[Retric]

My first programming job in northern VA in 2002 paid 38k and I had a CS degree. I suspect most people make less than 65k because the few at 120+k take many people at 40k to balance things out.

Granted, the job market was crap and I make 6 figures now, but there are still plenty of sub 40k programming jobs out there and people happy to take them.

[im2w1l]

> I suspect most people make less than 65k because the few at 120+k take many people at 40k to balance things out.

That's not how medians work

[Retric]

Garbage in Garbage out

Your assuming salaries are not inflated and that the ratio of people reporting salaries is constant at all income ranges and the reported numbers are accurate. I doubt any of those are true. So, IMO to observe a 65k median suggests the actual median is below 65k.

PS: Don't forget grad students count as recent CS grads and there generally not making anywhere close to 65K.