Not OP, but they likely meant that a developer or SRE can be a force multiplier that delivers value far in excess of salary and costs. For example, if I produc

Not OP, but they likely meant that a developer or SRE can be a force multiplier that delivers value far in excess of salary and costs. For example, if I produce value to the company of 400k/year, whther that's in new development, or optimising/supporting existing systems, and they incur costs of 50k/year in hiring me, then the 350k is up for discussion in terms of the distribution between salary/bonus and remaining with the company to reflect risk and capital etc. That said, this calculation applies to most value-generating employees in most industries - techies, and HN in particular, are just more explicit in discussing it.