Depends on the payment structure. The company I work for pays everyone the same (very high) base salary. Each programmer works on their own product and earns ro

Depends on the payment structure. The company I work for pays everyone the same (very high) base salary. Each programmer works on their own product and earns royalties off the top of it. Then there are variable bonuses based on the company's overall performance which are the same for everyone. It's the best of both worlds but obviously it only applies to companies where one person "owns" each product.