On-the-spot article about hiring quality programmers, and the very high costs of staffing your company with adequate people.
When you work in an environment with experts things simply work. They are easier to use and require less initial training. The software is easier to modify. Requested changes happen more frequently and easily. Things just flow. It is the difference between Apple and Microsoft.
One of the comments hits squarely on the reason why things are not likely to get any better, if companies keep playing the same game:
If you do 10x better work, you get 10% better pay. If you’re a hotshot, it is simply not economical to go into industry. You do a startup, contract work, or switch fields (entrepreneurship, i-banking, etc.).