[semanticist]

Possibly, but not necessarily. My target salary wasn't especially low given my skill set and salary levels where I am, and was a substantial increase over my previous salary.

There wouldn't've realistically been room to haggle much up, my new employer being aware of current market conditions. The figure I'm talking about is the one you give to recruiters when they ask how much you want - it's my starting/'ideal' figure.

For a job that matched my desired career path almost perfectly, as a greenfield project at a very early stage start-up, using exactly the technologies that I'm interested in, offering me the number I've been giving to slave-traders, I didn't feel like negotiating.

If it'd been a suit-and-tie deal with one of the many local banks and insurance companies, that might be a different story. Their paperclip budget will be orders of magnitude more than my current employer's staffing budget. If I ask for too much money it might simply cut the runway down until it's no longer viable, and then I've wasted everyone's time.

Ultimately, I think this was an ideal 'negotiation' - they offered me exactly what I wanted, and I said 'yes'. Sometimes all the negotiation tactics and stupid head games can distract that whole point is for everyone to get what they want. I don't have space in my head to deal with second-guessing myself and my (then potential) employer over it all.

[kleinsch]

I've done the same thing before, and only recently have regretted it. It's much easier and less uncomfortable to accept what they're offering, especially if it's the amount you were anticipating, but if no negotiating was required, you definitely could have gotten more. Yes, you got what you were looking for, but could you find something to do with $5000/year more? Definitely.

I find most people (at least in the US) are uncomfortable negotiating, since the only times you do it seriously are when getting a job and buying a car. So long as you don't resort to the "Fuck You", negotiating is a professional thing to do and all will be forgotten once you come to an agreement and start the job.