Inflation isn't really a single thing - it's a trend of prices of many things, some of which are going in opposite direction of each other driven by supply and

Inflation isn't really a single thing - it's a trend of prices of many things, some of which are going in opposite direction of each other driven by supply and demand. When more people want to buy houses than are for sale, price goes up. When nobody wants to buy your NFT, price goes down. Engineering salaries are subject to the same force. When companies are laying off engineers - there's more "supply" of that labor available so companies are able to hire without a bidding war. A few years ago, demand out-stripped supply so salaries were through the roof. And then obviously not all "engineers" are the same. Top AI implementers I bet are seeing compensation growth far in excess of inflation, while the sort of generic mid-level dev commands less bargaining power in the current moment.