I work as a junior developer in a medium sized company in a team of 8 to 10 junior and senior developers.
My performance is very high in terms of productivity and expertise. The management is aware of my performance and relies heavily on my technical and social skills.
Unfortunately, a salary increase would be very difficult to obtain because I already have a very decent salary for my age.
Question: Is it counterproductive to ask anyway for a pay raise?
This is an easy question.
Yes, ask for a raise. The worst that can happen is that they say no.
With that said, if you've worked at that company for 5+ years already, then it's probably time to move on. Employers rarely reward their long-term employees more than what another potential employer could give you.
Take this to heart: Salaries have nothing to do with age.
There is only what you're worth and what you negotiate for.
I spent 5 years at my current company, where they raised my salary by 10-15% a year but the value of my skills and experience was growing more like 30% a year. We eventually reached an impasse where they claimed they were being more than generous, and I felt that they were severely underpaying me relative to market.
So I went and got another job offer, picked a moment when I had a lot of leverage, handed in my notice and gave them 2 days to persuade me to change my mind about leaving.
They doubled what they were paying me.
The moral of the story is that you should know what you're worth, negotiate accordingly, and be willing to leave and go where you're appropriately valued.
In the past it was seen as normal to pay women less, even if they did the exact same work as a man. Although this pay gap still exists, it is now generally frowned upon and even forbidden in a lot of jurisdictions.
But paying young people (a lot) less than older people for the same work is still seen as pretty normal. However this is obviously just as unfair. Just because it still seen by many as normal doesn't mean you have to accept it though. I think the first thing you have to do is to shed the mindset that you are entitled to less just because you are younger. If your work is just as good as your older colleagues you should get the same salary.
