It’s the growth, not the profit. Software engineering is a lever for growth for businesses designed that way. If you can grow revenue by $100M by spending $10M

It’s the growth, not the profit. Software engineering is a lever for growth for businesses designed that way. If you can grow revenue by $100M by spending $10M on engineer salaries, it usually makes sense. On the other hand companies with steady profits and little growth have no such expectations and try to pay as little as possible for the software engineers they do need.