Chris,

I'd like to say that you're right on with your main points here. In the last 3 years I have more than doubled my bill rate, and yes that's while the whole dot-com crash occurred. And the reason I have been able to do that is precisely what you mention in the conclusion of your article... I'm not the "typical" developer. I like to joke with people and tell them that I'm tri-lingual... I speak English, geek, and executive. And it's the executive part that really counts. And there's very little "competition" out there that does the same things.

Unlike the typical developer, my degree is in business administration, not computer science. I run my own company, so I understand many of the nuances from a business owner / manager's perspective. And I have spent a lot of time over the last few years working on better communication skills. And now I'm reaping the financial reward for that. Yes, I have improved my technical skills & experience too, but the bigger reward comes from being able to talk to managers in their own language about what's important to them.