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I was raised to think that in many professions greater technical knowledge/experience would lead to greater challenges, pay, and value creation. This can be se

I was raised to think that in many professions greater technical knowledge/experience would lead to greater challenges, pay, and value creation. This can be seen in medicine and law --> Doctors vs PAs vs Nurses / Lawyers vs Paralegals. But in tech, which feels like it should be as meritocratic as others, the links between technical challenge/pay/value creation are much harder to find.

WhompingWindows 8y ago
As someone in the healthcare space, those positions in healthcare are gatekept by degree issuing universities and government-issued licensure. This is for good reason: we wouldn't want a system where drugs can be dispensed by just anyone, we want some assurance that those who we give tightly regulated powers to are indeed qualified. Tech to me feels like much more of a nascent industry, there is much less of a guild system with its pay-your-tuition and do-your-internship type of requirements. Rather, software is much more of a free-for-all, winner takes all type of labor market. Also, software is not given the same visceral examination as prescribing of drugs or prosecution of crimes. So, while technical skill in those other fields is likely correlated with the degrees, in tech it may be that highly skilled individuals get roped into management positions or into work on high-value yet low-interest business projects.