I don't mean to imply that it's not predictable—I just think it's relevant to note that it's completely unaccountable. You get a number, and that's your number.

I don't mean to imply that it's not predictable—I just think it's relevant to note that it's completely unaccountable. You get a number, and that's your number. Nor do I mean to imply that it's awful, or worse than X. I know from experience how unfair individual negotiation can be, having been on both ends of massive pay ranges for the same title and responsibilities at the same company. It's not all sunshine and roses in my current job as a software engineer at $BIGCORP, but I do appreciate the relative fairness with regard to pay, and the magnitude doesn't hurt either. Still, it's worth pointing out that a) unions have done great things for workers across many industries, b) that tech workers usually have no institutionalized collective bargaining power, c) that many tech workers have essentially no individual bargaining power either, and d) that tech work has been following a trend of increasing commodification.