Comment by phendrenad2

People underestimate just how much of the industry was total garbage, pre-AI, pre-pandemic, the signs were all there in 2015. Who remembers "the average tenure of a software engineer in the SF bay area is 18 months". Was it ever really sustainable? That means that after just 18 months you'll get an offer from a company more fantastical than the one you're currently at, which has even more frothing-at-the-mouth investors and converted some of that into higher salary for you. And your current employer can't hope to match it, because they have already been written off by investors. We have a LONG way to fall to reach the true software industry value.