Why don't tech companies pay their engineers to stay?
Maybe in FAANG world, salaries really do increase linearly like the graphs from the blog showed, but in the F500 corporate and contracting world, the slope starts leveling out after 10 years of experience.<p>A decent and ambitious dev can definitely gain 30% salary increases after their first few jumps, but once you&#x27;re at the &quot;senior&quot; level, it&#x27;s just not happening.<p>In the first 5-6 years of my career, I jumped about 4 times, each with a large increase: from $55K to $80K to $100K to $120K and finally to $140K about 7 years ago in a relatively high COL city in East Coast US.<p>As expected, even though my knowledge and skills have really increased over the past 7 years at my current gig, the company gives only the typical 2% inflation raises each year, and there is no equity or bonus system based on seniority.<p>So now I&#x27;m at about $160K, which is still okay for my area, but disappointing considering somebody with similar experience and absolutely no institutional knowledge would be hired for my position at $180K (maybe higher in this market).<p>But I&#x27;m stuck. I can go and play the interview game. And based on what I&#x27;ve seen, at best I&#x27;m going to get a salary offer of maybe $180K, and of that $20K increase, I&#x27;ll end up pocketing maybe $1K &#x2F; month extra, as all of the extra income will be taxed at my max rate.<p>Is that worth leaving a company where I&#x27;ve earned respect, have a lot of knowledge, know is tolerable, and where I&#x27;ve got &quot;credibility&quot; and a history with senior executives and management?<p>It&#x27;s not for $1K &#x2F; month, which may even be less if it turns out health insurance has a higher deductible, or I end up having to spend $200 &#x2F; month more on commuting costs.<p>I think most seniors hit this same glass ceiling earlier and earlier in their career - by mid to late 30&#x27;s. And unless they move into management or really strive to jump to the next tier (e.g. FAANG company or finance industry), then there&#x27;s no real financial incentive to jump, and a lot of risks if your current git is tolerable. 
And employers know that.