[Gud]

If you earn 6 times more than your friend who is a bus driver, you live in a place that has an unusually high income disparity for Europe.

[fmobus]

Tech worker here, I just looked at my total comp, and it's about 4.5x that of a local bus driver. L+1s are probably getting close to 6x.

[Gud]

What's your location if you don't mind me asking? And did you compare the bus drivers total comp to your total comp? :-)

[FirmwareBurner]

That doesn't scan. In which Western European country is that massive difference?

Either you have a FANG wage or your friend has a poverty wage because here's how it's in Austria SW Dev wage 3k net/month, bus driver 2,5k. There's no 6x difference here.

So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.

[benterix]

I have a good job, most of my friends earn, say, 4x bus driver salary.

[FirmwareBurner]

In another comment you shared a avenge bus driver salary as 44k/year. So by your statement, your friends would earn 4x that, meaning 176k/year while you said you earn 6x that at 264k/year.

Sorry, but something is wrong here. Either you're data/math is wrong, or you and your friends work in the top 1% FAANGs/big-tech jobs, because those tech salaries aren't the norm in Europe.

[benterix]

No, 44k for a bus driver is in Germany. I also saw job offers for SWE in Germany at 35k, though... To make a solid argument we would have to compare medians.

My loose impression is the median for regular SWEs in Germany is around 60k and for senior positions ca 80k. Whether this is demotivating or otherwise is a matter of personal attitude I think - the difference is not enormous but it is there.