[nickelpro]

What does it matter if it's in the 85th percentile if they can get more money in another industry?

The question isn't, "can you survive as an EE?" sure, you can survive as fry cook at a fast food chain. The question is, "will headhunters poach this occupation and have a high success rate due to the salary delta?" And the answer for the EE -> SWE transition is obviously yes.

[bumby]

The question isn’t about which pays more, it’s about whether the best tack is to treat an occupation as an economic transaction where the sole goal is to be a mercenary to the highest bidder.

If someone finds can find fulfillment dedicating their life to making ad-spend software while getting paid handsomely, that’s wonderful. But the larger point is that the comments seemed to be focused exclusively on the pay with little consideration to the work.