My anecdote is based on several years of experience and dozens of programmers hired. I’ve seen mediocre developers command high sums, and exceptional developers

My anecdote is based on several years of experience and dozens of programmers hired. I’ve seen mediocre developers command high sums, and exceptional developers take more meagre remuneration, and everything in between. You might characterise it as ridiculous, but you haven’t changed my mind on this.