Can confirm. I've been living that life the past decade. Worked for two startups that unfortunately didn't succeed as employee #3 for low wages (~$50k) in my 20

Can confirm. I've been living that life the past decade. Worked for two startups that unfortunately didn't succeed as employee #3 for low wages (~$50k) in my 20s, because they seemed like great opportunities (and to be fair, I did learn a lot and I am proud of a few of the products that came out, even though they weren't successful) and I'm still struggling to get my wages up anywhere close to what gets casually tossed around as 'easy to get' here on a daily basis. And pretty much every single company I interview with makes sure they ask what my previous wage was before giving me an offer, and surprise, surprise, the offer they give me is only about 10-20% higher than my previous wage, and waaaay below market. I'm not in SV though, so wages are a little lower here on average anyway.