That dev's salary is higher than mine
Quick poll:  Has anybody here <i>ever</i> received a year-end salary increase on the same order of magnitude as what they'd get from simply switching jobs?<p>I didn't think so.<p>Early in your career, your market value increases so fast that there's simply no way a percentage raise can keep up.<p>I remember a situation at my 2nd job after college, where I knew that I was worth almost double what they were paying me.  I told them as much and laid out the case as to why.  They bent over backward and scraped together something like a 20% raise, which they probably thought was pretty good.<p>Of course, on top of a junior dev salary it was still way out of line with what I should have been at.  I polished up the resume and within a couple weeks I accepted an offer for roughly <i>double</i> my pre-raise salary.  At my exit interview I told them how much I loved working there (it really was the best job I ever had), but I just couldn't afford to leave that much on the table.<p>It was probably the smartest career move I could have made, and it really drove home the point:  You don't adjust your salary through raises in this industry.  If you want to be paid what you deserve, you need to switch jobs.