[throwaway987978]

All the salary negotiation tips can be reduced to this: You have to have a better alternative. That means doing getting multiple offers within the same time period before you accept one.

All the other stuff goes out the window if you can do this. You can be a terrible negotiator. You can mention a number up front. It won't matter if you have other alternatives because it's easy for you to say "I'm sorry. I have an offer for $X more."

[haakonhr]

The BATNA (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/best-alternative-to-a-n...) is definitely important, but it is all about being willing to walk away. The multiple offers obviously helps with this, but that doesn't mean that you can still leave a lot of money on the table if you negotiate badly. If you have an offer from FAANG and one from another company the one from the other might still be lower than a low-ball offer from FAANG.