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Comment by SwiftyBug | Hacker News Reader

Am Brazilian, used to work in a very big, well-paying company. It's astounding the amount of amazing talent that left the company during the 2 years I worked there (myself included [not that I'm amazing talent, I just got lucky]). There's no way Brazilian companies can keep up with the talent evasion going on in tech right now, specially because of the exchange rate of USD x BRL.

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They're just going to have to bite the bullet and pay more. It really is that simple. If they can't find developers, they aren't paying enough and are trying to cheap out on talent acquisition.

Fact is, there are occupations that pay a nice salary in Brazil, even after conversion to US$, even with the current exchange. Brazil is not poor; lots of flashy cars on the streets, upscale bars and restaurants are shock full day after day.

But there is this deeply rooted notion that software engineers are not supposed to make as much a judge, a doctor or a higher-rank bureaucrat of the public sector. The current bewildering is more cultural than anything else.

Government bureaucrats aren't really providing any vital service to be honest. I understand the doctor thing though. Why would anyone want to bust their ass in medical school in order to live in hospitals if they can make more money writing software instead? Health care workers are losing value fast in Brazil and quality is going to drop.

There's this notion that doctors are well paid but they're not. It's just that every other profession is incredibly undervalued and should be paid more.

It was just an example, a juxtaposition of "respectable" professsions/occupations vs the humble software engineer that now wants to be respected too.

The doctors I know still make many times more than a software engineer with a remote job. And they deserve it.

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