[czbond]

I used to think that too (as a comp sci guy). But the old adage is true "A students work for B students, who work for the owners - C Students". What I've found in life is that the smartest make intellectual advances, but rarely take life risks due to over-rationalization.

[chongli]

"A students work for B students, who work for the owners - C Students".

The problem with this adage is the numbers game. A students may be rare and C students plentiful, but owners are rare too. So while some C students may become owners, most will be far less successful.

[morgante]

I'm not sure what your point is.

I'm not much of an academic type myself. I was talking about careers: you're going to make a lot more money and have much more impact as a developer/software guy than as a tradesman.

I don't know of (m)any software developers working for plumbers.

[douche]

There's some other considerations that might come into play there:

Do you take great satisfaction and pleasure in working with your hands and working on concrete projects?

Do you want to live someplace outside the big-money tech bubbles?

Maybe you don't care about impacting the world - you just want to make a nice living and hang out with your family.

I'm sure there's others.

[morgante]

I'm not saying that everyone should be a developer. Plenty of people are well-suited to a skilled trade if that's what they enjoy.

What I was arguing against is this idea that someone becoming a plumber is the economically superior option.