I strongly disagree with this. If you think that you can bring a good value to a company, you should price yourself at a premium level. If you don't believe in

I strongly disagree with this. If you think that you can bring a good value to a company, you should price yourself at a premium level. If you don't believe in yourself, why would you expect the company to do that? After you get hired, every raise will be based on your current salary (so a 5% increase of a higher starting point will get you to a higher salary). After that, the only way to have a significant raise is to change jobs. At least this is what I've noticed in my case. I know what I'm doing, I'm good at that and I know that it's hard for companies to find good people (most of them either lack experience or they simple don't care about the quality of their code). Why shouldn't I ask for more? I care about the job I'm doing and I'm expecting the same thing from my employer.