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<p>What is likely part of the issue is that it is traditional for pay (in all kinds of jobs) to be associated with seniority.</p>
<p>However, in CS type of jobs, productivity can vary by an order of magnitude between different people, and probably rises to a person’s maximum relatively early in his/her career, but remaining fairly constant thereafter, although societally expected pay level continues to rise. The higher productivity people are probably a bargain at any stage of their careers, but the average or lower productivity people get priced out of the market as they become more senior and the traditionally expected pay level for their seniority becomes higher than what employers see them as being worth (and even if they are personally willing to take lower pay, the employers may not expect them to be willing to do so, or willing to stay for very long at lower pay).</p>