This is why Mr. McKenzie is forever telling people "don't be a commodity."
I've never noticed Patrick himself use that exact phrase, so I'm a little wary of putting words into his mouth here, but let's consider your point in isolation.
The basic principle here is that in order not to be that kind of commodity programmer, you must have some combination of skills, knowledge and resources available that is both rare and valuable.
Programming is hardly an esoteric skill set, and neither is being able to speak "business" to business people. Do these skills have value? Absolutely, often a great deal of it. And sure, not everyone in software development is a great developer, and not everyone in software development is good at communicating with non-technical people who play other roles in the wider organisation. But for the argument to work in more than a handful of exceptional cases, it doesn't need "not everyone" to have those skills, it needs "almost no-one" to have those skills. If what you offer isn't rare, chances are you're offering a commodity service whether you realise it or not.
In reality, there are many, many people out there with the technical and communication skills to make the kinds of high-value contribution that Patrick and co talk about. Many people do it all the time, whether as freelancers or employees. And while a lot of those people would have difficulty formally quantifying the value they offer, not least because they might be working as part of a team whose results are only measured in aggregate, I don't think the real problem is a lack of recognition from smart management (those wonderful people that consultants like to call "good clients") of the contributions made. That is usually only a factor if you're working for someone who really is a bad employer/client, in which case there are many employers/clients you could work with instead who would acknowledge your contribution more honestly.
But even in a positive environment, it is not easy to stand out and change how you are viewed. You can't just raise your rates dramatically above most other people's rates if you're working in a competitive market, which freelance/contract software development certainly is. So you have to create a new market, where the rules are different. But at that point, you're not really doing anything like freelance/contract work any more, you're building a complete new business, with all the pros and cons that come with that.
Now, I don't think anyone would disagree that running your own independent business is by far the most lucrative way to make money in a field like software development. I certainly wouldn't, and on HN of all places I don't have to tell anyone about the potential returns of entrepreneurialism. All I'm saying is that it's a completely different job to being a freelancer/contractor who happens to charge much higher rates and put "Senior Consultant" on their business card, and I dispute any general claim that the transition is necessarily either possible or in the best interests of most people who work successfully as freelance contractors today.
I've never noticed Patrick himself use that exact phrase, so I'm a little wary of putting words into his mouth here, but let's consider your point in isolation.
The basic principle here is that in order not to be that kind of commodity programmer, you must have some combination of skills, knowledge and resources available that is both rare and valuable.
Programming is hardly an esoteric skill set, and neither is being able to speak "business" to business people. Do these skills have value? Absolutely, often a great deal of it. And sure, not everyone in software development is a great developer, and not everyone in software development is good at communicating with non-technical people who play other roles in the wider organisation. But for the argument to work in more than a handful of exceptional cases, it doesn't need "not everyone" to have those skills, it needs "almost no-one" to have those skills. If what you offer isn't rare, chances are you're offering a commodity service whether you realise it or not.
In reality, there are many, many people out there with the technical and communication skills to make the kinds of high-value contribution that Patrick and co talk about. Many people do it all the time, whether as freelancers or employees. And while a lot of those people would have difficulty formally quantifying the value they offer, not least because they might be working as part of a team whose results are only measured in aggregate, I don't think the real problem is a lack of recognition from smart management (those wonderful people that consultants like to call "good clients") of the contributions made. That is usually only a factor if you're working for someone who really is a bad employer/client, in which case there are many employers/clients you could work with instead who would acknowledge your contribution more honestly.
But even in a positive environment, it is not easy to stand out and change how you are viewed. You can't just raise your rates dramatically above most other people's rates if you're working in a competitive market, which freelance/contract software development certainly is. So you have to create a new market, where the rules are different. But at that point, you're not really doing anything like freelance/contract work any more, you're building a complete new business, with all the pros and cons that come with that.
Now, I don't think anyone would disagree that running your own independent business is by far the most lucrative way to make money in a field like software development. I certainly wouldn't, and on HN of all places I don't have to tell anyone about the potential returns of entrepreneurialism. All I'm saying is that it's a completely different job to being a freelancer/contractor who happens to charge much higher rates and put "Senior Consultant" on their business card, and I dispute any general claim that the transition is necessarily either possible or in the best interests of most people who work successfully as freelance contractors today.