In this very comment page, there is a guy who flew Dan to a different city, just to hear this thoughts on random issues. Also, if you look at his other writing

In this very comment page, there is a guy who flew Dan to a different city, just to hear this thoughts on random issues. Also, if you look at his other writings, he's often noted trends in how software developers are paid. And the paradox that with even small tweaks, he's sometimes saved his employers far more than he could have earned in ten lifetimes. He's a free agent now... so why not charge what his advice is actually worth? Dan is a very unusual person, in that he tries to do what is predicted by the data he has, rather than waiting for it to become conventional wisdom.