If that seems horrible and unfair, then the opportunism game will not be for you. Let’s be clear about something—the entire world that you’re venturing into with these ambitions is one of sales and nothing besides. One of the main reason that engineers are so undercompensated is that we opt to create a cocoon for ourselves where we can indulge delusions of meritocracy and skill directly correlating with value. The rest of the business lets pragmatists and journeyman idealists exist in this warm cocoon, and they only charge us a 200 percent markup on labor for it. If you want to start getting
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