something to consider, though: your job may not be the best opportunity for this hypothetical candidate we're musing about. for pure programming skill, there is

something to consider, though: your job may not be the best opportunity for this hypothetical candidate we're musing about. for pure programming skill, there is no well-defined "value" for the business, which means you simply want to hire the best programmer for the least cost. in many markets today this is about $200k for an entry level programmer (employer costs). why pay more than that? the point of marketing mumbo-jumbo is that it frames the value of the individual. if a candidate is capable of making you $10 million extra dollars, why not pay them $1m? you'd be a fool not to!