I guess the economy is really picking up after all… I got another call from a head hunter yesterday. Not that I’m interested, but it was interesting to hear what she was looking for (Linux kernel, what else?). First of all I told her that I’m not interested, and then I told her that if it was my dream position or order of magnitude better compenstation than what I have right now, I’m willing to listen. She asked what is my dream job, and I told her that developing Linux itself full time, as opposed to developing for Linux most of the time, like I do now. Then she asked what “order of magnitude more compensation” means, and we had an interesting back-and-forth, the details of which should not concern the readership of this journal ;-). Bottom line, I’m not interested, but it’s nice to be wanted.
March 22, 2004
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Muli Ben-Yehuda's journal 
Heh. Was that a binary or decimal order of magnitude?
Comment by reddragdiva — March 22, 2004 @ 2:12 AM |
I meant decimal; she assumed binary.
Comment by mulix — March 22, 2004 @ 2:15 AM |
Oh, a point to her!
Comment by reddragdiva — March 22, 2004 @ 2:20 AM
Well, since I didn’t bite, that’s debatable 😉
It was a fun bit of proto-negotiation, though.
Comment by mulix — March 22, 2004 @ 2:24 AM
A financial thought: even if you are reasonably happy where you are, there are two good reasons to name a figure (even a full order of magnitude larger than the one you’re currently enjoying):
first, because any figure you name will come into the head-hunter’s internal database, making it easier for the next of your colleagues to ask for that much (or for a whole lot more than what the going rate is); and
second, because the main reason for working as an employee is the dream of obtaining financial independence; real programming dudes often underestimate their value to employers, which leads to people-who-are-really-good-at-marketing-themselves getting better wages than are warranted, while people-who-really-love-that-kernel-stuff may possibly get less.
So feel free to figure out what the real number that would make you move is, and to name it. Even with a disclaimer like: “I’m really very happy here, but I hope to retire someday, and $X0,000 a month would really make that day closer, so…” (and for heaven’s sake, if you somehow fail to stipulate things about ownership of rights to intellectual property, remember how very much those can be worth, ok?)
Comment by shunra — March 22, 2004 @ 6:39 AM |
I’m sorry for having taken so long to reply. I had a long, complicated answer, but after thinking about it some more, I can just say htat I agree with both of the points you make, the first one more than the second, and that’s why I even bothered with the “hypothetically speaking, it would take THIS much to get me interested” bit.
As for IP ownership issues, that’s a sore point if there ever was one. But as long as I can go on writing free software (I can), I’m willing to compromise on the rest.
Comment by mulix — March 25, 2004 @ 12:30 AM |
I agree
It’s also very not nice to not to be wanted.
Comment by omerm — March 22, 2004 @ 11:28 PM |
Re: I agree
I agree 😦
Comment by mulix — March 23, 2004 @ 5:03 AM |