Yeah, it's a tad hyperbolic, but mainly with regard to the proximity. It's likely that more competitive employers will not be in walking range, especially not i

Yeah, it's a tad hyperbolic, but mainly with regard to the proximity. It's likely that more competitive employers will not be in walking range, especially not in this week's weather! ;) It also depends on how long you've been at your current employer. Conventional wisdom is that once you're somewhere ~2 years, you're automatically leaving 10-15% on the table, because most companies are very stingy with raises. In an overheated market like SLC, that estimate is probably quite low. Here's an anecdote: recruiters are so desperate that one of them spammed myself and several associates for a specific role, and this particular solicitation contained an apology that the base was "only" 135k. I know that's "just out of school" rate in SF/LA, but in most of the country, that's considered pretty darn good. And this recruiter is here pre-emptively apologizing to every stranger she spams for the "low" rate. I got a lot more anecdotes, most of which are substantially better than that, but that's a quick simple one indicative of the kind of market we're in right now. At a recent-but-former employer, we routinely hired in new people at +40% more than their peers who'd been there for >3 years, simply because the market wouldn't accept anything less and HR was hyperskeptical of any raise >2%. My advice to anyone unhappy with their current compensation or employer is to go out and ask for the most ridiculous number you can think of. You may be surprised.