[lonster]

What are you saying? That welders and plumbers are making more than you? There's two good reasons that's the case, if it's so. (1) They work way harder, physically, and have to deal with burns, OPP (Other People's Poop), and a bunch of engineer-types as customers who try to "fix" things first and then finally give up and call a pro, but want to learn from the pro the whole time he/she is working. If that doesn't command $50/hour, I don't know what does. (2) You should be doing more intense programming. I don't know your skillset, but if you're mainlining Cobol with a dose of Lisp and keeping some foreign government from collapse, you'll make more than a plumber. But if you're honing CSS all day and your workplace cubicle is surrounded with Manga and everyone has corporate logos on Macbooks, and there are "decompress rooms" filled with Herman Miller furniture, well, keep in mind your comfort level at work may partially explain your salary. I kind of think the poop guys should get more money than you.