I find the most important thing is the “deal” with the manager. “Here is what I can give you, Here is what I want in return.”
Some people want promotability. Some want remote work. Some want new technical challenges. Some flexibility. A manager can’t give everything to everyone but they can say, “I can give you all the flexibility you need as long as the servers never go down” or “I can work to promote you in a year if you hit every deadline and do three or four side projects”
That conversation is more important than any perk.
I agree 100% EXCEPT for the huge asymmetry in information that exists during that phase of an interview. "Hit every deadline", you would then need to know how aggressive and how frequent those deadlines are. You would have to know how stable the team(s) are because if a team has a deadline and loses the head engineer, well shit.
Negotiating and accepting an offer letter is way too much like gambling. Whether its start-up equity, growth/lifestyle promises of a manager, or hope that office politics won't grind your soul to dust within 3 months, its a huge risk even saying "yes".
True. I find this is easier as part of a longer term relationship. There is a gamble, and trust is involved. The one recourse is if they violate your trust, you can leave.
This doesn't work in many states because labor laws require companies to give every worker in a given role the same perks. If you allow Bob to work remotely, you also need to give that choice to Jason and Ashley. Texas is like this for instance.
This is the real reason why a lot of companies have trouble switching to remote work: they can't slowly transition. It has to be an on-off switch for all workers.
Some people want promotability. Some want remote work. Some want new technical challenges. Some flexibility. A manager can’t give everything to everyone but they can say, “I can give you all the flexibility you need as long as the servers never go down” or “I can work to promote you in a year if you hit every deadline and do three or four side projects”
That conversation is more important than any perk.