It's a metaphorical term of art, but also a sentiment among companies. They do treat talent as property, surprisingly often.
And there's often a fair bit of tit-for-tat and specific arrangements about poaching and when it's okay. Which is understandable in such a small, chummy industry (think Silicon Valley venture-backed startups, which are all about networking).
But it's also illegal, and devalues programmers, both monetarily and metaphorically.
Yeah, it's a metaphor that analogizes people and property.
I wouldn't have any qualms about working with, say, purchasing managers who talked about "poaching" component orders from one another, because they'd be talking about property as property.
I think you're really stretching here. The core issue is whether companies value their employees--that comes through in how the employees actually get treated, not the use of one word vs. another.
Exactly. It isn't poaching, it's competing. I wouldn't want to work at a place that thought of talent as property to be "poached".