This is much harder to do when you 1) have dependents, 2) are bad at interviewing, 3) don't have time to interview, 4) don't have in-demand skills and/or 5) are not financially stable.

> and/or 5) are not financially stable

which many people - even senior developers - aren't because housing and other CoL expenses eat up wages everywhere, and companies exploit that as they wish.

Additionally, at least in the US and parts of the EU, the complications of legalized slavery aka H1B / other work visas make protesting against bad conditions much harder.

Don't talk about legalized slavery in regards to these programs. They have the right to walk away at any time, and that's their choice. Spend some time to read about kafala if you want to learn about modern slavery.

They have the right but in reality can’t find another job within the short timespan and after which they become illegal immigrants and have to go back home. Sure, it’s not impossible but on average it’s very hard to break the shackles of the H1B visas. Often these people put up high stakes to obtain these jobs and going back leaves them in debt. It’s a system designed to exploit

Both can be true. Just because one is worse does not make the other ok.

A worse situation does not trivialize a bad situation.

Oh I'm aware of that. The thing is, modern forms of slavery are varied in forms. Some are based on laws but still criticized as inhumane (e.g. US prison labor, kafala in Arab nations), some are based on laws but widely accepted (H1B, conscription in militaries), and some are completely illegal (e.g. human trafficking for sexual and agricultural exploitation).

Being sent back home is absolutely not slavery.

Not everything bad related to work is slavery.

For any high cost of living area where a senior developer works, there are plenty of non-developer workers doing the same 9-5s in the same office buildings on a fraction of their salary.

Maybe try a longer commute or a roommate before whining about your cost of living

W.r.t. immigration- you're certainly right. I would be terrified to rock the boat if my employer could put me at risk of deportation

This. Leadership may very well ignore or overlook your perspective, but make sure that your concerns are documented as risks or assumptions somewhere. Businesses almost always CYA, you should, too.

That only works when you have an alternative job offer, or you are confident your boss is bluffing.

Or you have savings.

Getting trapped in stressful bullshit that takes years off your life is an unseen price of many purchases; beware people.

And lest I be seen as victim blaming: Remember that many of us are very privileged and be kind to others. This advice is not to look away from others in need, but to look at your own purchases and their unseen costs.

This is something I learned late in my career. Leadership has to constantly justify their priorities and expenses. The goals they set and expect from their teams is also built from the feedback they receive from their teams.

What can they realistically build given the resources they have and teams in the time they need to deliver something? It's not magic and too often people fear if they don't commit to aggressive deadlines that they will be punished for it. Yes, this is a tug-of-war, leadership pushes to maximize and the teams push back to minimize until there is an agreement.

However, the important take-away, be open and honest about risks, and blockers. Give early and often reports to upper management about the state of things. As long as you're giving visibility to things you help leadership plan and realign on expectations so they can make course corrections if needed.

Too often I see things fall apart on the ground and another engineer tries to pick up the slack doing extra work. Leadership is never informed and so believe things are going as expected. They just see the work getting done, even if the team on the ground feels overworked and understaffed and so yea, it's not healthy.