[lotsofpulp]

Have to incorporate a premium for the travel nurse job being not in your home office, income being more volatile than a salaried job, and travel nurses are independent contractors so they have to pay for housing/health insurance/taxes.

The $6k per week easily comes down to $3k per week or less of comparable W-2 income, which you can come close to or surpass doing virtual scrum meetings with none of the income volatility of nursing nor the messiness or risk of being infected or attacked. And not seeing your family/friends after work.

[unpolloloco]

The travel job typically has housing built in too and often per diems. So probably closer to 4-5k equivalent! But quality of life isn't great to your point. Software is the objectively better job there unless you're really passionate about nursing!