I just came across this facsinating opinion piece on freshmeat.net about how it just doesn’t make financial sense to work for someone else as a programmer:
Common programmers may expect to earn at least $60,000/year, but it is rare for even superstar programmers to command above $150,000, excepting very specialized markets like kernel driver development.
If we are to assume that companies would not generally hire employees not worth their keep, the talents of the most elite of programmers are going almost wholly unrewarded. The first lesson from this is that companies should seek the brightest programmers, as the brighter the programmer, the more efficient the returns. Put another way, it is well worth a company’s time to pay 30% more annually for an engineer who will accomplish many times more work. A secondary discovery is that, if this is true, outsourcing to lesser-skilled programmers as a small cost savings is a foolish conservancy.
As a programmer, however, the most powerful corollary is that wage labor for my skills is insensible. The advantage of software is its easy replication; once formed, a service or product may be readily resold without further expense. The financial success of my labors is scarcely limited by anything but the quality of the marketing performed. Consequently, for most markets, we find software development has almost infinite leverage. In exchange for a fixed amount of labor, there is a nearly unlimited upside. The programmer who accepts a salary for his endeavors sacrifices the leverage of his own work for the comfort and security of a regular check, which must (but for the lowest-skilled) far underestimate the value provided.
In a small sense, this is allayed by stock options and the like, but these serve principally to give the appearance of offering the wage laborer a slice of the success of his efforts. After the first dozen employees, it is rare to find an engineer not a VP or CTO to be in possession of anything but the shyest portion of a company. The feeling of ownership, however false, usually suffices to content the laborer.
While a lot of people just don’t have the choice to take the risk of starting for themselves (kids/mortgage/etc.) I very much agree with this piece. I for one am of the opinion that with some strategic (read commercial) programs/websites that you have sole ownership of (read 100% profit) you can finance the life you want instead of being a corporate slave to an unethical money greedy corporation.
But hey, that’s just me. I highly reccomend everyone reads this piece, as it just makes a whole lot of sense. After reading this, watching Office Space is obligatory 
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