I am unsure as to what the central point is to this post, but I will try to rebut two ideas I think are central.<p>1. Coders are paid way more for the effort and hardship they put in at work. This reduces the value of hard work.<p>Even if programmers are paid more than - say a coal miner - for the effort they put in, it does not diminish the value of hard work. I think we can all accept that :<p>Success = function(hard work, talent, luck)<p>Since hard work is the only thing in that equation you can control, you must always work hard. This is why parents try to emphasize the value of hard work. I think it is obvious, even in the software industry, given the same talent and same luck, people who work harder are more successful. So, if your goal in life is to make a lot of money, you better be a software engineer than a coal miner. Figuring this out and making an effort to be a software engineer also counts as hard work. Some people call it smart work, but it many ways, it is just the same.<p>So, this is the way the world is. But is it the way the world should be ? The author also takes issue with coal miners being paid less. We all know people follow incentives. If coal miners are paid more, more people will try to become coal miners. Coal mining is a dangerous job and we should not have any more people doing it than is absolutely necessary.<p>The reason software engineers are paid so much is because people do not pay for the hardship that you faced for providing them some value. They pay for the value delivered. Once a piece of software is written, it can be used by millions or billions of people. If each of them paid for the value they received, software engineers would earn their salary. This is why musicians, authors etc are paid a lot of money too. It is fitting and proper that we do this, since these type of activities ( large amount of benefit produced for little effort ) should attract more energy and people than say, coal mining.<p>2. I am paid more than I deserve. I am humble enough to admit it. You should too.<p>It is important to know if you are paid more than the value you deliver. But the truth is that most people take your self-report about your value to be a proxy to determine how valuable you are. Imagine walking into an interview and saying : &#x27;I am paid $125K at my current job, but I don&#x27;t think I deliver that much value&#x27;. If you are so humble, you may not get the promotions that you deserve, you may not get the opportunities that you deserve, you may not get the pay hikes that you deserve, you may not get the jobs you deserve. Being humble is mostly only useful if everyone else feels threatened by you. Most people in the world are not threatened by software engineers. We are pretty low status.