Software wasn't paying astronomical salaries back then but it was paying at least as much as any other engineering discipline. Sometime in the 2000s, engineering salaries stayed normal and software salaries skyrocketed.
I worked in B2B companies from 2000 to 2020 across 5 out of the 6 companies there was a direct line between our work and net new revenue.
The one job I did have during they time period where I was a cost c center was when I was an architect over integrating acquired companies systems as part of a PE rollup strategy (never again).
Those other 5 weren’t anything glamorous - bill processing, fleet management with ruggedized mobile devices, railroad train car repair software and two health care related companies.
I knew to stay away from cost center jobs after my first job out of college when looking for my second job in 1999. Cost center jobs hardly ever pay well. That’s one reason I run away from any company that is run by PE companies that are more interested in “efficiencies” than growth and I’ve been offered a couple of jobs as an architect for those companies.
Since 2020 I have worked in consulting companies where there was a direct line from my billable hours to revenue and indirect attributions from “enablement” projects 6)/4 influenced the company.
