[fecak]

I think we agree on much of this.

Regarding your anecdote of the uncle with the nice house, I'm sure when nephews and nieces of 44 year olds like us (who might be teenagers now) see software developers with fancy cars and 6 figure incomes living in the same neighborhoods as doctors and lawyers, they might give more consideration to tech as a career option instead of committing to 7+ years of college for law or medical degrees. We may be a few years away from that though. When did decent money come to software? Late 90s? That's only one generation.

I'd also disagree that the pay, working conditions and security are encouraging many to stay away. I don't expect the general public has those same notions. We could make the same argument for doctors - the salary looks great, but look at the price of malpractice insurance and how government interference in the market could impact their earnings over time. All industries will have issues that may not be common knowledge to the public.

If you spend lots of time on HN, you'll see these things, but most people outside the industry probably aren't exposed to stories of long hours and open offices. I don't expect those are the issue, but I certainly could be wrong.