>An average engineer can do almost anything a top engineer can, but for a much lower price. They cost-to-value ratio favors average engineers. I think there's

>An average engineer can do almost anything a top engineer can, but for a much lower price. They cost-to-value ratio favors average engineers. I think there's a fallacy here. An 'average engineer' hasn't got a much lower salary than a 'top engineer'. My take is that it's worth paying above average in order to hire and retain above average engineers and above average technical managers. Benefits can include smaller teams and better quality code, which leads to cost savings that compound over time.