[bdr]

I'm pretty sure you can find a 25x spread in developer compensation at Google, and that's within a pool of great developers. But they are an exception. In general, the skill difference is too hard to quantify, and the pay disparity would cause political problems. If you think you're a 25xer the best way to capture the extra value you create might be to join or start a startup.

[pudakai]

This is actually the conclusion I came to a long time ago and have been acting on it since. Still haven't captured that value, but it has been fun trying & haven't given up yet.