Last year, Sundar Pichai earned 226 million dollars, which is 800 times more than the median salary of an Alphabet employee.

You might ask, “How can Sundar Pichai do as much work as 800 people?” – obviously, he doesn’t. There are secret factors at play. I want to talk about these secret factors that influence everyone’s salary, from the biggest CEOs to the humblest custodian.

To really understand what’s going on, you have to understand that people pay you to do one of two things:

• Solve problems
• Distract them from their problems (AKA, entertainment)

It’s also possible to cheat people out of their money, but I’ll assume that you’re only interested in deception while playing hidden identity games like Werewolf :)

Anyways, think of an ordinary job, like a barber. If you cut one person’s hair, you get $X. If you cut 2 people’s hair, you get $2X. In a job like this, you’re limited by your time.

But not every job is like this. Some jobs are more intertwined with a multiplier–something that lets you produce more in the same amount of time.

There are four multipliers: labor, capital, media, and code. None of them are good or bad, nor better or worse than the others. They are simply tools used to shape the world.

We Need to Go Back

The four multipliers are intertwined with the story of humanity.

Think back to prehistoric times. There are tales of mythical heroes who brought groups of people together to build the first stone-age irrigation systems or defend their homeland. They became kings and queens. These individuals had power and influence because they could direct human labor to create something new. In practice, labor is the ability to have other people do work for you.

With the growth of agriculture, humans could store wealth in grain. Soon, people traded in complex ways, humans developed metal currency, and capital was born. Capital is like a shortcut to more labor.

Centuries later, the first blursed (blessed and cursed) printing press was built. Media like books, newspapers, radio, movies, and television began to proliferate. A single author had the ability to reach millions of people like never before. And with their ability to inform (or misinform), the author could change the way people think and behave.

In the 20th century, technology became the new hottest multiplier. A developer can write a program for a fixed cost. Then, that code can run an infinite number of times and solve an infinite number of problems. It’s genuinely impressive.

Code touches the other multipliers in a unique way. Code helps set delivery schedules (labor), automate stock trading (capital), or allow some guy in his F-150 share his political rants on the Internet (media). And, further automation allows writing even more code.

Back to the Present

So where does that leave us today?

Jobs that are infused with multipliers have the ability to make more money than other jobs.

As a manager, you use the power of labor. You have the ability to direct people to do work and solve problems. In a team, you can accomplish more than any of you could do alone.

As an investor, you use the power of capital. Whether you trade one share of VTSAX or a million, the cost to make a decision is the same. And you get to reap the reward of your sound judgment–or suffer dearly for making a bad trade.

As an influencer, you use the power of media. You can shoot videos and reach millions of people around the world. You might even be able to convince them to do something for you–or for the planet.

And as a software engineer, you use the power of code. You have the power to command machines to solve very difficult problems and change people’s lives–hopefully for the better.

Today, we see the power of code in Silicon Valley. There, people worship ambition for ambition’s sake. The impact of code is created by software companies large and small, from the hottest startup to FAANG.

We can also find media embodied in another area: Los Angeles. There, people desire image–they would rather flaunt their good looks and virtue than live a quiet life. The power of media is flashed across the globe through Hollywood’s TV shows, music, and movies.

On the other side of the country, we see capital manifested in New York City, where people chase money (and not necessarily wealth). The power of capital is extended through the international banks on Wall Street.

Finally, Americans can find the embodiment of labor in Washington, D.C., where people worship the very idea of power. The control of labor is codified through government and law. Remember, labor is getting other people to do work for you, and the government’s job is to tell people what they can and can’t do.

In Practice

Beyond salary, why does this matter?

In order to change the world, you can’t just use one multiplier. Even the president, who sits at the head of the US government, can’t control everything. The president has to contend with the other multipliers: capital, media, and code.

To truly change society, all four multipliers must be working together.

And to get back to Sundar Pichai and his 226 million dollar compensation package, the four multipliers show a framework for how he earns this much money: a tech CEO touches every multiplier.

The company has a lot of employees who solve problems for customers. The CEO sets the strategy and influences every product line.

The company has a lot of money. The CEO ratifies where to invest and how to spend it.

For social media products like YouTube, recommendation algorithms have the potential to empower or silence voices. The CEO can step in and change YouTube’s strategy if needed. Additionally, the CEO can easily get interviews on major news networks.

And in a tech company, every product and service is intertwined with code. After the upfront investment, the code can continue running and serve millions of customers.

Once again, I’m not saying any of this is good or bad, or how something “should” be done. This article is just about pulling back the curtain and revealing the game that’s being played around us as software engineers.

Because if you want to play, you have to know the rules first.

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The four multipliers are based off of ideas I learned from prior work by Van Jones and Naval Ravikant years ago. I say this not to name-drop, but to give credit to the people who indirectly influenced this article.