[kees]

I really would like to know what kind of 'financial software' it was that Lucky Dave excelled in. It could be MS Excel.

Sorry for not adding anything meaningful to the discussion.

PS: This guy hired a user of his product. Nevertheless, this user was already giving superb support to other users, without any external motivation. So he hired a passionate customer, who already did some parts of the job. So if you want to hire somebody, you should look at your customers and community first. I think that is the lesson.

[pradocchia]

The productivity gap in Excel between casual users and power users is such that it could be. 80K in NYC in the financial industry does not suggest a high-end tool to me.

[nandemo]

Many tools used in the financial industry aren't really very high-end, but people who are good at it get paid well because they're relatively scarce.

Still, 80k in NYC sounds like an entry-level position.