Ask HN: what careers make $100k/year? $1mil/year?

$100k a year isn't terribly hard to net in terms of salary. You can earn it right out of school with a good offer in the right location, but even without that, it's not an unreasonable target to hit. If you're a good developer, you can hit it relatively early in life without living in NYC, Boston or the Bay area. If you're a patient developer, you can do the same but it will cost you more time. It certainly doesn't take great career aspirations to hit six-figures.

$1m a year salary, on the other hand, is going to be almost impossible. At compensation approaching that level, you're going to be earning less from your salary and more from bonuses, stock options, and other compensation incentives that don't fall under the term "salary". I don't know of anybody who makes $1m salary as a software developer. To earn that kind of money, you've got to be integral to the business in some way or get it as some kind of a bonus.

Finance. Drawbacks have been well-documented.

You are much better off starting your own company if you want to get to those levels.