[eru]

Compensation ain't about how hard something is in an absolute sense. At least that's only one part of it.

Playing an instrument is harder than being a code monkey. On the one hand, you can make good money being a top tier musician, there's almost no money in being a mediocre musician (or even an above average one). On the other hand, it's fairly easy to get by as a mediocre code monkey.

Even as a somewhat subpar software engineer, you can make enough money that you don't have to be waiting tables as your day job.

(Waiting tables itself is a good example at least to contrast with acting or making music or writing novels. None of these aspiring artists and poets is necessarily any good at waiting tables, but it still pays the bills compared to even pretty good acting skills.)