You make a good point: as an employee you are not the product, you are part of a team — and the team is just one ingredient in the manufacturing of a product. A

You make a good point: as an employee you are not the product, you are part of a team — and the team is just one ingredient in the manufacturing of a product. An important ingredient, but not the whole story nonetheless. Taking that further: as a human you are also part of the physical community that you live in. A developer in a small town might help out the local library, whereas a developer in a big city might organize tech meet-ups to help their peers. I'm not saying one situation is better than the other, but I can imagine not just different price points, but also different valuations for equal skill depending on location.