Salary Negotiations, Don't be Tough, be Honest

Jeff Northrop: I read a blog post the other day about how to properly negotiate a salary. It received a lot attention on Hacker News and generated a heated discussion. Obviously this is important to many of us — me included. However, I see things differently than Patrick. I’ve liked almost all of my bosses (5 to date), and enjoyed my past places of employment. I’ve generally felt fairly compensated and when I haven’t, I’ve done my research to make sure my feelings match reality then talked to my boss about it. In short I’ve treated salary negation like a considerate human relationship, not a game to win. Maybe I’ve “left money on the table,” but I hate playing games and frankly compensation negotiations aren’t a game. The gist of the post is this: “Be more assertive and shamelessly demand more.” I’ve been thinking about that advice quite a bit since reading it and it makes me feel sorry for those who have to follow this advice at face value.