I dunno, yet people do.

More commonly though I think people just aren't aware of the market situation, and comp ranges for specific jobs at specific companies.

Knowing the lay of the compensation land in your area is pretty critical to negotiating well - from both sides of the table. And this goes beyond generalities like "market salary" but to specific recent offers made for specific jobs at specific companies.

> I dunno, yet people do.

Honing the skill to determine whether or not a company is going to be able to pay you what you're worth is hinged on a few (apparently tricky) soft-skill-based assumptions:

- You can assess the company (quality, tier of engineer, etc.)

- You can assess your own market value, apparent worth accurately.

I like to give companies that I believe won't pay correctly the benefit of the doubt: I give a blowout number, xx% more than I believe I am worth. If I'm not met with resistance: I'm wrong and it hurts.

some people want interview practice for instance, or if they think that they can talk them up to their desired salary once the interviewer sees how good they are and have time invested into the process.

And it is sometimes worth interviewing with a company that sounds interesting. One can't predict how an interview will go beforehand. I've been pleasantly surprised by some interviews that I had expected would be completely uninteresting.