I recently went through the salary negotiation process as a new-ish grad out of university. Now, whenever I see a post on Reddit or Team Blind that asks the forum whether the OP should negotiate or not, the replies are still split. After going through the process, my answer is, always negotiate.

Reasons #0: your negotiation has already begun

You might not realize this. Hiring and interviewing itself is a form of negotiation. When a company puts out a job posting, they usually describe a dream candidate that is superb is every single way. The truth is, nobody’s perfect. That dream candidate would probably not show up.

Scenario #0:

A company asks for 20 years of experience(YOE) in Docker. Docker was release in 2013. No one, I repeat, no one, is going to check that box.

Now, the question is, how is the company going to come down from 20+ YOE? What level of mastery are they even looking for by 20+ years? Would 10+ YOE suffice?

Imposter syndrome is very common among software developers, especially when you read job postings. However, you’ll soon realize that you have a good chance after you’ve analyzed the job posting.

In the above scenario, the company has two options.

• Accept someone with enough experience in Docker while simultaneously not lying on his/her resume. Like I said, 20 YOE is impossible.
• Maintain their standard and just no filling this position.

Asking for an impossible YOE that’s greater than the age of the technology itself may sound ridiculous to you, but it is actually not uncommon if you’ve read enough job postings. Even if the said company asks for a more probable YOE (Docker is 8 years old), the experienced Docker devs are extremely employable. They might not get the ideal candidates to interview.

Before you start talking to the company, your resume is doing the negotiation for you. Perhaps you have 3 YOE in Docker, but more YOE in another tech that the company wants. Perhaps you’re the only one that’s remotely experienced in Docker among all the candidates, and the company is willing to trade their ridiculous YOE requirement from 20+ down to 3 YOE. Perhaps they expect you to perform well in other coding tests.

TLDR: The negotiation begins when they start reading your resume. Even the job requirements are negotiable. If you’re bold enough, everything’s negotiable.

Reason #1: it gives you a reality check of the company culture

The tech industry is known to be competitive. A simple keyword search in your favourite search engine gives you plenty of news articles about burnout in tech. The online forums I mentioned get really dark and personal sometimes. Speaking of the online forums, most authors who wrote about joining a toxic company admit that they regret accepting the job without considering the culture aspect.

The best solution is to join a healthy, functional company. The best way to gauge company culture is to speak to the people. Everyone has a wholesome career page with nice photos. Remember, the management and HR run this place that’s about to occupy 1/3 of your working days. If you present your case and they disregard you, they will continue to do so on your job.

Reason #3 Negotiations happen. You can’t avoid it forever

That’s just a fact.

If you don’t stand up for yourself, who will? If you backdown when you accept the job, what do you think’s gonna happen when it’s time to negotiate for a raise? For a perk? For a different work arrangement? For a prolonged leave? The list goes on.

Reason #4 Think long term. Think for your future.

• Go and grab any personal finance book.
• Read about long term investing.
• Find out the difference between investing this potential salary bump and not investing.

Let the numbers speak for themselves.

Reason #5 The worst possible outcome isn’t the worst

The worst possible outcome is a rescinded offer. This is not a 100% failure. Like we’ve mentioned previously, if you justified your ask and asked politely, you’ve done your part. In fact, you might even dodged a bullet.

Again, nobody likes bad news, but it’s not a permanent ban on your employability. There’s always another company, another job opening, another connection. If you’re truly disappointed in tech, you have plenty of other opportunities in other industries.

Conclusion

Ok, one caveat. If you’re in a truly desperate situation, perhaps you’d accept. I still maintain that a negotiation process is inevitable (See reason 0).

Finally, I learned all the lessons with a professional. I was also lucky enough to finally encounter a handful of organizations full of courteous and reasonable people, one of which is where I am now.

Written late at night after some a lot of chocolate mousse.