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A comment on Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past dec... by hashar on Thursday September 15, 2022 @08:01AM (#32850436)
My place has a large shipyard and as story I got told is that good welder lands there with a private jet, do their welding then fly to the next place. I am guessing good welders have a niche market as well.
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Re:Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past dec... by ethbr0 on Thursday September 15, 2022 @08:18AM (#32850609)
Great story, because it demonstrates what people often fail to think about in salary: your hypothetical maximum salary is bounded by the amount of value you add to the finished product.

If you're a key component (welder) in a high priced product (ship), the builder can compensate you $$$$ and still win. So they do.

You can temporarily have unreasonably high pay (higher than value added), but eventually the market will figure it out. The only way to make outsized returns your entire career is to find a supply-limited, high-value-add niche.

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Re:Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past dec... by doubled112 on Thursday September 15, 2022 @08:20AM (#32850632)
Welders that can weld underwater are scarce and compensated accordingly.

My understanding is that it's dangerous and few want to do it.

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Re:Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past dec... by riyadparvez on Thursday September 15, 2022 @08:37AM (#32850872)
> My understanding is that it's dangerous and few want to do it.

Yeah this is the part everyone is ignoring in the conversation. Many highly compensated physical labor jobs are highly compensated because of the associated risk. While being a developer (with exceptions) doesn't expose you to any physical risk.

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Re:Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past dec... by mellavora on Thursday September 15, 2022 @09:31AM (#32851638)
I hurt my little pinky finger programming. RSI is a real thing.

but I don't think tech compensation is high because of risk of this type of injury.

vs underwater welding, where the types of possible injuries have greater impact on overall health.

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