>In the 4 years I've been on HN the quotes I hear for "generic CS undergrad from Stanford" are up more than 25% (80k to 110k or so, starting salary offer). Ju

>In the 4 years I've been on HN the quotes I hear for "generic CS undergrad from Stanford" are up more than 25% (80k to 110k or so, starting salary offer). Just looking at Stanford grads is far from representative. In fact Stanford is possibly the most extreme outlier! The US median salary for a fresh CS grad in 2013 was $59,221 [1]. Adjusted for inflation, that's $41,323 in 1998 dollars [2], which at that time was a pretty unremarkable salary for a fresh CS grad (or anyone who just knew HTML, for that matter). Barring a more methodical argument, I think it's more likely that your perception of the market is skewed by "generic CS undergrads from Stanford" you rub shoulders with than it is that the widely cited averages of the entire market are skewed by a sudden youthfulness of the workforce. 1) http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/01/11/starting-salaries-jump-3-4-for-new-grads/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/01/11/starting-s... 2) http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm