The average salary of American workers is growing 1% every year, while the pay gap between similar jobs is decreasing. What do I think about this trend? Does it sound like people are getting more every year and it's good? Not at all. This trend is completely against what a good management should fighting for: unequal pay for unequal contribution. A strong manager wants to work with free people, who get what they deserve because of their work, not because of their place in the company. Meritocracy is yet another name for the movement we are leading now in the industry of software development.