Very little of the article says anything about how much to pay engineers. I only found 2 paragraphs about engineering compensation:
> The most comprehensive study, though, is Daniel H. Pink’s Drive, which is summarized in this animation from the RSA. Pink suggests that money isn’t the main driver for highly skilled workers who choose to stay in their jobs. Instead, he identifies a combination of three factors: the ability to be self-directed, getting better at the job, and having a purpose in one’s endeavors. In other words, once a person’s basic financial needs are met, money starts to become less and less relevant as a criterion for job satisfaction, especially compared to purpose, self-improvement and self-direction.
> Unsurprisingly, this conclusion mostly matches my own experience with engineers. Whether companies pay at market level or 20%-30% above market makes very little impact on staff retention. You might stretch retention slightly in the latter case, but the investment is often not worth the net result. Keeping your engineers engaged and motivated makes a much more substantial difference, so that’s what we’re going to look at next.
Even these paragraphs are primarily about how money is not the primary way to keep engineers engaged and motivated.