[ghaff]

Law and CS/programming are a bit different though. Law seems to tend towards a bimodal salary distribution where you have the top 10 school grads who clerked for a federal appeals court/SCOTUS/etc. and work at a white shoe law firm in a big city--and you have the public defenders/real estate lawyers in shopping malls/etc. It's not really that black and white--you have people who do well enough as corporate counsels and the like--but that's a common pattern.

[boring_twenties]

Isn't it the same with programming? It seems to me there is one tier -- FAANG, certain well-funded startups, and finance -- that pay $400k++, and everyone else tops out at $180k or so.