No, I think "standard market rates" are what employers are paying their engineer who has been there for a few years (and whom they are currently paying below what he/she could get if they left for another job) or possibly what someone would pay for a "standard software engineer" who really needed a job.
If you want to attract exceptional engineers then by gosh, you might just have to pay exceptional salaries.
At the end of the day, it's a business relationship and an intelligent engineer is quite justified in capturing some of the value that he or she generates.
If you want to attract exceptional engineers then by gosh, you might just have to pay exceptional salaries.
At the end of the day, it's a business relationship and an intelligent engineer is quite justified in capturing some of the value that he or she generates.