Not sure what you mean. Plenty, if not most, engineers on HN are compensated at market rate for their region and skill-set. The uproar over the anti-poaching scandal involving Apple, Google, etc. from a few years ago was due to the artificial wage deflation that it created. I can't recall folks from HN siding with the corporations during that time. Sure, sweat equity is valued at early-stage cash-strapped startups, but that is in addition to "passion" and a lower salary.