Arent the best programmers the ones where the system just works without you having to be there? Dave isnt a 10x programmer is more like a -10x cry baby and the company just didnt know any better.
This is being told from a programmers point of view. Dave was cool from a programmers view. Writing code which enriches the ip owner is cool from the owners point of view.
Well, they definitely didn't know enough to not skip payroll.