Tell them that they aren’t in the same ballpark. Don’t give them specific numbers, just say that your current salary is considerably higher and accepting that severe of a pay cut just doesn’t make sense.

Also stop caring about titles. They really don’t mean anything. Go for money in your job, even if it is the most boring thing in world. Unless it is immoral or against your fundamental beliefs, always go for the money. It’s a job accept that, that is the justification it doesn’t need to fun or enjoyable the goal is to get to the end with the most amount of money as quickly as possible.

Anonymous wrote:Executive compensation was the only high comp 20 years ago due to the economy (how capital flows through the market).

Now 400k is a mid senior salary for certain industries.

Tech and AI made it possible for designers, creators and investors to do their job without being under some bloated ego mid management.

I stand by my earlier statement, which was qualified on this being the DC area and “99% of cases” (i.e., not necessarily ALL cases). We’re not discussing Silicon Valley. There are only a few companies in the DC area offering Silicon Valley money for mid-Senior engineers.

Perhaps OP is a lawyer. Maybe OP is a physician. Even if OP is a mid-level Google or Amazon engineer, any of these jobs should mean the person is capable of assessing this scenario without help from rando internet strangers.

I suppose I’m just in a sour mood, with OP indecisive about their $400K job while my company, and many others in DC, are laying off 20 to 30% off their staff.

Anonymous wrote:If you are honestly making $390K/year, I don’t understand why you need advice from internet strangers. I assume your current employer relies on your judgement to make more important/complicated decisions than this. In 99% of situations in the DC area, $400K is executive-level money.

Executive compensation was the only high comp 20 years ago due to the economy (how capital flows through the market).

Now 400k is a mid senior salary for certain industries.

Tech and AI made it possible for designers, creators and investors to do their job without being under some bloated ego mid management.

If you are honestly making $390K/year, I don’t understand why you need advice from internet strangers. I assume your current employer relies on your judgement to make more important/complicated decisions than this. In 99% of situations in the DC area, $400K is executive-level money.