I understand this post is specifically about salary and money, but in my experience there is a kind of "gray" market of compensation that truly great hackers participate in.
This usually (but not always) means that the person has a lot of latitude to work on what they want to, they can work with the technologies they want to work with, can work the hours they want to work, have the luxury to not always have to report on progress or have a lot of management oversight.
The degree with which someone like this can participate in these "happiness perks" usually is commensurate with how good they are. There is a great TED talk on intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards in terms of motivation. I think the market "works" in the sense that great hackers aren't actually as interested in making gobs of money (they don't want to get screwed either) but are usually more interested in these other more intangible kinds of incentives (like freedom, autonomy and mastery).
The most talented engineer / programmer I've ever known was only paid at the top end of the "average" pay scale in the research lab I worked at. On the other hand, he was left pretty much alone to work on whatever he wanted to work on. He created amazing things and was genuinely happy, even though in pure monetary compensation, he was radically underpaid.
This usually (but not always) means that the person has a lot of latitude to work on what they want to, they can work with the technologies they want to work with, can work the hours they want to work, have the luxury to not always have to report on progress or have a lot of management oversight.
The degree with which someone like this can participate in these "happiness perks" usually is commensurate with how good they are. There is a great TED talk on intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards in terms of motivation. I think the market "works" in the sense that great hackers aren't actually as interested in making gobs of money (they don't want to get screwed either) but are usually more interested in these other more intangible kinds of incentives (like freedom, autonomy and mastery).
The most talented engineer / programmer I've ever known was only paid at the top end of the "average" pay scale in the research lab I worked at. On the other hand, he was left pretty much alone to work on whatever he wanted to work on. He created amazing things and was genuinely happy, even though in pure monetary compensation, he was radically underpaid.