I haven’t had this problem in the past, probably because software companies are frequently so desperate for engineers that once they offer you a job they’re OK being strung along for quite a while. Plus I’ve never applied for things as disparate as graduate programs and non-academic jobs at the same time. So my experience is limited!
However, I do think that careful negotiation can help with this problem for high-skill non-software fields as well. If a company thinks you’re good enough to hire, they probably think you’re good enough to wait a little while for (unless they’re REALLY strapped for time). An exploding offer is often just them using Dark Arts to try to get people to accept before they can get better options, like what happened to your friend.
Between that, timing your job applications correctly, and investigating opportunities you haven’t officially been offered yet to see whether you really want them, it’s hopefully possible to smooth out many of the synchronization issues.
I haven’t had this problem in the past, probably because software companies are frequently so desperate for engineers that once they offer you a job they’re OK being strung along for quite a while. Plus I’ve never applied for things as disparate as graduate programs and non-academic jobs at the same time. So my experience is limited!
However, I do think that careful negotiation can help with this problem for high-skill non-software fields as well. If a company thinks you’re good enough to hire, they probably think you’re good enough to wait a little while for (unless they’re REALLY strapped for time). An exploding offer is often just them using Dark Arts to try to get people to accept before they can get better options, like what happened to your friend.
Between that, timing your job applications correctly, and investigating opportunities you haven’t officially been offered yet to see whether you really want them, it’s hopefully possible to smooth out many of the synchronization issues.