Negotiation Course: Negotiation Starts Now

It's critical that you only start negotiations when a company has verbally given you an offer.

Leveling is very important since it’ll dictate your salary band and equity. If you’re at a larger company, ask what level you’re coming in at, and see what kind of wiggle room there is.

If possible, talk to the hiring manager or people involved in your interview"

- You can learn advice on what you could work on.
- You can hear what the business need was to hire a role and why they picked you. 

The above points give you “ammunition” for negotiation: you want to understand how badly the company wants you.

Negotiation Course: Don’t Overshare (Level, Passion, Timeline)

Understanding your emotional attachment to the offer is even more important than the data. Ideally, you want low emotional attachment and high data (as explained in [this Taro blog post](https://www.jointaro.com/blog/the-5-lies-that-too-many-people-believe-about-negotiating-a-job-offer/) by Rora).

For example, don't reveal that you're only talking to a single company, or that you're talking to 30 (either extreme can hurt you). Sample dialog: 

> If anything changes on my end, I’ll let you know, but for now I’m eager to learn more about your company

(There's a whole section dedicated to helpful phrases later on.)

You can share information with the recruiter, but be mindful of what and when you share. How much PTO or signing bonus you want are topics that should come up before (if it's a blocker) and after the interview, not during.

**If in doubt, don’t share it**. Just be positive and non-committal to pretty much everything the recruiter says. Answer questions with vague responses and be confident.

Negotiation Course: Get Other Offers

Researching data points is helpful when constructing a negotiation argument, but the **best** argument you have is an offer in hand from a comparable company. 

The big mistake most tech workers make is to be reactive with recruiters. If you decide to interview with a company, figure out comparable companies and apply to them as well. (Google and a seed-stage startup are not comparable.)

Talking to many recruiters and companies at once is painful, but it's better to concentrate the pain in a short window, rather than spreading it across several months. You can also negotiate interview dates, though this is admittedly harder in a bad economy.

As soon as you have a verbal offer, push all your other loops to skip you to onsite using that as leverage ("Don't let the awesome candidate of me get away!").

Negotiation Course: Determine Compensation Benchmarks

The key inputs to determine compensation are level, role/title, industry, geography

Use tools like [levels.fyi](http://levels.fyi) and glassdoor to understand what the typical market rate for the job is.

- **Level**: Offers are formulaic based on level, so you can obviously expect. Don’t reveal this to the recruiter.
- **Industry**: if your job as a SWE is a supportive role for the main product of the company, you’ll typically be paid less (e.g. engineer in healthcare compared to engineer in FAANG)
- **Geography**: California and New York are more expensive than other parts of the US and certainly more expensive than most of the world.

One pro tip here: use <https://h1bdata.info/> to see salary data that companies are legally required to report to the government

However, these sources can be out of date or show an incomplete picture, so the best source is talking to friends or people in the community, like in Taro.

In Rahul’s case, he had a pretty good idea that Snap gave out a lot of equity, Meta gave out huge signing bonuses, etc.

Negotiation Course: What If I HAVE To Give A Number?

A common complaint is that despite their best efforts, some tech workers are forced to give an expected compensation number to do a full interview at a company.

**Rebuttal #1**: You can just put a placeholder. e.g. put $1 for your salary expectation.

**Rebuttal #2**: Collect data from your network and provide a wide range. Ambiguity is your friend here, just talk about how compensation is one factor for you.

**Rebuttal #3**: Finally, even if you give a number you're unhappy with with, the interview is still good practice for you.

By the time you provide numbers, you ideally have done the legwork to know what to expect.

If you have to give a number, say the minimum number that is feasible for you. e.g. you need $250k TC to pay mortgage but the job's upper band is $180k)

Negotiation Course: Don't Give A Number First

The most important rule of negotiation is "Don't give a number first." Don’t talk about what compensation you’re expecting, and definitely don't share what you were making at your last job. 

It’s actually illegal in 22 states for recruiters to ask about your prior compensation (CA, NY, IL): <https://www.hrdive.com/news/salary-history-ban-states-list/516662/> 

Because of the info asymmetry we talked about before, there’s no benefit to you sharing a number, but a lot to lose. Henry Ford (the automaker in Detroit in the early 20th century) illustrated this well. He employed a tactic called "highball negotiation" where he would match the offer given by a landowner, even if it was inflated. Read more about this in "[The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century](https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Tycoon-Henry-American-Century/dp/0375707255)" by Steven Watts

Example dialog from the recruiter:

> We really need a number before proceeeding”

Sample candidate reply:

> At this time, I’m more focused on determining if the role is a good fit. I’m confident we can figure out an agreeable number once we mutually agree that we could work together.

Negotiation Course: How To Practice Negotiation Skills

Just like anything else, practice makes perfect. But conceptually understanding negotiation and practicing negotiation is very, very different.

Be aware of the difference in the incentives and working model between a job negotiation (once every 2 years) and your operational model on the job (every day).

- One (the job) is built on shared understanding, sharing vulnerability. There's a clear incentive to make life more comfortable for people around you.
- One (the negotiation) is **not** built on shared understanding. The person who wins is the person who can tolerate discomfort.

The upshot of all this is that negotiation is extremely important but you don’t get to practice much. Verbalize the advice and practice in conversation with a friend or family member.

Negotiation Course: When Should You Negotiate? And When Should You Not?

Negotiation makes the most sense for "high-leverage jobs" like software engineering or most other jobs in tech. An example of a low-leverage job would be to stock shelves in a grocery store or drive a taxi in NYC. The difference between the best and average worker in those fields is not that large. But in engineering, the difference in output for the best vs the average can easily be 10x or 100x.

Within the high-leverage category, there are jobs that have many comparable data points (e.g., junior or mid-level engineer) and those that are bespoke because they're rare/senior at the company, e.g., executive level or senior engineering leads.

Negotiation makes less sense for jobs that are purely stepping stones, or those that are time-bound. The classic example here is for internships. A good litmus test is if you know anyone who has ever negotiated that offer, e.g. no one at Stanford ever negotiated the summer research pay.

Finally, negotiation does not make sense if you already accepted the offer at a lower number.

Negotiation Course: Negotiation Is All About Leverage

The idea of **BATNA** (Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement) is about your ability to walk away from a deal. It is "*the most advantageous alternative that a negotiating party can take if negotiations fail and an agreement cannot be made.*" This will dictate your success in any kind of negotiation.

**As soon as you want something too badly, and the other party knows that, you will be taken advantage of**. (This is also how Venture Capitalists operate, by the way.)

There are three ingredients needed to gain leverage (and therefore successfully negotiate): 

1. Time (patience)

2. Information

3. Options (leverage)

If you have all 3, you can walk into negotiations with confidence.

Negotiation Course: Recognize The Information Asymmetry

First, let's make clear a harsh truth of the world: Companies are economically incentivized to pay you as little as possible, even if you think they're generous.

**You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you ask for.** Many candidates are unaware how high compensation can go, and therefore never ask about it. This leads to them being underpaid, and the information asymmetry is used to benefit the company.

Recruiters and companies talk to candidates every week or even every day. On the other hand, you probably only talk to a few companies every few years. So recruiters have way more information about what you’re likely making and what you may expect.

Negotiation Course: Understand What You’re Negotiating For

The most common (and important) parts of a compensation package in tech are: base salary, sign-on bonus, equity, annual bonus. There are other high-value benefits such as a 401k match, paid time off (PTO), and healthcare, but these are typically not negotiable terms. 

It's important to figure out what are the negotiable terms and what are not. e.g. start date is be negotiable: if you don't care about this, you can mention to the recruiter that you're willing to start as needed if the company can offer flexibility on a term that you care about, e.g. salary.

Another important takeaway is that "negotiating a job offer" and "negotiating a salary" are NOT the same thing. You should negotiate the terms of an offer in parallel, not serially. Talk about the whole package rather than talking about individual components.

Negotiation Course: Why Negotiation Is Extremely High Leverage

Negotiation may take a few hours of time (and a bit of uncertainty/discomfort), but the result could be life-changing for you. In a place like Silicon Valley, where engineers are highly paid, successful negotiation could easily net you 5 or 6 figures of additional income.

In addition, an increase in salary will “anchor” your compensation and the benefit will compound since raises are based on this. e.g. a 5% raise is a larger dollar value compared on a $120K salary ($6K) compared to a $100K salary ($5K).

