No one in my circles said this, now I've heard it twice now through headlines of Microsoft trying to punish or block it.

Now I've started saying it too.

imo giving a range before the offer stage, just gives them a potential reason not to waste their time on you. Thats what they are screening for. So its always a bad idea. Wait for them to want you, then you A. Have leverage and B. don't get cut out early. Even if you don't get the job, having an offer is data you can carry forward. If you are so blessed to have multiple at the same window, great, but even if there are months in-between, you can push the next company that much more with confidence.

Today my plan is simple: 1. If they ask early - I hit them with the market range, lets see if theres a strong fit and we can work something out. I'm not worried etc 2. Do your research, don't just pull cold numbers but factor in your situation as much as possible. Put $ to any benefits, how much is it worth to you? Put that in a spreadsheet 3. When the time comes. Ask them to make an offer. If they ask you to throw the number out first just be bold and say something like "id love to hear your offer first, and then we can chat about any details" 4. Always ask for more. Its a short conversation, quick no and its over. I've gotten 5-20% more constantly when I've asked. I've never had an offer rescinded. Just be polite, use a team/us attitude (i.e. What are your constraints? Hmm ok how can we figure this out?) and embrace the silence. Putting on them to make the solution and just let the silence hang. 5. The only rule is whatever you say you'll accept, you must accept. Never ask for more once they have budged on your request, this is why you must ask for more and if you have a range, and they offer low, maybe tell them the range from the data and say something like "I know you only hire the best and you want to raise the bar with each hire, so I was hoping to see a number at the higher end of that range"

That being said, is copying the game outright legal?

I'm also a slow thinker and here somethings that have helped me:

1. lean into your strengths. Like you said in your post where you asked for more time for him during tests. Real life is much more negotiable. Ask for time, Ask to think on this and get back, etc.

2. Like some of said, prep is helpful. Utilize your super power by taking a look at the material before. This can be intense like when I'm interviewing I really go crazy with prep but it can also be 5mins before the meeting, gathering your thoughts.

3. To get better at real time thinking, for me, is taking some lose notes during the meeting.

4. Sometimes you have to tune out the presenter. If all they are doing is reading out the slides, I've found ignoring the presenter, and digesting the content on my own is better. Then I come up with question to clarify my understanding, highlight a decision that needs made and my opinion, think about how this may effect other areas, etc.

This can be accomplished by making small changes over time that break up all the new info a user has to learn and avoiding the big UI reveal which people universally hate because all that new learning is required at once and they need to get stuff done.

Often times its required because as a product moves into mass market phase of its life cycle, it needs to be simple to use for lots of people, which mean it doenst work great for any specific goup.

Which is why I'm really in favor of allowing customizations to the user where appropriate. It allows experts to have control over their flow and new users can enjoy the UX optimized for them.

For example you have 99% of scientist agreeing about global warming.

You have 1% who disagree.

So they write that "Some scientist disagree" and it sounds like its up for debate or maybe a significant portion know something the others don't.

In the pursuit of a "Balanced" POV they tip the scales vs just reporting where the scales are at accurately.

Let's say you have 2 opposing POV: A or B

"A" has a silent majority so only 5 of the 5,000 people post a comment about A being the right POV.

"B" is a passionate minority so 5 of the 50 people post a comment about B being the right POV.

To the viewer, it looks like a balanced discussion and a topic open to much debate, both sides have equal voice but in reality "A" is by far the most accepted position.