i would argue your point a different way. i think it is one of two things: 1) web development is where the jobs are, right now. below average and average dev

i would argue your point a different way. i think it is one of two things: 1) web development is where the jobs are, right now. below average and average developers will (or have to) follow the jobs and the money. superior developers are already making top dollar and/or are already in a job they enjoy, so they don't really need to move. my company is hiring like crazy right now for web developers and we can't seem to find intelligent/qualified employees anywhere, though we know they're out there. 2) some jobs are just straight up difficult to do. and i don't just mean difficult as in "it takes intelligence to do this job". there are mentally "easier" jobs that some people just do not want to take because of the demands of the job. being smart perhaps makes them easier to do, and being so difficult these jobs tend to command higher salaries. so the smart people tend to filter into these positions. that is typically why you'll see extremely smart people making a ton of money in niche industries, in my opinion. in large industries, the smart people usually get promoted out of hands-on coding positions, or they're tougher to spot from the outside looking in because of various other reasons.