> So yes, if someone takes 10 years off to raise children or to go yachting around the world or to help sick children, they will probably not command the same

> So yes, if someone takes 10 years off to raise children or to go yachting around the world or to help sick children, they will probably not command the same salary that their (otherwise identical) co-worker who stayed in the field for those 10 years would command, because they likely won't be capable of "equal work". Anyone doing anything else would be systematically overpaying their workers, and are likely to be out-competed by companies paying market wages. I'm confused by your patronizing tone. You seem to think I don't know that this is common practice. See, the point of the prior post was: I disagree with this premise. The question should be, "How well does this person do the job" not "how well does this person match my preconceptions about how an expert in this job should look." This is especially the case in the world of software and software products, where we're notoriously bad at identifying talent and educating people. Anyone who's designed tech interviews with a high technical standard can tell you that years worked is at best a weak signal.