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I also believe that the rise of code camps without having to put in the time, ZIRP, and FAANG level compensation led to a flood of software devs who were more a

I also believe that the rise of code camps without having to put in the time, ZIRP, and FAANG level compensation led to a flood of software devs who were more about "making paper" than about the love of computer science. Conversely I can say with a high degree of confidence that I've never met a M.Eng who was in it for the material perks. Tangentially, it reminds me of something I heard about Scandinavian countries (though I can't vouch for the veracity of it). Since you were going to get the hell taxed out of you no matter what you did - it made more sense to focus on doing what you loved as a career.

ghaff 2y ago
Re: MEng Not so sure. A generally well-paying professional job? Probably. A deep passion for tinkering and building mechanical things? Not so obvious.
jaza 2y ago
Not a Scandinavian myself (Australian - halfway between the Nordic model and the US dollarocracy, and sadly sliding ever closer to the latter), so can't speak authoritatively. But I would have thought it's not so much about "getting the hell taxed out of you no matter what you do", but more about "getting decent pay and a massive social security safety net no matter what you do". Although either way, yes, makes sense to choose your career based on passion rather than paycheque. Which is why, for example, Finland (famous for its high standard of public education) AFAIK has a significantly less severe teacher shortage than most other OECD countries.
piva00 2y ago
> Tangentially, it reminds me of something I heard about Scandinavian countries (though I can't vouch for the veracity of it). Since you were going to get the hell taxed out of you no matter what you did - it made more sense to focus on doing what you loved as a career. I live in Scandinavia and it's not so much about being taxed the hell out of it, it's more that whatever your profession you will, most likely, have a decent income to live with dignity and some comforts, and getting "rich" by simply working for a FAANG-type/finance company with absurd amounts of bonuses through options/RSUs is not viable. Also, there are safety nets in place in case you want to risk going self-employed/starting a company with your profession. If you are a carpenter and want to start a small business, failing is ok because you likely won't be homeless or starving. My feeling is that it's more about income inequality being relatively low while still having enough range that it pays off in case you work with something that requires more extensive training (law, medical, etc.).

ghaff 2y ago

Re: MEng Not so sure. A generally well-paying professional job? Probably. A deep passion for tinkering and building mechanical things? Not so obvious.

jaza 2y ago

Not a Scandinavian myself (Australian - halfway between the Nordic model and the US dollarocracy, and sadly sliding ever closer to the latter), so can't speak authoritatively. But I would have thought it's not so much about "getting the hell taxed out of you no matter what you do", but more about "getting decent pay and a massive social security safety net no matter what you do". Although either way, yes, makes sense to choose your career based on passion rather than paycheque. Which is why, for example, Finland (famous for its high standard of public education) AFAIK has a significantly less severe teacher shortage than most other OECD countries.

piva00 2y ago

> Tangentially, it reminds me of something I heard about Scandinavian countries (though I can't vouch for the veracity of it). Since you were going to get the hell taxed out of you no matter what you did - it made more sense to focus on doing what you loved as a career. I live in Scandinavia and it's not so much about being taxed the hell out of it, it's more that whatever your profession you will, most likely, have a decent income to live with dignity and some comforts, and getting "rich" by simply working for a FAANG-type/finance company with absurd amounts of bonuses through options/RSUs is not viable. Also, there are safety nets in place in case you want to risk going self-employed/starting a company with your profession. If you are a carpenter and want to start a small business, failing is ok because you likely won't be homeless or starving. My feeling is that it's more about income inequality being relatively low while still having enough range that it pays off in case you work with something that requires more extensive training (law, medical, etc.).