In my experience (and this is only my experience/observations) it is extremely unprofessional to bring up a coworkers salary in your own negotiations, for sever

In my experience (and this is only my experience/observations) it is extremely unprofessional to bring up a coworkers salary in your own negotiations, for several reasons. Many companies still have policies against coworkers sharing salary information. Yes, this is illegal in the US, but practically speaking: it being illegal is about as effective as requiring traffic police to have a "preponderance of wrongdoing" to perform a traffic stop. It still happens near constantly, and the cost/benefit of trying to enforce these laws in most cases isn't enough to actually pursue. (if you were to try and file a cause of action against your workplace for such a violation, you would surely mark yourself to future employers as being litigious - i.e you would paint yourself as a trouble-maker, so the benefit to doing so would have to be pretty big). Secondly, social conventions don't really provide an incentive for near-strangers (and that's what many coworkers are for much of their careers) to share salary information. Yes, game theory says everyone wins if everyone shares, but we live in a society that is super prone to being offended. I don't even think it's polite to discuss money with friends. As other posts on HN have stressed over the years, what really gives someone power in negotiations is a "Best Alternative" or BATNA[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiated_agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiat...