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I think there's a misconception that junior devs require all that much training compared to an experienced engineer. I rarely have all that many relevant skills when starting a new job. I have to learn their processes/tools/etc from reading the docs. So I'm probably coming in at like 20% better than junior.

Junior devs will have an easier time finding jobs in positions that operate in niche industries, because they offer onboarding for everyone.

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If you’re only coming in at 20% above a complete junior you’re a slightly experienced junior elsewhere. You’re telling me your experience dealing with SDLC, incidents, abstractions, ubiquitous technologies like databases, CI/CD, k8s, etc only put you 20% ahead? Thats an absurd undersell.

> I have to learn their processes/tools/etc from reading the docs. > So I'm probably coming in at like 20% better than junior.

There are firms that take that to heart, and there is indeed a lot of truth in it. A large amount of skills and knowledge just aren't transferable when switching jobs. But I think it's not hard to create more than 20% of the value. And even if it really is 20% of the value, the profit generated from the work might actually be more than the salary gap anyway, and the 1-year growth curve might be faster for a senior than a junior.

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