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Comment by blaser-waffle | Hacker News Reader

> Plenty of people who aren't doctors can make doctor money now. Just look at tech.

> Plenty

Plenty of tech folks make north of six-figures and often do better than most, but neurosurgeons make $800k, and plenty of mid-level medical types can pull $300K+. I personally know a dentist making "in the ballpark of 400" (his words) in the Washington DC 'burbs.

There are certainly IT/CS gigs paying north of $600K -- they're discussed all the time here on HN -- but those don't really exist outside of SV and maybe a handful of other areas, and generally require a pedigree that, while not a Med School, are still fairly non-trivial.

Your ITT-Tech trained Active Directory Admin isn't going to make anything near GP or Dermatologist money -- most tech, even with real degrees and certs, wont.

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Specialized surgeons in the US are the top 1% of the field, especially if they own their own practice. That's really not a fair comparison. Especially when you account for artificial control/capture of supply and demand through the American medical system, which includes everything from schooling through residencies, all the way up to employment and licensing.

Lots of doctors make under $200k. I would say the majority do, because the majority don't own their own practices (partly nor in whole). Most doctors in the US are just salaried internists.

I think more than 10% of SWE with experience in the US are making that much or more when you account for compensation that is not pure salary.

> I think more than 10% of SWE with experience in the US are making that much or more when you account for compensation that is not pure salary.

I live in a big US city. We have one large tech employer which pays engineers ~125-150k (they max out at 200k for principals in specialized areas). At almost every other company in town, the going salary for a developer is 80-100k.

The latter type of job is far more representative of engineering jobs in the country. We told everyone "go do STEM and make bank at Google!" Meanwhile there aren't enough of those top-end jobs to go around, and a lot of folks who didn't go to a name-brand university or have friends in the right places work for (comparatively) little money.

Physician average was $300k in the US https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2019-compensation-overvie.... I hate to say it as someone in the tech field but they have us best in compensation. Any suggestions how I can bump up my compensation as a junior developer in low col area without a fancy uni degree?

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