This is not entirely true in the UK. The relative pay ratio for skill difficulty to pay is very low. Programmers get paid like plumbers.
According to here, software engineers are paid roughly the same as other types of engineer, and a lot more than plumbers.
There are some very low paid development related job titles. For example, "Web Developer" salaries are always awfully low - but that's a job title you only ever really see at tech-phobic companies or design agencies.
Speaking as someone who does a fair amount of hiring in London, a decent software engineer commands a high salary - around the six figure mark. I don't mean FAANG "can invert a binary tree on a whiteboard" level, just "knows what a mutex is". There really aren't many other careers in this country that you can be paid six figures in a non-management job without a degree.
The best way to get a high salary in the UK seems to be to either work in London, work remotely for a London based office, or work in London then transfer to another part of the UK.
I'm not a London native, but there's a phrase people in my home town use, "doing your London time" - meaning working in London for a few years then moving back home. Reason being that once you've worked in London, your salary is permanently much higher once you move back than it would otherwise have been.
Six figure in the UK is very different from six figures in other countries.
UK after tax came to £74,244 ($102,885), California came to $108,070.
I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but they don't seem all that different to me. And compared to the rest of Europe, UK tax is on the low side.
Of course I don't particularly _enjoy _paying high taxes, but I feel like living in London, earning within the ballpark of that amount, my life is pretty good.
FAANGs, start-ups, unicorns, fintech etc. are much higher, but the same is true in the UK. I know mid tier software engineers working in FB/Google in London clearing over £300k in total comp. I work in a fintech start-up and my TC is close to £200k.
But sure. London pure tech salaries are not the quite as high as the global tech hub. Fintech salaries are competitive with NYC though (but slightly worse after tax).
Outside of London companies are still looking for experienced software people under the £40k mark, and then wondering why they have staff retention issues, or can't attract top talent.
This is showing signs of slow change - Starling bank have a plan to open offices in other cities, starting with Southampton, and pay close-to-London money. JPMC have had that strategy in Dorset for quite a while too.