Getting someone who is really skilled can of course be beneficial but it certainly has the problems of retention, things like providing interesting challenges, high compensation. Not all businesses have deeply interesting technical problems. That's fine. There is plenty of use for the wide parts of the bell curve fpr both businesses and developers.
A lot of business software is boring. It does not take skill to do. It only requires someone to know a handful of tools and be willing to put in the time. So my advice to non-FAANG developers: if you want to make development your career, learn to be bored. Still work on marketable skills, learn new languages, etc. But remember that not every task will be an interesting new technical issue, it's probably going to be something you've seen a hundred times before.
is life at FANG really that different tho? Can't imagine that everyone is working on exciting stuff all the time. Would appreciate if someone could enlighten me.
And once you’re done with that, there’s a whole load more refactoring for the latest language update!
It's not always rainbows and butterflies here either but I do feel much happier with the work I do here.
I guess it depends on your definition of "skill". ERP systems are complex, full of problems, inflexible and managed by bean-counters with "battle-axe" personalities. If you look at the work holistically, it does take skill and experience. There is a lot of room for improvement in these systems but the problems involve people as much as they involve technology.
The same software build by a small team of experts would cost both less, and lead to a high quality result.
It might also relate to intellectual satisfaction. A "great" developer could be hungrier in that sense, that they need worthwhile projects to challenge their skills - and may get bored more easily.