This sub gave me the confidence to start looking which led to a $209k offer so I wanted to say THANK YOU

Throwaway for obvious reasons.

Background: SWE, non-FAANG, fully remote, not NYC or West coast

Currently at $130k at J1, considered OE and started looking for J2. Quickly decided OE wasn't for me, but I had a lot of momentum from job searching and decided to more actively pursue a new J1. A lot of emails promised $170k so I set that as my bar and ended up moving forward with the interview process with two companies, A and B.

After an exhausting amount of interviews, I ended up receiving an offer for exactly $170k at Company A, and they asked if I was interviewing anywhere else.

I told them yes, I was about to enter the on-site stage at company B and I'm expecting an offer after that because interviews have gone well with them too.

Company A said they would do "whatever it takes" to buy me out of B's remaining process. So I laid the cards out - company B is really competitive, they are going to offer me up to $190k (email said $150k - $190k). They said ok, we'll give you 10% more than that if you cease interviewing with them now and sign with us by EOW.

I call my current J1 manager, asking if they can match this offer. They said the BEST that current J1 can do is $160k, with eligibility for up to a $10k-$20k bonus each year based on performance.

I immediately signed company A as my new J1 at $209k BASE ($190k plus 10% buyout to stop interviewing at company B), and to sweeten it they added a $15k signing bonus as a thank you for signing so quickly!

Needless to say, I put in my two weeks at current J1 and notified B that I would be starting at another company and discontinuing the interview process.

I owe it all to this sub for making me realize what I am worth and motivating me to start looking for something better!

I'm happy to answer questions to a certain extent while of course trying to remain anonymous.

Edit: added some clarifying details