You're showing a very perceptive attitude by even asking such a question. The overwhelming majority of techies think that the only thing that should matter in terms of furthering their career is their technical skills. In reality, your ability to bargain and deal with other "soft" skills is as important, often even more important, than your techie skills. At the end of the day, it's very much like a game of poker. How valuable are you? How good of a hand do you hold at the bargaining table? Can you hold out for more because your competitors aren't as good? Can you pull off a good bluff, and win through sheer chutzpah? Unfortunately, there are no simple, one-size-fits-all answers to this issue. It's all about how good you can play the game. As long as you can back it up when they've hired you, and offer solid value for what they paid, I'd play to win and bargain for as much as I could get. Chistopher Duncan The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World Unite the Tribes: Ending Turf Wars for Career and Business Success RSS feed - News & notifications
