My comparison is usually nurses who have an actually hard job where people's lives are on the line (and lately their own lives). If someone thinks that software developers are notorious for accepting low pay, I can't imagine what they think of nurses. The worst thing that happens in my day is that I might have to battle bombastic management or know it all whipper snappers in order to get my way :-) (Well, to be fair, as a contractor for a company in the travel industry, my biggest stress is making sure they don't get the impression that paying my invoice is optional...)
Low pay compared to hedge fund managers. Both can (in massive scale organisations) swing massive amounts of money to the company. Neither does it reliably.
