As with all these things, "sucks" is relative, and there are low paying jobs for anywhere in the stack. There's certainly fewer employers that need full time lo

As with all these things, "sucks" is relative, and there are low paying jobs for anywhere in the stack. There's certainly fewer employers that need full time low-level software developers. So perhaps the contract/freelance approach is the way to go. It's certainly possible to achieve ~$1.5k/day consulting rates for low-level software development if you're an expert in a niche.