Let's not pretend that stuff like software development or finance, some of the best paying careers there are, are "hard, disgusting or dangerous". Jobs are simply paid on the value they create vs the supply of workers available to do those jobs.
> some of the best paying careers there are, are "hard, disgusting or dangerous".
In these cases, there is still something choking the supply side. In the case of software, its having the curiosity, intelligence and discipline to actually learn the skillset to the point where they can create the value. I've met plenty of people who wanted to learn to code that fell apart as soon as they tried writing anything past "hello world"
The education can be grueling, you have to spend lots of time in the computer lab while your friends in other majors are drinking/partying. A lot of people claim we develop bad mental health and social skills. That definitely limits supply somewhat.
The idea that you have to be social recluse to be good at programming is beyond laughable. There’s definitely the opportunity for it and there’s definitely plenty of people in that category.
But there’s plenty of us who are experts in the field, yet still know how to sit down for a cold beer on a hot day.
I didn’t go to a party school, so maybe my experience is biased. Also, the period I went was before CS was a mainstream major, so maybe things are different now.
I don't think so. I got my CS degree twenty five years ago. "Grueling" is pretty much the last word I'd use to describe my journey. I never went to class, spent the whole time smoking weed and gaming. I'm essentially a self-taught programmer, and if I can do it, almost anyone else could do it better and faster.
From my understanding in faang, this probably only applies to levels below senior. From senior onwards, coding is no longer a priority. U will need to work with multiple ppl and teams. Delegate the work. Communicate and champion ur projects. Interpersonal skills becomes as important as your technical skills
completely true but at that point you've been in the industry for a few years and already know how to code. hopefully you'll have spent some of that free time catching up on the social skill if you minmaxed on knowledge acquisition in university.
personally I completely understand the idea of a lone wolf coder. I'm self taught and started aggressively learning web development while working a dead end job. At some point I realized if I hung out with my coworkers and smoked weed/drank after hours with them like everyone else was doing, this is what Id be doing for the rest of my life. You're the average of the people you hang out with. if the average is hell bent on mediocrity and thats not what you want, isolation is just what you have to do till you are good enough to find a new crew.
As also stated by you that it doesn't take long to reach there. Average software engineers could reach there within 5-7 years. Assuming that a person only started taking cs in university and started working after graduation, that still puts him at this level below 30s. That's not counting the ppl who started programming young, or the ppl who learn faster than average, or the ppl didn't graduate and went straight to work, etc.
My point is that OP's points really only applies to the ppl who are new to the job. Inter-person skills comes into the play in just a few years.
Software development or finance tend to be hard, lacking meaning, and not well seen by society.
You're not going to come across as virtuous to anyone if you're in finance, as opposed to if you decide to be a firefighter. When you have multiple variables, coming up with examples that stretch just one will not give you a right answer.
I agree ultimately supply is the main driver, I have another comment in the thread about it.
Even sillier jobs mostly pay on first order value. That is why I refuse to work in any department that the larger organization deems a cost-center: in my experience such jobs consistently pay less!
Creating “value” for shareholders, “value” for your clients… I started to really dislike the use of value without a descriptor. It often feels like it implies the work of nurses, teachers, first-responders isn't as valuable as the work of software development or finance. Just because some jobs have a higher monetary value, doesn't mean its societal value is also high.
It's supply and demand - the whole idea is that the high pay will encourage people to move into where supply of labour is needed. It's just that, as some people are finding out, not everyone can code, and especially, not everyone can engineer.
