengineer.com/equity-for-sof…

3. Once you get an offer, you can *always* do a round of negotiation. Don't commit on the spot: but ask for time to review it.

4. If you don't have competing offers: get data on what the company or competition's range will be. Blind, levels fyi are good sources, and I'll also publish data points for EU here: pragmaticurl.com/salary (WIP)

5. Signing bonus is one of the easiest things to negotiate with big tech when you have a current job. This is because it's a one-off item. You can ask for 10-15% of your current base salary, justifying it as the bonus you'd lose out on (even if you might not get a bonus)

6. Know that you are negotiating with recruiters at big tech, who
a) Have done these negotiations all too many times. It's not personal.
b) They don't have a budget to keep. Their goal is to close you.
The best article on this topic is from @patio11: kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/sal…

Tl;dr: for larger tech companies, you'll most likely be able to negotiate on equity and signing bonus. For smaller companies, salary is more probable, equity (if offered) and signing bonus is rarer.

Will publish a video with @rpandey1234 on more advice at youtube.com/c/mrgergelyoro…

I've recorded a video with salary negotiation advice from both myself (as a hiring manager, at Uber), and from @rpandey1234 (previously Pinterest, now Facebook) who has lots of hands-on experience in getting and negotiating parallel offers.

Here's it is: