MISTAKES TO AVOID:

While many candidates in tech are aware enough to attempt to negotiate, there are a series of errors that you should try to avoid making

1 2 3

First, be sure to research market rate salaries only within your sub-fields. While it may be true that software engineers with your experience are making, say, $135k base salary as SWEs at Facebook, such a high figure isn’t going to fly at employers that aren’t in the same exact market space meaning you ’ re going to see much lower figures in, for example, academia, government, small firms, and other market segments like aerospace. Take care to compare apples to apples.

Second, be sure to use the right reasons when negotiating School name, for instance, is not typically a factor that is weighted heavily in tech fields (this is different than in, say, quantitative trading firms or law firms, where school prestige does tend to be considered ) Other personal factors like student loan debt, family obligations, medical expenses, et cetera should not be brought up in negotiation Keep it focused on what financial figures are commensurate with your skills and experience according to the market Typically, factors like cost of living will already be factored into an offer but do feel free to ask

Finally, get creative with negotiation. In tech, many employers will not negotiate base salary but will negotiate factors like stock grants or options, signing or starting bonus, or even sometimes things like relocation or percentage targets for eventual performance bonuses (rare but worth mentioning.) If you find that an employer won’t budge on one factor, try another.

After all, business is business.