I worked as a programmer in Spain (my homeland) between 2008 and 2014. My yearly salary was 16k euros, putting me in the bottom 25% of earners, or just about th

I worked as a programmer in Spain (my homeland) between 2008 and 2014. My yearly salary was 16k euros, putting me in the bottom 25% of earners, or just about the poverty line. Considering the american market, people have a hard time believing I used to live paycheck to paycheck working as a programmer. Anything tech related used to be a "nerd" job and I got paid less than my friends working as mechanics or policemen. In fact I didn't learn programmers were supposed to get paid big bucks until embarrassingly late. Luckily in the last few years this has changed, in part thanks to Covid and remote work. At least now software engineers can get paid a decent income, which makes working in tech in the EU more bearable.