Recency bias, amplified by the age bias in tech. There are a whole bunch of people in this industry who just weren't around before the post-2008-great-financial-crisis-zero-interest-rate-money-firehouse financed an unusually long bull market and sent pay packages through the stratosphere.
I've been trying to reconcile a few observations that appear contradictory:
1. Inflation was significant. 150-250k is just the cost of a white collar with experience.
2. The skills required to be a top software engineer have increased. The field is much more competitive and has some extremely productive people at the top.
3. A significant number of my peers in software seem to think they can earn very high salaries forever, while working mostly remote, never touching weekends, never studying. That cannot continue forever.
4. Most engineers do not have any risk tolerance, and are not navigating the "7 years of plenty" for the "7 years of famine".
So what happens? Maybe inflation lowers everyone's standard of living, but they keep jobs, and nothing dramatic happens. Maybe there are big layoffs and rude awakening? Maybe it's the bottom 50% of quality that gets hit hard, and everyone else is fine?
