[flerchin]

I interviewed with Pivotal Labs this week. It went well and they wanted to move forward until I asked for my current compensation. They balked like I was asking for the moon. I coincidentally had an offer from another firm for a 15% raise, so I know I wasn't asking for too much. Pivotal declined when I wouldn't budge, and I took my 15% raise. I start in 3 weeks.

[yesiamyourdad]

I had a similar experience a couple years ago. The interview was pretty hard, 6 hours of pair programming in Go, a language that I have only passing familiarity with. The interviewer seemed impressed that I completed the entire task with time to spare. Then it got to talking about salary and that's when things seemed to go sideways. I make top of market for my area, because I've been doing this a long time and I have a history of success so past employers have rewarded me for it.

I think the thing is that in consulting, the equation is "margin = billable rate - salary". The higher the salary, the less profitable you are. Feels to me like Pivotal mostly hires mid-level people to hit the sweet spot of experience/skill/salary.

It's a bummer because I went on to work with a company that engaged Pivotal Labs and I loved working with the Pivots.