[jc4p]

I wouldn't call it sad at all. It's all a game, and these are the people that are playing to win (by their definition of "winning", which is a lot of people's: maximizing monetary gains)

I agree with a lot of what you say (and in fact, I work at a company that doesn't allow negotiations at all and has an open salary calculator: http://stackoverflow.com/company/salary/calculator ) but I wouldn't call it sad at all, I would call it playing the game.

I'm saying without any attempt at being rude: You're thinking way too much like a programmer.

[jcadam]

Thanks for the calculator. It's good to get an idea what some companies are willing to pay (I have an offer from another company that merely matches my current salary (though they have better benefits), and I've been agonizing over it). There's a possibility I'm above market rate already -- I live in a low COL area and that calculator about matches my current salary if I'm a skill level '2'.

One thing that struck me, that location adjustment for high COL cities isn't nearly enough. If I was working for SO, I'd definitely want to be remote.