Don't just think starting salary - think about your income over the course of your working life.

Your starting salary might be high - but it might mean that your ceiling after that is quite low. If you reach your ceiling too soon, you'll have to retrain to get more dough.

Retraining is starting again and might not jive very well with a partner and children in tow.

This makes no sense to me.

@helloworld my sense is - if the job market is competitive, I would offer a very high starting salary for junior positions.

But behind the scenes offer little to no growth in salary.

If your salary is not growing, but your responsibilities are increasing (either within work or personally), you might be tempted to move. However, your options for moving will be limited if your salary is high relative to experience.

It just seems to me, that it helps to have a balance between how much your salary can grow and your experience.

I've seen a number programmers move into contracting because salary growth in permanent positions is low.

@kunashe Does that even happen? More competition tends to have a downward effect on salaries, but I can't speak from authority. I do get your point though, thanks for clarifying.