Because many of the people who could make $100k doing software could make several multiples of that doing something like finance, and be in a more respected pro

Because many of the people who could make $100k doing software could make several multiples of that doing something like finance, and be in a more respected profession to boot. Whenever the salary question comes up, people are always quick to compare it to the country at large. But that's not a valid comparison; someone who would be a qualified software engineer isn't deciding between that and being a retail clerk. They're deciding between going into that or something like finance, where they can make many multiples of what they could as a software developer.