Underpaying based on an information advantage, as a strategy, seems very self-defeating. The reason is that engineers who figure start to suspect that they are

Underpaying based on an information advantage, as a strategy, seems very self-defeating. The reason is that engineers who figure start to suspect that they are overpaid are unlikely to go confront their managers about it - they will first test their value by applying for other jobs. Once they get a much better offer, they are likely to leave rather than use it to negotiate. I've wondered why this happens so much, and I think some of it comes down to a personality difference between management types and many engineering types. Managers and other negotiating types aren't uncomfortable with the process, to the point where they are often bewildered that someone would go through all of that (leaving the company) when they could have just asked for more money.