I agree in broad strokes, in that I did exactly that with my last company. My first full-time programming job was as hire #1 as a tech startup (I was fired las

I agree in broad strokes, in that I did exactly that with my last company. My first full-time programming job was as hire #1 as a tech startup (I was fired last month after two years) and while I'm now consulting, the full-time offers I'm receiving amount to a 50% pay raise, partly because I was able to build up so much experience in hot areas like Akka and Docker.