Lately, I've been hearing a lot of chatter about pay, especially among folks in roles like SWE II and SWE III. A few weeks back, I was chatting with a colleague who feels they're actually underpaid despite what we generally think of as competitive pay. They're doing similar work to others at higher levels but barely scraping by the salary range for their role. This seems to cause real frustration, especially when we get those performance reviews that are more about luck than skill. There's this divide, where some think it's fine - "hey, we're in tech, we're lucky" - while others are tired of being undervalued. It's tough when you hear different experiences in different teams. The overall vibe feels like a lot of mixed emotions, especially when it comes to equity. I wonder if anyone else feels this way or if these issues are just bubbling up on certain teams. tl;dr: pay feels uneven, leaving some feeling undervalued