Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are a few factors at play here that have led to high salaries for engineers. First, the aforementioned funding bubble. Second, a correction to depressed wages due to collusion between the big tech companies. Third, increasing demand for tech workers in historically non tech sectors (Eg. Home Depot has mobile apps for home improvement). I have no idea what the attribution split is. But I'm fairly certain wages w…
What? Where are people going to get the money to pay higher/equivalent salaries if not funding? The non-tech sector seems perfectly content to pay engineers 60k under constant threat of outsourcing. In the absence of Silicon Valley competing for talent they'll get away with less, not more.
Google/Facebook/Apple/Microsoft/etc have been and will continue competing for talent. 2005 to 2009 was hardly a time of "easy money", yet the big tech companies still had to resort to collusion to combat demand for engineers.