[mono442]

I doesn't seem so. It looks like there's a huge oversupply of software engineering and that will only make the salaries go lower.

I think something like a medical doctor or a dentist is a much safer bet. They have basically always been able to maintain high salaries for their work.

[muzani]

Things move in a sinusoidal cycle because of this. Oversupply is overcorrected, leading to an undersupply, which is overcorrected, leading to an oversupply.

Medical doctors are well oversupplied where I live. COVID hit them particularly hard and they were "drafted". A 35 year old doctor might be paid around the same as a 28 year old programmer.

Back when I graduated, software salaries were terrible, barely above minimum wage. Most quit, became teachers, bakers, fashion designers, etc. I quit to start a cafe, somehow got pulled back into software to raise funds to start a coffee franchise, and simply outlasted the other native Android developers.

Whatever seems oversupplied today will be undersupplied in 5-10 years, especially as advice as "don't do a degree" goes around.

[mono442]

I mean, it is probably country dependent. In my country in Europe a medical doctor right out of the university makes around the same as a senior software developer and the difference only gets bigger with time.

[notmyjob]

The medical fields are more nearly unionized and therefore don’t have the h1b/scab labor used as a lever to erode their job (career?) security problem to quite the same extent. Tech workers are too important for our national competitiveness to be allowed that same level of job security.

[bruce511]

With the caveat that doctors have to deal with sick people all day

So sure, if you're looking for high income and job security, and the work itself is irrelevant then that's one way to decide.

But clearly programming and doctoring take place in very different work environments, and are very different in many ways.

Personally I always enjoyed programming. Frankly, I don't like sick people, so I'd be a terrible doctor. I graduated at a time when Dr's were well paid, programming not so much. But the wheel turns, and I'm really pleased I chose the path I did.

40 years later, and I'm right where I'm supposed to be :)