software engineering / tech careers
Offering Me Less Than I Made as a Junior Engineer
Austin describes declining an earlier senior software engineering offer and accepting a higher-paying mid-level role. He explains why he chose to negotiate and make the decision on his own terms.
Transcript
0:00Early in my job hunt, I got a job offer where I'd make $185,000 per year. This was for a senior level
0:07position that was a perfect fit for they wanted me to build a agentic infrastructure for their
0:12business. This is a startup that was basically bragging about how they made a lot of money.
0:17The customers loved the product. They're making more revenue. Everything was going well. When it
0:21came to offer negotiations, I asked for something extremely modest, like maybe like $75,000 in
0:26And they said no. And so I turned down the job. People on TikTok said, why would you turn down
0:32a job when you're unemployed? They said that it didn't make any sense. Now, in one week,
0:38I'm starting a job where I'll make $340,000 per year as a mid-level engineer. I'm making double
0:47what I would have made. So let this be a lesson to you. Don't take what people say at face value.
0:53Don't let other people that don't know you and that couldn't care if you lived or died dictate
1:00your life. I declined the job and got multiple better offers from companies that actually
1:05respected me. It's your life. Live it on your terms.
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