[bmj]

most technical roles aren't generating revenue

Wait, what? The products I build don't generate revenue for my employer?

[physPop]

He means you're not selling directly to clients in a typical SE role.

[wwweston]

Your employers -- or, usually, your employer's bean counters -- may be like many humans in that it's easy to see cash flows and harder to see where value is produced.

This is one of the reasons sales and marketing often have a lot of power in modern business organizations (at least, as long as sales are good).

[walshemj]

mm so that billing system I worked on for BT didn't bring in revenue or the fix I and the company accountant did to fix the broken BACS feed