[epipsychidion]

Yeah I understand that, I'm just surprised that it's feasible to make that much in technology. I had an offer from Microsoft when I graduated that was about the same so I'd have to gain around 14.5% every year to get to 165k. Seems a bit high or perhaps I was just being lowballed.

[potatolicious]

Big companies suck at giving raises. I've achieved a pretty decent average-raise-per-year by hopping every year or two (works out to about 13% per year for me), I've only been in the industry for ~4 years.

Experience is worth a tremendous amount in this industry, but you'd never realize this if you're too loyal to a single employer. Shop around, hop when it benefits you.

Most starting new-grad packages are around $100K these days in the Bay Area, and said companies would be content giving you 1% to 3% raises a year from there. To maximize your value you must change jobs.

[nicholas73]

Is this really true outside of FB, Google, etc?

Outside of mobile/web dev?