[hmfrh]

You probably think that you do, but in reality you don't.

Large corporations have been proven to fix wages for tech workers[1]. There's literally no way that you could have any possible way of bargaining your way around that as a single person.

[1]: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/04/24/306592297...

[ejb999]

>>There's literally no way that you could have any possible way of bargaining your way around that as a single person.

Actually you do, by walking across the street and getting a big fat raise to join a different company. That is one of many reasons engineers by and large don't feel a need to have someone else bargain for them - they negotiate with their feet.

[smachiz]

If you clicked the Parent's link, you would have seen it was discussing the anti-poaching collusion / wage fixing that was going on.

You couldn't walk across the street, because the company across the street agreed not to hire employees from the other company across the street.

The free market isn't always free.

[dymk]

Looks like the US government "bargained" for me there, without the need for a union.

[striking]

Sure, but there's no guarantee they'll do that in every case or at every employer. Here there was a smoking gun, so the government could easily act on it; do you think that'd be the case for everyone in our field?