You do realize that it costs companies more to continually hire. If you add real value to a company, from my experience most non-global companies see and understand that. However, in many cases the engineer is mediocre in their job (regardless of actual skill) and still expects a company to increase their pay. In a generation of people that feel something is owed to them, unfortunately the mediocre engineer covers 80% of the talent pool.
There are also places that hamstring their above average developers with processes and/or interruptions that tend to bring down a lot of potential productivity (and morale).
Yes, I do realize. If you keep interviewing, you'll get a sense of how much your talents are worth in the market. (And the mediocre engineer you talk about will see their real worth too.)
