[rayiner]

There is a developer tier at $250k+ and higher. It's on Wall Street, and really does need rock stars because they make their money by their rock stars being smarter than the other guys' rock stars.

From the perspective of maximizing compensation, you don't necessarily want to find the jobs that create the most value. You want to find the jobs that create enough value to sustain big salaries, but also where there is a real or perceived incremental advantage to having smarter developers than other people, and where that advantage is perceived and appreciated at the management level.