For software, the existing employees will always be cheaper. It has been argued that an engineers value is captured most in their mental model of the system. EG

For software, the existing employees will always be cheaper. It has been argued that an engineers value is captured most in their mental model of the system. EG: Want a new feature in a system I built and maintained? Boom, here are the touch points, the gotchyas, and here is the roadmap to get if done in three days. Anyone new to that system will first say, cool, give me about 3 weeks to learn this code, and then maybe another 7 while we implement it and work through all of the trip wires we did not know about.