I disagree. I used to be an IT auditor. I worked in public accounting. The CPAs who really crushed it were partners. They usually had been with the firm for 10

I disagree. I used to be an IT auditor. I worked in public accounting. The CPAs who really crushed it were partners. They usually had been with the firm for 10+ years minimum, and were basically in sales at that point. You have to buy into the company normally when you make partner, and less than 10% of employees ever make partner. MDs, yes they're high earners, but many go into a ton of debt, and don't start earning a lot till pretty late in their career. Many blow through all their cash too. Lawyers, yes obviously some make bank. But many make next to nothing. I have tons of friends who are just graduating and can't find work. As a developer, I can clear 100K a year working remotely in a very affordable state. And I have no debt. That's a pretty good living. On top of that, I love what I do. Note that I don't have kids though. The only concern I have about software development is that it seems to plateau around 100-150K a year. I guess that makes sense though. You'd have to go into management to make more, and you wouldn't be writing much code, which is what I like to do. Anyways, I wouldn't call a good developer making a reasonable developer salary lower middle class.