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How to Negotiate a Software Engineer Salary: My $210K Base Offer
Austin just got a software engineering job offer with a $210,000 base salary, not total compensation, plus a $20,000 sign-on bonus. Here is his step-by-step guide for CS students and engineers who want the compensation they deserve.
Step one is an actually good interview performance. Doing well on the technical and behavioral interviews is not enough: the people inside should like you, and a strong recruiter on your side will go to bat for you. Step two is domain knowledge or specific expertise that the job market lacks and the company needs; for Austin that was health tech experience and a demonstrated passion for it. Step three, and probably the most important, is a competing job offer that pays about as much or more, which makes it much easier for the recruiter to ask the executive team for more money.
These are the exact tips that got him a $20,000 sign-on bonus as a mid-level software engineer. The video is illustrated as an animated sketchbook after his opening.
Transcript
0:00I'm a software engineer and I just got a job offer where I make over $210,000, not as my total compensation, but my base salary alone.
0:13And not only that, I got a staggering $20,000 sign-on bonus, and today I'm gonna teach you how to do the same.
0:25So if you're a CS student and you're wondering how do you actually negotiate these software engineering jobs, how do you get the compensation that you actually want and deserve, stop and save this video.
0:40Step one is to have an actually good interview performance, and it's not enough to just do well on the technical and behavioral interviews.
0:51You have to make the people inside actually kind of like you, and it really helps if the recruiter is really on your side.
1:02This does sometimes require a little bit of luck, but if you get a strong recruiter, they should be out to bat for you.
1:11The second thing you need is a little bit of domain knowledge or specific expertise.
1:17If you have a set of skills that aren't common in the job market that they need, then it's much easier to ask for more money.
1:26So in my specific case, I just have a lot of experience within health tech and a demonstrated interest and passion in it.
1:36So that made it really easy to try to ask for more compensation.
1:41The final thing you need, and this is probably the most important: you need a competing job offer.
1:51If you have a competing job offer that pays about as much or more than the current job, then it makes it much easier from the recruiter side to actually ask the executive team for more money.
2:08These exact tips are how I got a $20,000 sign-on bonus as a mid-level software engineer.
2:18Follow for more.
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