If you're Valve, a place where tons of people want to work and that has a solid revenue stream, I don't see why you can't have your cake and eat it too. Why not

If you're Valve, a place where tons of people want to work and that has a solid revenue stream, I don't see why you can't have your cake and eat it too. Why not have a team of people who will do the boring, less-glamorous work with the aspiration of making it to the "A" team that gets to pursue whatever they want? Heck, I'd do it. That's how law firms work (i.e. making partner after a number of years and solid performance), but maybe software engineering doesn't work well that way.