I'm convinced that the only people who actually make what they are worth (at least in my industry) are people who either contract or start their own business. D

I'm convinced that the only people who actually make what they are worth (at least in my industry) are people who either contract or start their own business. During my grad school years, my PI contracted with other companies for a minimum of $300 an hour, but I've seen others in the industry with higher rates. The higher up you go in our company go from being able to reimburse a couple thousand dollars in travel, to capping out at over 8 figures. The way I see it, being self employed is the only way for most people to achieve these types of numbers. Now I don't have aspirations to ever work at those levels, I'm more focused on being debt free in the next ten years so I don't have to work such a high powered job, and I can retire early. But when I see compensation numbers like that, it certainly makes me think twice about picking up more than my fare share of work just to generate good will within the company.