Open source suppliers and demand

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What makes perception special here?

You wrote:
The kind of salary offered (and accepted) is also a function of perception of value. Granted, if you have a billion programmers all of whom think they should get 200,000 a year, they will quickly find that the supply component swamps the perception component. Perception, however, does play a role, as my Oracle/SAP example showed.

You're saying that if there were 1,000 Oracle programmers and 1,000 DB2 (say for argument) programmers in the world that the Oracle programmers will be paid more than the DB2 programmers because Oracle is a hugely expensive and awesomely impressive program.

You make it sound like salaries are set by the "Golly!" principle.

Why aren't the normal factors enough, things like how many employables there are, and how difficult and how commonplace it is to train a new, replacement programmer?

Even if you were right, the "Golly" factor tends to fade over time as people pursue the money into the field and a lot of mere mortals become capable.
Seems like a very counter-intuitive observation.



In response to my:
So, given the widespread popularity of Linux compared to the smaller number of installations of a particular form of Unix, Linux experts will be paid less than the rarer Unix experts, no?

You wrote:
On the other hand, more Linux installations imply more demand for Linux programmers. That would balance things out, leaving most of the cost savings to economics of scale. Granted, there are cost savings to be derived from a common infrastructure. That's the thing that has driven consolidation around Windows, and what is driving Linux in Unix markets.


There would also be a savings in programmer salaries. More Linux than rare Unix candidates? Then lower Linux salaries. Basic economics,
not economies of scale.
And, because Linux is a replacement product, you're not likely to see the number of staff increase much. If it did, the replacement wouldn't happen.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 05/19/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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