I recently submitted my resignation from a management position where I was making $105k.
Shortly afterward, a VP reached out to me personally and told me the company really values me and wants to keep me. Without me asking for additional compensation, he offered to increase my salary immediately to $115k and offered to transfer me back to a location where I previously worked and was much happier. He also told me I could stay at that location indefinitely if that’s what it takes to keep me.
I haven’t withdrawn my resignation or accepted the counteroffer yet.
Here’s where I’m debating whether to negotiate further.
I have another potential opportunity working for a family business. Compensation isn’t finalized yet, so I don’t want to misrepresent it as a firm offer, but we’re discussing around $40/hour, which would be approximately $83k/year. I would also be working roughly 40 hours/week and could live at home rent-free.
If I stay with my current employer and accept the transfer, I’d be moving back to an area where my previous rent was about $2,400/month. My current management job also averages around 60 hours/week. The company would cover my relocation expenses.
I genuinely liked working at the location they’re offering to send me back to, so I’m seriously considering staying. This isn’t just an attempt to squeeze my employer for money.
Given the difference in housing costs and hours, I’m considering asking whether there’s additional flexibility above $115k. If they ask me for a number, I’m thinking about asking for **$125k**, with the understanding that they may counter around $120k.
My concern is that they already voluntarily gave me a nearly 10% raise, so I don’t want to come across as ungrateful or overplay my leverage.
**Would you negotiate again in this situation? Is $125k a reasonable opening ask after they already moved from $105k to $115k, or would you take the $115k and not push it?**
Also, would you mention the specifics of the competing family-business opportunity ($83k, no rent, \~40 hours/week), or simply say you have another opportunity that makes the financial comparison closer than the salaries suggest?

I’ve always been fascinated by the small psychological things that can completely change the outcome of a conversation.

So I recently put together a short book called 21 Psychological Tricks to Influence Anyone.

It’s not meant to be a traditional psychology textbook. I wanted it to be a practical, modern field guide — short, visual, and focused on techniques you can actually recognize and use.

One of the techniques I cover is the illusion of choice.

Instead of asking someone:

“Do you want to do this?”

you give them two acceptable options:

“Would you prefer A or B?”

The interesting part is that you're not necessarily taking away their freedom to choose. You're changing the psychological frame of the decision.

In negotiation, communication, sales, and even everyday conversations, the way choices are presented can sometimes matter as much as the choices themselves.

That’s one of 21 techniques I explore in the book.

I’m the author, so obviously I’m biased 😄 — but I genuinely enjoyed putting this together.

The book is designed to be premium, modern, and highly visual, rather than another wall of text.

Just wanted to share it here because persuasion and negotiation overlap in some pretty interesting ways.

I recently received an offer from Capgemini USA for a Data Engineer position. I have around 3 years of experience in Data Engineering, and the offer is $75K base salary + full-time benefits.

The position is hybrid, with NYC as the base location. However, HR told me that I likely won't be staying in NYC for very long. Once I am assigned to a client project, I may need to relocate to the client's location depending on the project requirements.

Currently, I am working remotely as a W-2 contractor for a small company and making around $90K/year. One thing to clarify is that I am currently working 25 hours per week due to limited available billing hours at my current company, but the annualized compensation is still around $90K based on my current rate. So financially, I'm doing well relative to the number of hours I'm working.

The main downside of my current role is that I don't feel like I'm learning or growing much, and since it's a contract position with limited billing hours, I'm also uncertain about how long the opportunity will last.

So I'm trying to decide between:

• Capgemini: $75K + benefits, full-time, potentially better career growth/learning, but hybrid/client relocation and lower base salary.
• Current job (W-2 contractor): ~$90K, fully remote, but limited growth and less job stability because it's a contract.

When I received the Capgemini offer, I was working with a tight timeline, so I accepted the $75K offer so we could move forward. This happened about one month ago.

Now that some time has passed, I'm wondering: Is it still reasonable to negotiate the salary after accepting the offer? With 3 years of experience, would asking for $85K be reasonable, or would it be too late at this point?

I'm currently on F-1 STEM OPT, which started last month. One of my concerns is future H-1B sponsorship. I've heard that Capgemini may not enter employees into the H-1B lottery immediately and sometimes waits until later in the STEM OPT period.

For anyone currently working at Capgemini or who has gone through this situation:

1. Does Capgemini typically sponsor/enter STEM OPT employees in the H-1B lottery from the beginning, or do they wait until a later year of STEM OPT?
2. Is $75K reasonable for this role with ~3 years of experience?
3. Is it still possible/appropriate to negotiate after accepting the offer one month ago?
4. Would you choose Capgemini for the career growth and stability, or stay with the $90K remote contract?

Would really appreciate advice from you all!