I partially agree with point 3 despite it also not being blanket true. Yes there are good, great, and amazing programmers everywhere. Yet there also does seem t

I partially agree with point 3 despite it also not being blanket true. Yes there are good, great, and amazing programmers everywhere. Yet there also does seem to be a positive correlation between pay and ability (gasp!), even between areas, from my personal experience. Sorry I know a lot of people get offended by that. There are also different cultural aspects about software that change between countries. Growing up in the US and going to college after big tech was already ascendant, probably the main reason I went into technology is that it seemed the best way for me to make a money (esp. given quality of life, eg not having to do the IB grind). Anecdotally a very large portion of the career/money oriented people I knew growing up and in college also went into the technology industry. I assume the same is true in some countries like China and India and less true in countries like Spain. You can see cultural differences regarding how well-regarded being a software engineer is in Western Europe vs. other countries in titles, how software companies are run (eg by former engineers or “business people”), pay, etc. If I had grown up in Spain and for some reason didn’t want to move to Switzerland/US I would probably not have gone into technology. This also is evidence of/creates a feedback loop where pay->market rate->interest->talent->pay causes regional software markets to diverge. By all means though, if you think you can get the same work done in another country for less money, do so. I think you’ll find that the $20 you’re picking up off the ground actually comes with a high interest rate. But you won’t believe me until you try it yourself