Since I'm in the DC area too, with clearance, the number you're throwing around are a bit of a stretch. We've got junior developers in the high $30K range and senior in the mid $60K range.
I do know that some agencies tried to give peanut wages to certain fresh-out-of-college students, but everyone I knew scoffed at it and found positions that paid twice as much elsewhere.
Additionally, we've taken people from help desk, put them on the server team, then placed them doing host based security and paid them upper 40's (before taxes).
Clearance level is TS.
That seems incredibly low, especially for a major metropolitan area. You must give great benefits.
Of course there are below average programmers, and perhaps they deserve a below average salary, but $30,000 less than average? I'm surprised.
Corporate norms are 1.5% to 2.5% for the talented.
I think you may be painting a simplistic picture, and are making an implicit statement about my experience.
I have never worked for a software company that didn't value it's developers or their contributions. Quite the contrary, in fact. Benefits, high salaries, flexible hours, work from home all on top of routine praise and a very supportive work environment. None of these will guarantee that a top employee won't be attracted to possibilities and challenges elsewhere.
We've got junior developers in the high $30K range and senior in the mid $60K range.
It is frankly unimaginable that a highly qualified developer would be paid $60k in the DC metro. The cost of living is easily on par with many parts of the SF Bay Area. It's quite possible that our standards for "senior developers" are different, but I'm quite confident my numbers are correct.
As far as $30k for junior engineers - frankly I know data entry technicians in Virginia who are paid that much or more.
High salary: 30K starting with sr devs going for around 60K to 70K
Flexible hours: 730 to 430 M-F, with Wednesday onsite support needed from 6pm to 10pm (you are allowed up show up no later than 9AM on Thursday)
That being the case, I'm increasingly unsure as to why you were lecturing me on employee retention.
The only tech company I know which has a substantial number of cleared people, a presence in DC, and is a startup, is Palantir, and there's no appreciable pay difference between Palo Alto and DC. New grads are effectively capped around $127k, but most take around $80k and more equity. It's also an excellent place to work.