Management intentionally keeps company small, within their comfort zone, hires lots of interns and constantly recycles staff in order to pay them as little as possible. Any kind of salary negotiation would be played using the "I cant give you more money than your colleague" card, and no matter the technical skills or involvement, you will still get what whatever the management "feels" would be a sum they are comfortable giving you. Management also has some very difficult people which are often unreasonable, and make engineering work a living hell.