It doesn't necessarily work that way. Java programmers at the high end can push their compensation into the 250k+ range by starting bidding wars. It's hard to d

It doesn't necessarily work that way. Java programmers at the high end can push their compensation into the 250k+ range by starting bidding wars. It's hard to do that in a small community. In Java, there are so many jobs that it's really easy for a good engineer to set up a bidding war. You have to be somewhat of a game-player to pull off the Java-engineer-bidding-war game. You have to be the sort of person who will work on the most horrible projects just to move up the salary scale. You also have to live in the Bay Area or New York, and use competing offers to drive up your pay every 2 years or so. At some point, though, these $300-500k Java engineers at tech giants (who, by the way, are mostly paid in stock with vesting, so if you're bearish on the markets, their comp is more modest than it appears) are going to dry out and have to go into big-company executive roles. Playing that game rots your brain, because you're spending more time looking like a great engineer than learning new things. Some people who are just as smart as me have better boredom-proofing and can work on enterprise Java. Good for them. I can't do it. I'd leave the industry before I'd maintain someone else's Java mudball.