How do you decide to accept new job offer or not

For me, the most important things about a job are that I find the work interesting and the work environment is one that I'm compatible with. Also, that it's a company that is well-behaved. Experience has shown me that if those things aren't true, then I will be miserable and my job performance will be equally miserable.

Location is also extremely important. For instance, I can't handle living and working in the SV or Seattle areas, so any offers that require me to do that are automatically out.

Pay is important, but not a critical factor. I have a floor below which I won't go, but (fortunately) that floor is much lower than my value to employers -- so I can generally ignore pay issues, or use pay as a bargaining chip to get something else that I want more.

I'll also want to get a chance to walk through the offices and observe the other engineers working there. If they seem generally unhappy or overly stressed, then I'll turn the offer down.

In the order:

  sponsorship - because I'm an immigrant

  Tech stack - I spend most of my after office hours in doing new projects, effectively, I like to use the skills learned in the job. So an advanced tech and freedom to experiment with tech is always a top preference

  sustainability - a continuous revenue-generating company or dependent on new sales every time

  motivation - be it a side project or office work, I enjoy working on the problems that are pointed out - greater the impact, more the involvement

  hierarchy - from my experience, too many levels above you is a problem not just in career growth but also product implementations, which kills the pace and transparency

  compensation - a 20% hike is the least I expect

I make of list of all things (in a spreadsheet). Then I order the list Most to least. Add a multiplier factor. Sometimes comment - if they do not have this its a deal killer. I then make sure I answer the questions either through the interview, or HR. End result is I put a dollar figure to all the thoughts. I include work environment, ability to progress (everyone says they promote from within, do not believe it), salary, benefits, commute time.

The job before last I took, because of the work life balance and the benefits. Salary was lower, over a year, but side benefits and hours per year made it much better.

I do the same when I am house hunting.

The emotional side of me says: Don't run from something, run towards something. Whenever I catch myself convincing myself to accept a job, I know to reject it. On a more practical level, I score things that are important to me. E.g. Flexibility, company, values, salary etc. Then I try to make a decision only after I scored each of these. Coincidentally, this also helps when I negotiate a new job: Can't pay me more? How about I get more holiday?