There's some truth to that, but you have to pay attention to the other factors involved in a typical full-time job. You probably are giving up a lot of money co

There's some truth to that, but you have to pay attention to the other factors involved in a typical full-time job. You probably are giving up a lot of money compared to what your work is objectively worth, but not simply to greed and exploitation. At least some of the gap is from the stability and reduction of risk. You know exactly how much money you're going to make every month, and it doesn't change, even if the company/your product isn't doing so well right now. That isn't natural, and it doesn't come for free. To see the other side of that, you can always work as an independent consultant. You'll probably make more money if you do it well, but you'll have a lot more risk and variability in your income. Can't find a client this month? Tough luck, hope you've got savings. That's what you're giving up money for protection from. There's also usually a bunch of other stuff provided, which may include sales, advertising, market analysis, customer relations, infrastructure management, etc.