[uberuberuber]

I understand the importance of learning to do things for oneself within an organization, but at a certain point doesn't it become wasteful to have someone making $50/hr fetching packages when it could easily be done by a lower wage earner, thereby ensuring that the "brain power" (in this context...not denigrating intelligence based upon career path) can focus on what they're getting paid for?

[kondro]

Do you really think that developers spend their 40 hours (or whatever allocated time they have) steeped over a monitor writing code??

People need variety, and sometimes a walk across an office is a welcome break to a particularly annoying problem - whether they admit it or not.

[uberuberuber]

I'm just postulating. I am a cubicle monkey in medical publishing nowadays and use support staff for tasks that don't require a higher level of expertise, thereby freeing up my time to produce more value.