"...that's not a bad salary."<p>That's entitlement thinking and it ignores economics. Salaries in software (and in most white collar jobs) are a negotiation. If all goes well the employer feels they are slightly overpaying and the employee feels slightly undervalued. If either side is happy then there's an inequity.<p>One is <i>not</i> entitled to specific salary, nor is one limited by a specific cap on salary.<p>The second point that there are non-monetary values to a job is well said though.