[twh270]

Many people don't know how to negotiate (well), so they are at a disadvantage when entering compensation negotiations with a prospective employer who has HR/management that have the knowledge/skills to be able to negotiate lower compensation.

In addition, even assuming someone is a good negotiator, they generally can live without work for far less time than a particular employer can live without an employee filling a particular role. So people will often take a less-than-optimal compensation package because a job today that pays the bills is far more valuable than a job tomorrow that has the "best" compensation package.

I'm not saying collective bargaining is the only -- or even the best -- solution to this, but it's not as simple as just saying people should negotiate more.

[collyw]

Being someone who is likely closer to bad negotiator than good negotiator, this is something that can be learned. I am pretty sure there are hundreds or thousands of books on the subject.

[pclmulqdq]

I would assume that based on the amount of money that is at stake, most software engineers would try to become extremely good negotiators. A 1% improvement in salary for a SWE could easily be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over 10 years, so it is really silly to not try to understand how to get that money.

[travisoneill1]

The only way to get good is practice, and as an employee you only do this once every couple years or so. The company has people who do it every day.

[sumeno]

You would assume wrong

[Afton]

Yup. This seems like the right spot to plug this excellent article that has made me many 10s of thousands of dollars over my career:

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

Good thing patio11 doesn't demand a percentage for the millions and millions of dollars he is responsible for people collectively getting in increased salary/comp.

[patio11]

The great thing about my business model, such that it is, is that if I keep pushing that number higher I won't have to demand anything.

Winking, but not in the least bit a joke.