We pay people based on their output, in particular their ability to take create situations where money changes hands. In other words, corporations make a cost/

We pay people based on their output, in particular their ability to take create situations where money changes hands. In other words, corporations make a cost/benefit calculation. In the case of software developers and lead software developers, my experience is that most corporations can concretely read the dollar amount as cost, but often drastically underestimate the potential cost of bad software. There are situations where many people are valued below market for a long, long time. Markets aren't omniscient and infinitely fast.