I agree. Good/Great programmers do it because they like to. They could go a million years and never make any money with the software they write (assuming they don't need to pay bills) because there is value in the process for them.
To the business, even in a software company where development is tier 1, and not a traditional "cost center" and bundled in with IT, development still needs to produce tangible business results. This requires skills that do not directly overlap with development skills.
Programmer: I can build it, I should get paid more
VS
BA/PM: I can tell you what to build so we can attract paying customers and both get paid.
Software is needed. But so are customers. Getting customers is a more valued skill because its the blood of the business. Programming is necessary, but I'd say 95% of the problems needing to be solved are not technology problems.
To the business, even in a software company where development is tier 1, and not a traditional "cost center" and bundled in with IT, development still needs to produce tangible business results. This requires skills that do not directly overlap with development skills.
Programmer: I can build it, I should get paid more
VS
BA/PM: I can tell you what to build so we can attract paying customers and both get paid.
Software is needed. But so are customers. Getting customers is a more valued skill because its the blood of the business. Programming is necessary, but I'd say 95% of the problems needing to be solved are not technology problems.