I'm thrilled that my video about what Elixir is has been well received. It really got around pretty well in the niche and I got a lot of enthusiastic feedback. I'm really excited to show the next video but I found one more nit to pick before I can publish it I think so it isn't ready for this newsletter issue.

I've also had some good conversations about doing a GDPR-friendly hosting series of videos. So that means, no major clouds, everything EU-owned businesses that aren't affected by the Schrems II ruling. For my US folks, sorry, this is uninteresting to you. For my EU folks, this is what opportunity looks like and I hope this legal space ends up keeping its teeth. At the same time I hope it becomes simpler. But start consider what open source projects you'd like to host for people on EU-only hosts, I bet the market is fast approaching.

Other than that, I'm slightly overextending myself and working on .. contracting myself .. again. When it rains it pours.

Leveraging leverage

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

It is easy to say that we software developers have a lot of leverage. We should just negotiate hard for the things we want. I've definitely pressed fellow developers on that point in the past and present. And to some extent that is quite true and to some extent it very much depends.

We are of an in-demand skillset. And the more experience you are believed to have the more in-demand you are. Note that I'm not talking about actual experience, rather the experience other parties imagine you to have, we'll return to it. This part of the calculation, the estimated experience, determines the length of your lever.

The quote also mentions the fulcrum but not the specs. Now your fulcrum is essential, otherwise you have a long stick on the ground, not really a lever at all. I'd say your tolerance to the pressures of a negotiation is your fulcrum. This is mostly not about your personal fortitude or persistance. It is much more about how stable your situation is. The ground you stand on, the resilience of your life, finances and social situation. We'll come back to it.

And then you also need something you want to move. If you don't know what you want out of a negotiation the only really good bet to aim for is a higher salary. But that has diminishing returns the higher you go and you can apply leverage in much more powerful ways if you are intentional about what you are trying to move, and where you want it. Less time working? Remote work? Perks? What are you actually trying to achieve?

You need the lever, the fulcrum and the thing you want to move to make any use of leverage and the longer the lever, the more stable the fulcrum and the more precisely you know the goal the easier the whole activity becomes.

So the lever is your believed experience in an in-demand skill. Why not just your skill? Well, I know I've tried to encourage women in tech to negotiate more heavily for what they want. But the thing is, you can only negotiate based on the shared beliefs of both parties. If the other party doesn't trust that you bring the right skill to the table they will treat any claim as less valid and they'll put your value lower.

Systemic distrust of women's technical skills mean that not all, but many of the recruiters, HR folks, managers and bosses your average woman developer encounters is likely to value their skills lower. On average. Similarly if you present differently, is socially awkward, come from a minority, don't command the language very well. There are many reason why your experience might not be taken for its actual value. It sucks.

I don't have a straight solution for that, it's a systemic problem. But it makes sense why people that are not white cis men with a strong command of english and a coffee hobby sometimes can't negotiate to the extent I for example could. You can envision it as an opression modifier on the trustworthiness of any experience they earn. Depending on who you deal with it might be no modification, it might be x0.5, x0.2, x0.01.

Juniors also don't get a very long lever. They get one, with some variety of length depending on what they've learned. But the trust is very low so it is definitely short and won't move worlds. Yet.

What isn't in the hands of the other party at all is your fulcrum. You are not negotiating unless you have the power to walk away from the deal. How stable is your base? How far can you afford to say "no"? How long can you wait for the right deal? How hard can you press on the lever to move something you want moved?

That's absolutely critical to leverage. If you haven't saved money you might not be able to bump your pay all that much or find that better company, simply because you need that job. If you do contract work and can't stomach being without a contract for a bit of time your own tolerance is the weak spot of your fulcrum. If you are in the US it may be that you have very good reason to keep your health insurance coverage absolute, it might not be for you, it could be for your loved ones. The way that system works places you on real uncertain ground which eats into your foundation, undermining your leverage.

So how do you optimize for leverage?

Make the record of your knowledge and skills public or otherwise difficult to deny. Help other parties trust you experience.

Build your foundation as well as you can, stabilize your self, and surroundings. So when you put pressure on that fulcrum it won't break anything.

Decide what you want, for this moment. Then you don't have to push so very hard and can move things with intent and precision.

None of these are trivial. Depending on who you are and your situation, they can be extremely difficult. But I think the model checks out.

Hope that was helpful. If you have a story about applying leverage I'd love to hear it. You can reach me at lars@underjord.io or on Twitter where I'm @lawik.

Thank you for reading as always. I appreciate your time and attention.

- Lars Wikman