[BjoernKW]

If neither the engineer in question knows if his service is worth $50 or $100 dollars an hour nor the client (i.e. the employeer) has any idea of if the service might be worth that price how can we expect the market to settle for a a price both parties can agree on?

The underlying problem is that the value of software development is hard to quantify and that professionals in that area often even try to keep it that way.

Why is engineering output commonly measured in time wasted instead of value created?

[invalidOrTaken]

Well, it's funny, after writing that comment, I'm not really sure I still regard the situation as a "problem." For the distributed systems guru with a proven track record, the world is his oyster. What problem?

PG's advice that basically reduces to "fundraising sucks" rings true to me, but I suspect that someone really good at it would also find a lot of opportunities falling into their lap.

I guess my general train of thought is: most engineers treat the business side as consisting solely of downside---they want to "get fucked as little as possible" and then seek their upside in engineering. But there's opportunity there for those who look for it.