The only point I was trying to make is that these general median statistics across the entire state or even Boston aren't controlling for enough factors. Progra

The only point I was trying to make is that these general median statistics across the entire state or even Boston aren't controlling for enough factors. Programmers are generally well educated and the work is technical in nature. This does not describe a very significant portion of the individual workers rolled up in the general median statistics. I was trying to suggest you should be comparing to similar professions, such as engineering in general. Programmers don't look like nearly such an outlier then. Would you say most engineering disciplines are experiencing shortages? I don't think that's true. O&G is one potential counterexample. Chemical engineers are still very highly paid, the big oil companies don't struggle to hire the best students from the best engineering schools, and yet there are also lots of layoffs going on. The layoffs and hiring freezes seem inconsistent with the notion of a shortage. Law is another interesting example. There's no shortage of students graduating with law degrees. In fact, there's a vast excess, and a good chunk of them are unemployed or underemployed and will never work as an attorney. And yet many big law firms are still paying new associates big six figure salaries, and partners at major firms are still earning $250k-$700k. I find this especially interesting and even counterintuitive because it suggests that if there is a shortage, throwing an endless supply of entry level talent at the industry won't necessarily solve anything.