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> SE is not overpaid. I actually think it's underpaid. Above all, the profession pushes for an early retirement. I don't buy this. I think developers are highl
by JeremyNT 4y ago
> SE is not overpaid. I actually think it's underpaid. Above all, the profession pushes for an early retirement.
I don't buy this. I think developers are highly paid because so many jobs are subsidized by VC speculation.
It's easy to get a software job working on a BS product that solves no real problems and eventually disappears. But the money you get paid is real enough in your bank account.
As long as VCs are willing to throw money at any random BS SaaS company that crops up, with the expectation that the losers are going to be outweighed by some unicorn, this will remain the case.
If/when the stock market corrects this free ride is going to be over.
(Disclaimer: I'm a developer, but I no longer work at a tech company)
- bumby 4y agoThis is an interesting take. I wonder how much the last 20 years of relatively cheap capital contributed to this. A lot of VC money seems to already have dried up as interest rates start to rise.
- infinite8s 4y agoIf you look at the explosion in salaries it's mostly been the last decade, which is coincidentally the decade of near 0 interest rates and capital chasing even more tenuous returns (ie the influx of money into VC funds which went into startups)
- bumby 4y agoIn theory, shouldn’t the cheap capital also caused explosion in salaries outside of tech? That didn’t seem to happen over the same time horizon
- infinite8s 4y agoWell a lot of that capital went into VC funds, and not many VCs are funding things outside of tech.