The Steve Ballmer story when he joined Microsoft is an example of one of the largest wealth increases ever due to negotiation: his net worth today is $120B (that's $120 billion!). Even though he joined Microsoft as employee #30 in 1980, he ended up negotiating 8% equity ownership of Microsoft, a deal that made him a billionaire many times over. (Read more about [Steve Ballmer's deal here](https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2014/09/30/long-ago-twist-yielded-ballmer-a-fortune-in-microsoft-stock/?sh=16d42b7736a5).)

The famous article from Patrick McKenzie ([patio11](https://twitter.com/patio11)) about negotiation: [Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/)

Negotiation Course: Misconceptions Around Negotiating

Given how taboo money + compensation is, there are unsurprisingly many misconceptions about negotiation. Here are 3 common lies you may have heard about negotiation:

**Myth #1**: *"Your offer will get rescinded if you negotiate."* Companies will never rescind your offer for simply negotiating if you do it in good faith and you're not lying about it. Once you’ve gotten to the offer stage, the company has invested many hours of time evaluating you, so it'd be irrational for them to withdraw the offer simply because you're curious about the compensation package.

**Myth #2**: *"Negotiation makes you look cheap."* In fact, quite the opposite. Negotiating effectively shows that you're a high-value candidate, and that you understand the value you're bringing to the company. 

**Myth #3**: *"Someone will get less if you get more."* This is not how tech job offers work. The technology industry (at least the VC-backed companies that employ the majority of people) is focused on rapid growth. These companies are generally more concerned about growth rather than trying to save money through small compensation adjustments.

File all this under fake news!

Negotiation Course: Rahul's History And Success With Negotiation

Rahul's compensation went from $110K at the beginning of his career to $830K in his peak earning year, 2021, as a Tech Lead and Manager at Meta (Facebook). That's more than 7x! A lot of his Total Compensation (TC) growth can be attributed to his ability to negotiate. There were 2 main segments of negotiation in Rahul's career: 

- 2013: 5 offers at Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, and Square
- 2017: 6 offers at Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Stripe, Uber, and Airbnb

This gave Rahul the leverage he needed to see dramatic increases in compensation. Some examples: 

- The Snapchat stock grant went from $600K --&gt; $1.0MM and the signing bonus went from $10K --&gt; $100K
- The Facebook stock grant went from $325K --&gt; $600K and the signing bonus went from $30K --&gt; $45K

The numbers here are due primarily to timing, information, and options, all things you can learn. The results can be life-changing, and you don't need to be a genius programmer to discover your own version of this.

These data points show how negotiation is extremely high leverage. A few hours of extra work can lead to a change of 6 figures or more in compensation.

- Rahul's YouTube video about 5 offers he received as a new grad: <https://youtu.be/rceUVaiXQgU> 
- Rahul's YouTube video about how compensation in tech works: <https://youtu.be/wqdpzu4Oa2I>

Negotiation Course: How This Course Works

Your ability to negotiate is undeniably one of the highest-leverage skills you can learn. But tech workers are notoriously bad at negotiation. Based on discussions with 100s of tech workers, there are 2 common reasons for this: 

1. They choose not to negotiate. They somehow view negotiation as a perverse 'badge of honor' that they simply accept the first offer they receive and they don't want/need to ask for any adjustment. 
2. They try to negotiate but are ineffective. They don't have leverage or cannot defend why they're asking for certain things. 

This course is designed for tech employees who are exploring job opportunities and will receive a job offer in tech (and ideally multiple!). My goal is for you to feel confident and strong in discussions you have with recruiters and hiring managers.

This course is broken down into 3 major parts: 

1. **Principles** - How does negotiation work and why is it worthwhile?
2. **Planning** - What should you do (and not do) before and offer you receive an offer?
3. **Tactics** - What is the best course of action for various scenarios?

If you get more than a $10K increase in your compensation by following the tactics outlined in this course, send me an email at [rahul@jointaro.com](mailto:rahul@jointaro.com) -- we will celebrate together!

Onboarding Strategies For Engineers [Lightning Lesson]

As a new hire, onboarding is your responsibility, not your manager's.

The first few months in your job are crucial for creating first impressions and relationships that can either accelerate your success or limit your potential.

This is one of the concepts we cover in the Senior to Staff cohort-based course in June: <https://maven.com/taro/senior-to-staff>

30% of tech workers leave their jobs within 90 days -- don't be one of them! What you'll learn:

### **My Talk & Observe framework**

Build respect with your new manager and team.

### **4 key questions to ask your colleagues**

Learn crucial context and history from colleagues on your team or adjacent teams.

