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Comment by ryanx435 | Hacker News Reader

Why did she retract her applications from companies during salary negotiations just because of the way the ask for first bid was phrased? ("How much are you expecting us to pay him you?")

Seems like she should have asked for more than she wanted with the expectation that the company would make a lower counter offer.

I mean, a job is literally money in exchange for services. It's reasonable for both sides to talk about what the exchange rate is going to be during the interview process.

Edit: she admits that she is a junior developer and often doesn't know what she is doing in her post. It's reasonable for this to be factored into her salary. None of you downvoters have yet to provide an answer to my question of why she withdrew applications because of the way salary negotiations where phrased to her.

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You ignored the "So given that you don't really know what you are doing" part.

With that included the question sounds rude and makes it sound like the candidate should be grateful for whatever they are going to pay.

It's like a candidate going to an interview at a company in bad technical shape and saying "So given your product is an outdated buggy piece of crap, how much are you paying me to put up with it?".

Yeah, that's a common negotiating tactic, which is why I'm confused as to why she withdrew her applications

It's common to call candidates clueless in order to wrangle maybe an extra $20k max out of them?

Probably at toxic companies.

That's not a negotiating tactic. That's called being an ass.

There are more professional and polite ways of saying "we are able to offer you a junior-level salary".

Its kind of an asshole question to ask, and if was sincere, I would question the judgement of people who want to hire someone so unqualified in the first place, even at a discount.

Ha! I actually like the audacity of a (theoretical imaginary) candidate saying that. If everyone in the room is feeling that same pain (it's a buggy piece of crap) they might even appreciate it and laugh. But on the other hand it's still rude and would still raise a warning about the candidate, just like you're basically saying.

What if they concluded this based on evaluation of her skills?

It's still rude and unprofessional to phrase it that way.

She thought it was important that the company was talking down to her. It's not a matter of accident just in the salary negotiation. It's a leading indicator of how they thought of her and what she could expect on the job. It's a red flag, and red flags are reasons to get out while you can.

A job is quite a bit more than "money in exchange for services." It's also a time sink, and an opportunity cost. And often, a barrier or aid to achieving some other goal.

Life isn't a ledger where everything is a numerically balanced transaction.

I believe it was the "given that you don't know what you're doing" part, not the "how much do you expect us to pay you" part.

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