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Ask HN: 10x developers, how do you monetize the rest 9x?

2 points by aristofun ↗ HN
The current pay ladder in all companies that I worked and know second hand of has a clear ceiling for software developers.

Sometimes high (faang), sometimes not. But essentially it’s non linear and after first couple of levels you never get paid 2x for the 2x performance and code quality you produce.

And it makes sense from business point of view (why overpay if you can always find a cheaper developer that still passes the bar).

But how do you, 10x ninja devs with fulltime jobs, work around this limitation?

Please share your stories.

4 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 25.3 ms ] thread
kcarter80
Contract work. I don't take contracts that aren't worth my time and my time is very valuable to me. When my clients blush at my cost, which they sometimes do, I point out that they are welcome to measure my output however they like and to cancel the contract at any time. Most new clients come from word of mouth, which of course is a position of privilege, but not that hard if you do great work.

I think you're generally right that it's difficult to find salaried positions that are properly compensated.

aristofun
How did you end up having contracts that scale with your skill?

I can barely find examples of solo devs making at least 50% of average faang salary.

johncoltrane
Being N times more productive than your coworkers doesn't necessarily make you N times more valuable, because your Nx productivity has little to no impact on the value of the service/product you are helping build.
aristofun
Exactly. This is what my business remark is all about.