I&#x27;ve seen plenty of talented devs slinging shitty enterprise crud apps or building Facebook for hamsters. The average dev does ok until he hits 40, unless you embed in the right enterprise.<p>A smart, ambitious person in a skilled trade (or even not so skilled) can can make a lot of money and have rewarding work. My neighbor prints money as running an excavation &amp; dumptruck business. He uses the cash to buy property and find his wife&#x27;s fledgling business.<p>Every time a building burns, floods, etc in my city, he has a 1&#x2F;5 chance of making about $75k at 80% margin. And that is a tiny part of the business.