This is how I think of it. The cliche is “software is eating the world” and it’s true - most companies hiring engineers are doing so because their bottom line is doing well thanks to specifically how scalable software is and how many real world problems it can help with.
So companies should be willing to pay a fair wage to good developers. I say should - obviously this is capitalism and if they can get it done for a penny then why not - but if developers refuse a bad deal it will create pressure for them to do so.
If I’m selling enterprise software in New York and someone from New York who happens to be residing in Mexico at the moment is working for me, I’m selling $10k/y licenses and paying him 20k/y something seems off.
OTOH if he moves to San Fransisco, Kensington in London, Monaco or Hong Kong I say ah ok here’s $200k. He’s doing the same stuff!
Doesn’t make sense to me. Instead say well he is worth $100k to us, he then chooses to live wherever in the world makes sense and is affordable.
I too think things get weird, when a low living costs country person moves to a high cost place (or the other way around) and that now s/he makes more money (or less), although the same work.
> if developers refuse a bad deal it will ...
The thing is, I think, that it's a good deal to them
(Otherwise the company just raises the salary until it is)
To me, this is both confusing and makes sense at the same time depending on from which "angle" I start thinking
