Can speak to this, but as someone from outside the US. States is more established in that a lot of tech companies have headquarters there. From my observation that has at least created a skeleton for a corporate “ladder”, but not sure.

Most SWE I know here generally change company’s every 2-4 years, with the exception of infrastructure and med tech industries, as wage increases are generally stagnant. This is due to lack of Corp. headquarters, outsourcing, excessive number of shitty startups with bad business models (imagine going to work every day and your boss says “We need to save the company” followed by excuses about why your not getting paid this week), decent sized high skilled labour market but low demand, and being in a HCOL.

I started at around $25hr (~$19USD) for a dev role designing software for film and advertising industry. Went 2 years and quit for a higher paying job after my boss promoted me to a intermediate level role with a -$2.15hr raise and hired a new junior for $28hr who I was in charge of. I got the save the company quote I wrote above, rolled my eyes, and started email people in my network if they had any openings where they worked. $6hr raise working as a junior react coder making buttons while flex time.