[DistressedDrone]

> The BATNA is zero.

It's not though, is it? If you're not currently employed but are employable, the alternative is waiting a few more weeks for the next offer. Whether you want to do that or can even afford to, the company doesn't know.

I'm wary of the given advice for a different reason: tech is a very unique job market. Anything written by someone in tech is always to be considered only from that perspective. This is because the market isn't just (very) favorable to job-seekers, it's downright weird. Here in Montreal, there must be about 10 people in a "city area" of 3 million with my specific skills and experience with certain software. There are thousands of software engineeers with more experience or who are just smarter, better at coding. But almost none of them have my experience (and very few of my skills overlap with any other given individual's). How do you even value a role that is, all in all, incomparable? Well, you negociate.

It would seem irresponsible to me to give the same advice to someone who's unspecialized or to anyone in most job markets (which supply-demand trends tend to favor employers). But that's still not "zero" BATNA : You can always afford to wait (at least until you can't).

[ghaff]

And I assume the flip side of having a specialized skill/resume is that there are relative few places that are a good fit for you, especially if you're expensive.

Which to my point in another comment probably means you won't easily find another job immediately while a relatively high-skill mid-level Java developer can probably land several offers fairly quickly if they're in an urban area of any size.