Most of developers in the world aren't allowed to move to SV or Seattle and get those salaries.
Just for a datapoint, I've never lived in the Bay Area (and haven't worked on-site for a dozen years), and I make a lot more than that as a developer. I am in no way unique. This is in fact what good devs make if we ask for it. Nomatter where we live.
Incidentally, you're right that you generally won't receive an initial offer for that kind of money. You need to negotiate for it. That is sadly another area we devs are not historically good at:
http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/developers-should-lear...
The national median is right around $100k.
Developers that earn significantly more than that have significant ownership stakes in the company, highly desirable skill-sets, or notoriety in the field.
Personally, I prefer to listen to the person who has tried a thing and declared it possible, rather than the person who has never tried that thing and declared it impossible.
Sadly, this thread (and others like it) fill up quickly with that latter group.
You're typical mid-western Java dev is not going to get a job for $300k. Or anywhere remotely close to it. Those salaries are for very specialized roles and consultants.
And keep in mind, I can do both things at once. While I don't buy it that the current market rate is 300k even in San Francisco, I am absolutely all ears. I would appreciate it greatly if you wrote in more detail about how I can get to this salary level. Since this is HN, I guess I'll just add this bit: no, I'm not looking for detail to pick apart and argue about. I would absolutely like to hear about how you've achieved this and believe that it isn't a remarkably difficult thing to do.
for extremely competitive, highly sought-after employers. I guarantee you if you go to Texas, that salary $ is not that high on the mean at all.
It's something I notice every time salary comes up here.
Story: "Yet Another Datapoint showing that the current market rate for developers is $300,000/year and higher."
Hacker News: "No It Isn't!"
You can almost see the fingers stuck in ears reading the top comments on these stories. In my mind, the thing to do when somebody tells you how you can make twice what you did 5 years ago in this profession isn't to call that guy a liar. A better reaction would be to talk about actionable ways to go get one o' those salaries.