[Archelaos]

Having worked in academia before the age of 40 (though not in computer science), I can agree with this view. To enjoy the benefits of status, compensation and, to a certain extent, flexibility, one has to reach the level of professor. After failing to reach this level at 40, I switched to software development, without ever regretting it.

A while ago I saw a position for image recognition in astronomy advertised by the university of my town. It sounded all very exciting for someone who enjoys figuring out solutions for a complex task -- until I looked up the pay grade: Less than half of my current hourly rate, without the flexibility I have (working from everywhere I want, even pre-Covid). Well, the problem seems to be that a competitive salary for a software engineer would probably have to be higher than for the professor leading the group.

As an aside, I recently had a discussion with a friend in my country's military about the cyber defence forces wanting to recruit software engineers. There is a similar problem here: if they do not use contractors (whom they can pay what they ask for), they have difficulty finding an appropriate pay grade, since a well-qualified software engineer would have to be paid better than a general.