Odds are you're living in a bubble, or the people who talk about money tend to be the ones earning more. Average wages really are that low, median wages even mo

Odds are you're living in a bubble, or the people who talk about money tend to be the ones earning more. Average wages really are that low, median wages even more so. Most developers do not talk or negotiate. One colleague I knew, by far one of the best in the company given his YoE, basically accepted his contract under the assumption of 'yeah I assume everyone just takes that, so I did as well'. This was a guy who was otherwise incredibly critical and vocal about anything. In that same company, they did 'research' average salaries (they just asked some other company with data), bluntly said in a meeting with developers 'so we know your salaries are lower than market rate, but we're not going to increase them immediately'. The only rational behavior I took from all this is the ability of established employers to just wave their hands at most of it and still be able to give everything at or above upper management fat wages / profits, given the 'peasants' will just accept things.