"Meanwhile, tech industry execs are screaming over how high (!!) engineer salaries are..." A couple of recent surveys were very eye-opening. Salaries seem hig

"Meanwhile, tech industry execs are screaming over how high (!!) engineer salaries are..." A couple of recent surveys were very eye-opening. Salaries seem high compared to the national average in silicon valley, but if you look at compensation in other fields in in high-cost areas like silicon valley, it doesn't appear that software developers have particularly high salaries. The first survey is from sfgate (the sf chronicle)... http://blog.sfgate.com/gettowork/2013/12/17/what-the-most-common-jobs-in-san-francisco-pay/#18915101=0 http://blog.sfgate.com/gettowork/2013/12/17/what-the-most-co... According to this survey, registered nurses in San Francisco earn $112,140 a year. "Software Developers, Applications" workers earn $110,950 a year. System software developers clock in at $112,260 a year. Lawyers earn an average of $165,740 a year. Software Developers get the best job title on US News And World Report's rankings http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-b... But the top jobs in high paid regions tells a similar story. In San Jose, as with San Francisco, Registered Nurses outearn software developers. In San Francisco, dental hygenists earn $106,700 a year, so about 4k a year less than these wildly well paid software developers. http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/dental-hygienist/salary http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/dental-hygienist/s... My point here isn't these aren't important fields worthy of good salaries. I'm really glad that nurses and dental hygienists are well paid, they absolutely deserve good compensation. But why do we talk about software developers as if they are this astoundingly well paid group of workers with runaway salaries? It seems that they make fine salaries compared to other well educated workers. More than some, less than others.