> Do software engineers really have leverage? Implicit in the question was a jump from having value to having leverage. It’s possible to have high value and lo

> Do software engineers really have leverage? Implicit in the question was a jump from having value to having leverage. It’s possible to have high value and low leverage. Software does produce high value, but there are also many many capable software engineers. On a side note, I think software engineers have huge amounts of leverage within a given company, in the sense that they often have considerable control over what gets made, how things get made, how long they take, etc. I’ve watched engineers hold up projects they didn’t want to do by sandbagging estimates and building narratives of why it won’t work, and conversely working on the fun problems that interest them and express confidence and optimism that it’ll be great and get done fast. This happens in groups sometimes too. > How could we increase our leverage? Most important question to answer is not how to increase leverage, but to clarify what you want. To what end is an increase in leverage? More pay? More time off? Better working conditions? What exactly do you wish to negotiate, and who do you wish to negotiate with? Speaking about engineering value and leverage is also myopic and seemingly forgets about the value and leverage of other people involved in selling software. Marketing, design, management, sales, QA, and all the other types of jobs that are required to produce and sell high profile software. All of them have value, and software companies can’t do without them. To increase leverage as a group, software engineers would need to organize as a group. In order to have the leverage to make requests or demands, the entire group needs to be willing to hold out their value until the requests are satisfied. > Why don’t we choose to use our rare skills for our own profit Some of us do, by starting a business. Others of us do by taking high paid jobs. You’re in the right place; Hacker News is a forum attached to a well known and competitive seed fund, and much of the News is historically about how startup companies succeed and fail.