Who must it necessarily come from bad negotiators? The market rate for senior software engineers could easily be $250-300k if everyone negotiated aggressively.

Who must it necessarily come from bad negotiators? The market rate for senior software engineers could easily be $250-300k if everyone negotiated aggressively. The ceiling on developer pay is the value they produce, and developers at many/most companies produce well above $300k in value a year. The hiring pool for senior talent is supply-constrained, not demand-constrained. If all developers were paid $250k/yr, I would expect top companies to hire just as aggressively. Negotiating aggressively could simply be bringing you closer to the perfect-equilibrium market price without implying that you're bringing down the salaries of non-negotiators. If anything, it's the non-negotiators bringing down salaries for everyone. Their not negotiating allows (some) companies to think the market rate is lower and to avoid paying for the higher negotiated rates.