> I dunno, yet people do.

Honing the skill to determine whether or not a company is going to be able to pay you what you're worth is hinged on a few (apparently tricky) soft-skill-based assumptions:

- You can assess the company (quality, tier of engineer, etc.)

- You can assess your own market value, apparent worth accurately.

I like to give companies that I believe won't pay correctly the benefit of the doubt: I give a blowout number, xx% more than I believe I am worth. If I'm not met with resistance: I'm wrong and it hurts.