Am I being overly paranoid? I walked away from a final-round offer because they refused to remove an aggressive 24-month signing bonus clawback clause. The base was great, but the contract stated that if I left for any reason (including getting laid off due to corporate restructuring) I would owe them the gross amount back immediately. In an industry where entire departments get wiped out overnight, signing that would have been financial suicide.

For those that are living as a one income household by choice, what is your salary and location? I'm curious if it's still a realistic dream to have one parent work from home and one work in tech and where that would be most feasible.

Would you trade a hybrid job with great work life balance & 4 day workweek but average pay, for a job with 2x higher salary but 5 days a week in office with an additional 30 minute commute time?

Is flat-rate remote pay actually fair? Our new remote hire living in Ohio is making the exact same base salary as me, and I’m paying Manhattan rent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for him, but my cost of living is literally double his. My company claims they don't do geographic localized pay, which sounded great during onboarding, but now I feel like I'm being financially penalized for living near the actual headquarters.

My manager just told me my salary is capped because I don't possess a formal Computer Science degree. I’ve been delivering for four years, but HR apparently has a rigid policy that limits non-degree holders to a lower compensation tier regardless of their output. Is this normal practice? Do I really need to go back for a degree despite all my real work experience?