Even the "need" for exceptional programmers is really about companies getting a good deal on labor: > it's easy to imagine cases where a great programmer might

Even the "need" for exceptional programmers is really about companies getting a good deal on labor: > it's easy to imagine cases where a great programmer might invent things worth 100x or even 1000x an average programmer's salary. Wouldn't it be nice to hire people that are 100-1000x more productive while only paying them marginally more?