I mostly agree but 'half the market rate' glosses over a lot of things. For example, according to WhatUni [1], the average computer science graduate salary aft

I mostly agree but 'half the market rate' glosses over a lot of things. For example, according to WhatUni [1], the average computer science graduate salary after leaving uni is £27K. Even after a year or two of pay increments, the average (median? not sure) CS graduate could be earning less than the £35K threshold. It's not just the "unis" that deserve double quotes with this kind of salary range: Exeter is Russell Group, but the same site says their graduates have a £28K average starting salary. Staying with Exeter, their 2023 pay scales [2] have postdocs starting at £31K, and lecturers in the £40K-50K range; by the time you're earning double of £35k, you're well into associate professor territory. Sure, you won't get a good senior developer for £35K. But if your business model is lots of juniors and high churn, you'll get plenty of people in that range. [1] https://www.whatuni.com/degrees/computer-science-bsc-hons/university-of-exeter/cd/54938676/3740/ https://www.whatuni.com/degrees/computer-science-bsc-hons/un... [2] https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/humanresources/documents/payroll/Grading_structure_Feb2023.pdf https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/humanresou...