I previously worked as a classical orchestral musician.
In the entire United States, there are a maybe about 10 full time jobs open per year for any given instrument (excepting strings). For most instruments, there are thousands of music performance majors who graduate from colleges around the US each year.
When there is an audition, people fly to the audition at their own expense from all over the world. If you are even permitted to audition for the orchestra, you will face between 100 and 300 competitors. Almost everyone at these auditions has at least 15 years of playing experience and advanced (expensive) degrees. In the initial round, players have between 3 and 5 minutes to advance. Often the audition will consist of many rounds that will span 4 or 5 days (depending on the number of candidates).
Even if you win the audition, you don't necessarily have the gig. You are often on a six month to one year trial. It is very common for musicians to win an audition, play with an orchestra for a year, and then lose the job, never to win an audition ever again. It is also common for a musician to win a job, only to find that the orchestra is insolvent a few years later.
Often people will spend a decade going to auditions around the US before they win a position or just give up.
The last audition I attended was with the San Antonio Symphony. There were over 100 players at the audition from all around the US. The base salary for the San Antonio Symphony is $26K per year.
By contrast, the last time I was in San Francisco (2.5 years ago), I applied to about 80 web development jobs in 1 week. At the end of the week I had landed a job that paid $120K per year, great health care, free massages once a week, and all the food I can eat. I had 1.5 years of professional development experience and no CS degree.