Meanwhile this March we saw 15k manufacturing jobs, 26k construction jobs, and 91k healthcare and education jobs added [0].

Those are the voters that matter (unionized, geographically spread out, didn't price everyone else out via remote work) - not SWEs.

[0] - https://www.ft.com/content/82c1795b-704a-4da3-82ec-2f9cd52de...

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dominotw 4 hours ago | parent [-]

construction, hospital nurses and daycare workers are the avialble jobs? so depressing and scary

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guzfip 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah you don’t want to work 60+ hours a week to be even remotely close to what you were making before?

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alephnerd 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> Yeah you don’t want to work 60+ hours a week

These are union jobs where hours worked don't extend beyond 50 hours including overtime and with significantly lower barrier to entry compared to software.

Why should American SWEs earn more than Accountants (around $80k), Teachers (around $70k), or Mechanical Engineers (around $80k)?

It's this kind of attitude that makes non-techies feel schadenfreude.

Techies moan and moan, yet in reality we became the capital elite - a median TC of $190K [0] does make you the capital elite in a country where the median household income is $80k [1]. Even investment bankers have a similar TC to SWEs [2] - especially if you don't work for a Bulge Bracket or Elite Boutique.

[0] - https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/united-...

[1] - https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-28...

[2] - https://www.levels.fyi/t/investment-banker?countryId=254&cou...

	▲	sapphicsnail 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Just because someone has it worse doesn't mean you should accept bad things happening.

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alephnerd 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> so depressing and scary

Union jobs with set hours and lower barriers to entry than software while offering middle class salaries? It's so horrible /s.

It's this attitude that makes people who don't have stakes in the software industry feel schadenfreude.

	▲	wildzzz 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The vast majority of those people are not union.