How tech salaries work in the US

Today if my first job offer in the US as a software engineer and I wanted to tell you about how I negotiated my salary. 

First, the recruiter called me after the onsite and offered me the job. She immediately asked me how much salary I want. I didn't know what to say so I told her I have to think about it. This is my first time negotiating in New York since I moved from Kyoto and I was nervous to give a number without knowing a lot about the cost of living. I did some research online and came across this article on engineer salary negotiation and I realized that it would be important for the recruiter to make the offer and not have me come up with a number.

I called back the recruiter and I ask him to make the offer first - he offered me $180,000 base and $120,000 equity over 4 years. I then went back to the article and went through all the questions about the value of the equity to get the necessary information.

I the end, I got more data about salaries and ended up asking for a raise on the offer, which I got after some negotiation.

What you should know about salaries in the US:

- It is negotiable so don't be afraid to ask

- Make sure you understand the equity component 

- There are a lot of additional bonuses like on signing and yearly target

- Do not ask for salary, wait for the recruiter to make the offer first

Hope my tip was helpful for you. I will be writing more on my blog about my negotiation in detail and making suggestions on what you can say to get a higher salary like me.