IMHO, in the US, software professionals deserve at least the 36-month simple moving average of the USD equivalent salary of 50 troy oz gold in their first year,

IMHO, in the US, software professionals deserve at least the 36-month simple moving average of the USD equivalent salary of 50 troy oz gold in their first year, plus 5 troy oz for each year of professional experience. That's a bare minimum for a remote position. For a big-city hybrid position it would be at least 60 and 6. This is a somewhat noise-proof and inflation-resistant metric. Currently the SMA36mon is USD 1951. Solving for $175K, that's after 8 years if remote, or after 5 years if hybrid in a big-city.