Superstar Programmers Are Getting Paid Like Pro Athletes—Tens Of Millions Of Dollars A Year

Leo Mirani | Quartz | September 6, 2013

It’s always nice to be paid your “true value.” Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen says that is what is happening now in the technology industry, where some engineers are drawing multi-million dollar paychecks.

Andreessen explains it this way: A change in Google’s algorithms can sometimes be worth as much as $100 million in new revenue, so that easily justifies paying the best engineers “tens of millions of dollars.” Other companies are following Google’s example, with the result that highly-paid “superstar programmers” are not uncommon at California’s biggest tech firms. Andreessen calls it the “Kobe Bryant effect,” after the extravagantly paid American basketball player.