Isn't it kind of interesting that normative respect for software engineers is so low that even when salaries are $80k to $150k on a team, that same team is going to be sitting in an open plan setting and talked down to by management?

It's funny because software developers are more kin to the 'real professions' like law when it comes to earnings potential: like lawyers, a software dev can simply make money by setting up his or her own shop with very* little capital investment beyond education.

Edit:

Now that I think about it, the loss of respect might come from the fact that software devs have a 'management' looking over their shoulders at all. In other 'true' professions, the ones who are liable to cut-costs, haze, or otherwise pour abuse on a professional would also be in the same profession. E.g. if you're a lawyer, you may work 100 hour weeks for the first 8 years, but you're doing so not because some pointy-haired MBA is telling you, but because X lawyer with prestige who owns the company is telling you to. So even though the outcome is the same, it may feel more okay because its coming from someone of your same class/category.