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Comment by aantix | Hacker News Reader

You have to get out of Europe.

For whatever reason, Europeans just don’t seem to value software engineering and it shows.

Great engineers. Zero money to show for it.

Venture Capital and FANG pay obscene money because their business models can afford to, they just happen to be powered by software. The actual work of software development isn't somehow worth more to society than your average white collar job, at least in my opinion. It's just another job, and it would be better for the world if the pay came down rather than everywhere get inflated, so that software could thrive in other markets, not just the tech bubbles. Perhaps not the right forum to be preaching for that, and it's certainly not in my best interest either, but that's how I see it.

Their business models can afford to pay a lot because these companies generate that much cash. They drive that much cash because software can be highly leveraged (whereas plumbing cannot). Having salaries come down to means shifting where the profits are distributed and allowing the company owners and investors to capture more in comparison to the employees. I don't see how this is better?

It's still not great, but I am thinking of the negative externalities of tying up all software developers in tech bubbles, and having such a highly inflated class of worker in your cities.

Taxing those profits more readily might be one way to make the value from these insanely profitable software plays be more fairly distributed across society.

>It's just another job

If this was true, then then purchasers would not be having to pay so much for the labor. No one is forcing them to.

Pricing is just a function of supply and demand. The high prices indicate more supply is needed to market participants. Maybe the participants can respond and provide sufficient supply to bring prices down. Maybe the participants are not able to respond with enough supply and prices stay elevated.

In order for pay to come down it must be inflated first so that people are motivated to saturate the open positions.

I think you are right. I also wonder how many people will still be interested in software after it stops being associated with big money and startup culture.

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