Let me try to boil down patio11's argument even further. Premise 1: Technical skills like programming are broadly generalizable to solving many problems applic

Let me try to boil down patio11's argument even further. Premise 1: Technical skills like programming are broadly generalizable to solving many problems applicable to many businesses. Premise 2: Programming skills are too abstract to be easily marketable, and "programming" devoid of business framing or value-add is a poor pitch for billable hours. Premise 3: "Programming", as a solution, is equally applicable to problems that are very lucrative to solve and problems that are not very lucrative (swap out "problems" for "clients" too). Conclusion: If you are good at programming to the skills approximation of a mid-level engineer at a reputable company, you can charge five or six figures per month to solve problems for people. There is no secret club. If you are good at JavaScript and React, you can earn $250/hour, or $10,000 per week by targeting the right clients and asking for it in return for solving their problems. They don't have to know you're using React, in fact it might be better if they don't. You can also charge $50/hour, or $2,000 per week by targeting the wrong businesses and solving their problems with the same programming skills. If you want to argue about the semantics of this and call it "sales consulting" - sure, fine. I wouldn't, because that means that all software-enabled consulting becomes "sales consulting." The simple, empowering truth is that you can do the same job with the same skillset and earn more money by literally asking for it and choosing companies that can pay it. You do not need to be a sales wunderkind or rip people off. If you use Rails to solve a local business' problem that was costing them $1 million/year, and you use Rails to solve another business' problem that was costing them $20,000/year, and you complete both in the same timeframe of a few weeks, target the first business and charge $20,000 per week. They are almost certainly not going to say no, and you will find that there is no race to the bottom for consultants solving six or seven figure problems.