Glitter isn't necessarily gold after all

I expressed my fears the other day about people who look like they have it all together. This feeling is driven mainly by the fact that I have come to realise how inadequate I am.

Today morning, our manager called us for a meeting and mentioned the recent interviews that have been going on. His assessment of the candidates seen thus far went something like "it seems that talent out there is very scanty or we are just not getting the right guys". Well. That put a big smile on my face. Not that I relish a dearth of talent. I have been anyone willing to listen that there aren't too many good programmers in this town, and that some of us should be paid more than we are. I am not the greatest programmer around, but at least I know as much. I know how little I know, and I've always been amazed by people who think they know so much, or those who spew out esoteric, techie terms to make other people realise how good they are. I am a good enough programmer to know that I know very little and hence continue striving to improve, the frustrations of the employer notwithstanding.

I have always held that if you recognise an employee as being good, then you should renumerate him as such. This fallacy that there are numerous unemployed people who can do the same job at half the price is plain suicide. You lose good employees then only realise their real value after they've left and their not-so-good replacements can't hack it. This doesn't only apply to programmers of course, but employers seem to be determined to persist in this culture. Most people I talk to agree. I believe employers and entrepreneurs should make money. Lots of money even. However, paying a guy a soc a day while you earn a million in that day [partly because of his work perhaps?] is not right. This is the moral reason for giving people their due, but the economic incentive [quality of products and services goes down] is lost in the fog that is greed for more profits.

To all those who are not getting fare wages for the work they do, keep your heads up.