I'm not putting down the contributions of secretaries or any other non-engineering roles in a company. My point is simply that the quality of developer talent

I'm not putting down the contributions of secretaries or any other non-engineering roles in a company. My point is simply that the quality of developer talent at a software company will permanently influence the future of that company in a way that can't be compared by simple analogies. There are good reasons to be more concerned with hiring the best programmers you can find than hiring the best secretary or the best janitor.