A different element of this is that software professionals are often paid so well that a lot of people can take early retirement relatively easily if they're go

A different element of this is that software professionals are often paid so well that a lot of people can take early retirement relatively easily if they're good about saving and investing. And the FIRE movement is only growing. I sometimes wonder if the software world has relatively greater 'leakage' via early retirement than other fields, creating a constant problem of not enough highly experienced people who remain stuck as wage slaves throughout a 40 year career.