> In my experience the only places where pay doesn't mostly depend on skills/smarts/effort are government and to a lesser degree the big monopolies/oligopolies

> In my experience the only places where pay doesn't mostly depend on skills/smarts/effort are government and to a lesser degree the big monopolies/oligopolies like Comcast. Your experience is definitely different from mine them. Even in startups, I regularly see developers with less skill being paid much more than their better colleagues merely through negotiation. The key determinants of salary, in order of importance, are: 1. Negotiation ability 2. Years of raise accumulation ("experience") 3. Skill