> On 11/28/2011 02:53 PM, Richard Holden wrote:
>> But never ever try to extort money from a current employer by saying you "have another offer" that you want them to match.


I have always lived by this rule, because I thought it was a slime-ball thing to do to an employer. But my opinion is changing.

Now that I lead a team of engineers, I would want to know if one of my engineers were looking at offers from other companies.

Like, right away.

But sometimes it happens by accident. Sometimes a recruiter will get your attention and before you know it, boom! You're in an honest-to-goodness interview because you just wanted to "at least check it out". And then an offer letter naturally follows. This has happened to me a few times, and I *never* took the offer to negotiate with my current employer. It did, however, give me solid ammunition to ask for a raise when the time was appropriate. And I did that on a few occasions.

One thing I know for sure: If the only way your boss will give you a raise is by shopping around for other jobs, you need another job anyway. Just quit. The market is good enough that talented software developers don't need to sit around in jobs that stink.

It's an exciting time to be graduating from college. There does not appear to be a recession in the software development job market. When I graduated in 2003, I was lucky to get a call back from a prospective employer, let alone a job offer.

How's it looking nowadays for new grads?

--Dave
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