What is a plumber paid for? You tell him you'd like a sink installed somewhere and he installs it. He isn't paid more if the sink is used to wash the hands of surgeons operating on orphans or never used it all. He is paid on the basis of, you want a sink and he knows how to install them.
It seems to me that doing things on demand with no regard for purpose should be the domain of machines, not humans. Of course, robotics isn't yet advanced enough to allow us to meet that ideal in the physical world. But in the software world, the demand for programmers that merely crank out glue code, without understanding or caring about what it's for, should shrink, if it's not already.
I know why they are doing what they are doing, I'm just not paid for it. If I was paid by value produced rather than my skills I'd demand far greater control of the business, complete transparency and would refuse tasks that don't generate sufficient value. That just isn't the relationship most companies want, they would like to dictate what I work on and pay a flat rate for it. You can't have it both ways.
Sure, but if everyone was able to install a sink the price of getting a sink installed would fall considerably. That indicates to me that you are paid based on the rarity and difficulty in gaining the skill, not the value of the problem itself.
