Oh wow! I got $37k in 1999 (~$69k 2024 according to BLS) in the DC area, for a Software Engineering job. I love to hear that grads now get rewarded w/ $125k fresh out.
My Goldman Sachs starting salary as a new analyst out of college in 1999 was US$40K. During that first year, because of the dotcom bubble, Goldman raised the salary to $55/65/75K for first/second/third-year analysts, and my end-of-year bonus in 2000 was close to 100% of salary. Then the full effect of the recession/market crash hit and the 2001 bonus was, well, much smaller.
Microsoft in the DC area or somebody else like Raytheon?
I would expect Raytheon and the other contractors (i.e. Booze Alan) have raised entry level to like 70/80k but they're going to be much lower than Microsoft. As well as as you get promoted it caps out much lower. It's a bit better at non-contractors like Capitol One but still not quite the same as a "Tech Company".
It's rather interesting; management at contractors seems to have their head in the sands. When you tell them what people get by leaving they're just like "I think you misunderstood what they're being paid".
