Remember companies need you in order to make money. I had lunch with a guy I used to work with the other day and he was telling me that he was having a horrible time finding engineers to even come in for an interview. This is north of Boston, not Silicon Valley either. Good engineers have more options now than we're accustomed to.
When a recruiter/HR person/interviewer asks you about your salary requirements, ask them what sort of engineer they are looking for:
A) average (you don't want to work there)
B) above average or
C) way above average
If they answer "way above average" you can say "Well, there is your answer!"
When a company doesn't want to pay much, its a signal that they don't place much value on engineers.
When a recruiter/HR person/interviewer asks you about your salary requirements, ask them what sort of engineer they are looking for:
A) average (you don't want to work there) B) above average or C) way above average
If they answer "way above average" you can say "Well, there is your answer!"
When a company doesn't want to pay much, its a signal that they don't place much value on engineers.