It&#x27;s this kind of thinking why I have left several jobs and immediately got a 20% more money at my next job - the company I was with didn&#x27;t keep up with market rates.  It&#x27;s ridiculous, because my knowledge of their software makes me worth MORE than someone with the exact same skills and background who is new to the team.  It is this short sighted &quot;try to save 20k a year&quot; that causes so much turnover at companies. If you have a good engineer, give them raises constantly, or they&#x27;ll just leave for a new job that pays them more.  The 20k you might save is WAY less than what you&#x27;ll pay to get a new dev who doesn&#x27;t have nearly the same institutional knowledge as the one you lost.