Your comments are wonderful! I appreciate you taking the time to share these thoughts and have a conversation with me.
In terms of minimum: there are ways to increase the quality of our data as decision-making input, but I think decision-making will always be deeply personal, both as a process and in terms of every person's unique situation and concerns.
I'm comfortable being a sounding board for a specific person and scenario, but general advice... maybe I could (in the future) share anonymous stories that shed light on possibilities.
As you say, early career candidates (and also career/role switchers), can encounter "minimum number" uncertainty in terms of past history, though the market ranges also tend to be more strictly defined and the roles more consistent than, for example, what "Senior" means across companies.
At any rate, since finding one's second job becomes a lot easier than the first, I generally advise early career (and early second or third career) candidates to not stress too much about the first job once it's on their doorstep and there are no other options on the horizon. Especially when rent is coming up and you don't have "current tech job" or "many years working in tech" savings buffering your job search.
However, candidates can do a lot of work before that point:
Finding companies that are a good fit in multiple ways (ie growth opportunities and respectful compensation; good commute and resonating mission, etc)
Clustering applications and interviews together to reduce the chance of receiving offers in isolation. (It's tricky to tell a company to slow down because they're not you're favorite, so if possible, tell the other companies to speed up.)
Impressing interviewers to increase your "we want to hire this candidate!" leverage even if you don't have other offers
PS - Candidates who have been considerably underpaid for too long can have similar ambiguity on an emotional level, though I've found it a lot easier to validate expectations and negotiate compensation.
As for relative jealousy: you give sage advice; if only it were an easier pill to swallow!
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Your comments are wonderful! I appreciate you taking the time to share these thoughts and have a conversation with me.
In terms of minimum: there are ways to increase the quality of our data as decision-making input, but I think decision-making will always be deeply personal, both as a process and in terms of every person's unique situation and concerns.
I'm comfortable being a sounding board for a specific person and scenario, but general advice... maybe I could (in the future) share anonymous stories that shed light on possibilities.
As you say, early career candidates (and also career/role switchers), can encounter "minimum number" uncertainty in terms of past history, though the market ranges also tend to be more strictly defined and the roles more consistent than, for example, what "Senior" means across companies.
At any rate, since finding one's second job becomes a lot easier than the first, I generally advise early career (and early second or third career) candidates to not stress too much about the first job once it's on their doorstep and there are no other options on the horizon. Especially when rent is coming up and you don't have "current tech job" or "many years working in tech" savings buffering your job search.
However, candidates can do a lot of work before that point:
PS - Candidates who have been considerably underpaid for too long can have similar ambiguity on an emotional level, though I've found it a lot easier to validate expectations and negotiate compensation.
As for relative jealousy: you give sage advice; if only it were an easier pill to swallow!