My personal experience has been different. I feel like that's just the risk averse part of you speaking. If you value a dev, would you really let him go over a

My personal experience has been different. I feel like that's just the risk averse part of you speaking. If you value a dev, would you really let him go over a bad quarter for ~20-40k vs another one who isn't "as good"? I don't think so. Of course, all bets are off if you are viewed as fungible. In that case your problem of asking/getting raises isn't the problem, it's a symptom.