[chimeracoder]

> when you can enter Wall Street and live in NYC (great city but really only for the super rich)

This is a common misconception, but not true. It's not true on an absolute scale (many people in NYC survive on what are modest salaries elsewhere) or on a COLA-adjusted scale (NYC has a salary-adjusted lower cost-of-living than many other "cheaper" cities).

> and start making 6-7 figure salary/bonus almost from the beginning?

Even when you factor end-of-year bonuses into the equation, an entry-level I-banking job pays about as much as Google or Facebook would pay an engineer right out of school. The hours are also a lot longer than at Google (not to mention less flexible).

It takes a long time to work your way up to even half of seven figures, and that's if you get there (the vast majority burn out, change professions, or have their careers stagnate).

[dba7dba]

> Even when you factor end-of-year bonuses into the equation, an entry-level I-banking job pays about as much as Google or Facebook would pay an engineer.

Problem is programmers entering Google/Facebook are most often programmers who studied CS in college. Many graduates entering Wall Street are science(physics,math,chemistry) and engineering (non-CS engineering) majors.

I wouldn't mind not having enough programmers working for google/facebook but I do mind losing science/engineering graduates to finance jobs when instead they could be learning the ropes in other vital industries.