[Brushfire]

This is all generally very good advice but I’m equally amused at the ridiculous portrayal of “businessmen” throughout this post; most people do not see themselves this way and it’s sort of goofy to think they do. But that isn’t terribly important to the message.

Oh, and one other thing, if you’re at a 10-person ish startup, definitely don’t act like a company that is 1000ish. You’ll lose. And so your hiring practices should generally not align with what is outlined here.

[TehShrike]

When I first read this post over 7 years ago, it led to me negotiating an extra 6k/year on my next job, for an employer with <5 developers and <20 employees.

The portrayal of "businessmen" was also valuable to me. You're correct that most people don't think of themselves this way – but they should.

Reading this post was one of my first steps of many towards feeling like an active agent selling a service, rather than a passive agent looking for a corporation to glom on to.

There are plenty of companies who want to hire active agents, and they don't correlate perfectly with employee count.

[howlgarnish]

The point of the post is that you should see yourself as a businessman, even if it feels goofy: you're not begging for crumbs, you're negotiating price with another business.