PG is just saying that if it had been a competitive market we dont know the extent of how much it would have increased engineering salaries. Thats true.

However lets take the case of NEw York where you can get program trading jobs for $300K and I have friends who got these kind of jobs. Hedge funds routinely pay $250K plus.

I think this is what would have happened in the valley.

I don't think that at all makes sense. The finance business in general distorts pricing. There are a whole host of professions that pay significantly more in NY than they do anywhere else.

That sounds like a reasonable assumption to me also.

Which companies are paying this, and what type of software are they making?

Trading companies. They're writing software in house to control stock trading (or that of any other financial instrument that's on the market. The software is so directly responsible for profit margins that the companies are forced to be very competitive with their compensation.

I was hoping for a more specific answer. I currently work at an algorithmic trading firm making software that trades securities, but I didn't find a position like this at $250K/year.

Algo trading at the bigger banks. Any head hunter in NYC can help you find such a position.

Does asking for evidence that a murder attempt succeeded imply that one thinks murder should be legal?