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> * compassionate engineers are most happy when then can do engineering, money is secondary to them

This has been stretched too far. Remember, if they are even remotely good, they will know their value. Engineering is what engineers do, that's the basic requirement. Without healthy compensation, good luck retaining. They can always be more compassionate towards hobby projects or open source.

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Agreed, but I kept my response short. In my experience, a good environment is more important than monetary compensation: Keep them away from bullshit-meetings, give them slack wrt working hours (they'll work more than you pay for anyway) - or abstractly: make their working environment as nice as possible, surpassing what they could have when working for hobby projects.

As stated in my initial post: I do have serious problems with the tone of the original talk and I think it desperately needs an update by someone who is not trapped in the seventies. But still, the overall advice is sound, imho.

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