> I mean.... so what? Why should I, as an engineer, care You shouldn't, you should always maximize your income. That wasn't my point. My point was the guy shou

> I mean.... so what? Why should I, as an engineer, care You shouldn't, you should always maximize your income. That wasn't my point. My point was the guy shouldn't interview at a 5-person bootstrapped startup and act bewildered when they cannot offer Facebook level comp packages. > oligopoly It's absolutely an oligopoly. There are a small number of firms who possess the capital to compete on salary and that creates a extremely high barrier to entry. It's not a bad thing, it's just the reality of the situation. There's plenty of options though, e.g. don't decide your HQ must be in San Francisco.