### **How to prevent failure modes**

Too many engineers are surprised with negative feedback in their first performance review -- we'll discuss why.

Taro Book Club: Designing Data Intensive Applications - Chapter 6 (Partitioning)

Topic: Chapter 6 - Replication

Session led by: [Bhavana Gannu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavanagannu/) and [Suraj Singh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-singh-495b192b/)

In this #taro-bookclub discussion, we talked about Chapter 6 of [**"Designing Data-Intensive Applications"**](https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321) by Martin Kleppmann.

[Office Hours] Doubling Your Impact As An Engineer By Doubling Your Empathy

Session led by [Ryan Kuck](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kuck/)

A core theme on Taro is that by increasing empathy you will build better, stronger relationships with your teammates. Additionally by having empathy for your manager, you will simplify your communication with them and make it easy for them to see your impact. And while it is tempting to put up a pull request as soon as the code is done, taking extra time to divide it into small, thoughtfully crafted pull requests that make OTHER people's life easier will make you a joy to work with. All of this is *slightly* counterintuitively about taking time to understand someone else better to make their life better which actually is a practice that makes your life a lot better.

Let's get together and swap stories about this! If you landed a promotion from thinking about the user's perspective and building a new feature for them, or you built an internal tool that saved other folks from having to do a repetitive task, please join and share! Also welcome is anyone who has a challenging work situation and is wondering if increasing empathy could help improve it.

Paper Reading: AutoDev: Automated AI-Driven Development

Are you interested in tools like the recently announced Devin?\
\
Join us for an enlightening session as we delve into the cutting-edge world of agentic AI-driven software development, featuring a comprehensive exploration of the AutoDev framework, Microsoft's agentic AI-driven software development framework.

This reading event will elucidate how AutoDev will revolutionize the software development process. Through enabling autonomous planning and the execution of complex engineering tasks, AI agents such as AutoDev will be fully integrated into common tools and technologies such as VSCode and GitHub. Discover how these agents can perform multiple operations on a codebase, from file editing and testing to git operations, all within a secure Docker-based environment.

Moreover, we will examine AutoDev's impressive performance on the HumanEval dataset, achieving remarkable scores of 91.5% and 87.8% for Pass@1 in code generation and test generation tasks, respectively. We will also discuss the implications of this research for the future of AI-assisted software development.

This event is a must-attend for software developers, researchers, and tech enthusiasts eager to understand the future of agentic AI-driven software development and its potential impact on the software development landscape. Whether you're interested in improving your development workflow, exploring AI applications in software engineering, or simply curious about the latest advancements in AI-driven development tools, this paper reading offers valuable insights and discussions on the forefront of technology innovation.

Mark your calendars and join us for an exciting hour of "AutoDev: Automated AI-Driven Development" exploration!

Q&A: Acing Tech Interviews In A Bad Job Market

Check out the full 4.5+ hour course diving even deeper into this session's concepts: [\[Course\] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/course/ace-your-tech-interview-and-get-a-job-as-a-software-engineer/)

Get Taro Premium at a discount with our special link here: <https://www.jointaro.com/r/achiou15/>

As a Taro Premium community member, you can get personalized advice from proven tech leads like Alex and Rahul at any time by starting career discussions in our forum and joining [Group Office Hours](https://www.jointaro.com/event/group-office-hours-with-alex-career-direction-company-offer-evaluation-jan19/). 

This is the Q&A portion of the 1-hour session we did about finding interview success in a bad job market. You can watch that session here: [Acing Tech Interviews In A Bad Job Market](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/Vz4jXfFIeQSSSzonpvH0/acing-tech-interviews-in-a-bad-job-market/)

Related resources for the questions in this video:

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - Data Structures And Algorithms](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/V4sTACzfOh22nMVcUV3w/masterclass-how-to-ace-your-big-tech-interview-data-structures-and-algorithms/)
- ["How can I get more internships?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/k8TNvbobgU1R7ICDWKus/how-can-i-get-more-internships/)
- [\[Masterclass\] How To Choose A Good Company And Team As A Software Engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/0WEmTNZOMIh8xAdfO3JH/masterclass-how-to-choose-a-good-company-and-team-as-a-software-engineer/)

Tech Career Growth Videos

Our instructional videos provide software engineers with insights needed for career growth. Masterclasses go incredibly in-depth on a specific tech topic while case studies are real examples from established engineering leaders.