Ask HN: Is it common for a SW Dev to earn $14/hr?

I am following /r/antiwork on reddit.com, where it is common to read threads regarding low pay and abusive work conditions. The people posting it are from all walks of life there, including the tech sector (devs, system admins, devops), which I did not expect. And not all of them are working on old, antiquated systems either, many use contemporary tech.

It's best to understand that what's generally represented on social media (I am including HN and Reddit, as well as blog posts and LinkedIn) is not representative of the industry as a whole, we only congregate around the posts that get all the attention, and we don't care about the 'dark matter developers': https://www.hanselman.com/blog/dark-matter-developers-the-un...

Probably not common, but that's a little more than I made as a developer 10 years ago at a small company with like 6 employees. It was not a tech company, the CEO knew enough to keep the website running and I did some enhancements. I worked there for almost a year then got a 250% pay increase at a real software company. The owner of the small company said he could not match the salary, and that I would be making more than him. I felt kind of bad, but did honest work during the time I had there and that's all I could do.

If you read the stories here on HN, it gives the impression that we work in an industry that pays pretty well and it gives us a good chance for a comfortable life.

Then I come across this tweet where a software developer is earning $14/hr. So, I just want to ask how common are such low paying jobs in tech? Personally, I have not seen such or experience this low level of pay before.

This sounds like a non n American job or a mediocre job in a mediocre place. Servers here in Canada get like 12-12.50 usd…

No.