Finance/Wall Street > Tech/Quant Dev

Hey all, am just wondering why is tech so popular, so much so that some people who can qualify for finance/medicine are choosing tech over it. 

We all know that trading firms/hft pays SWE a lot, and yes they may beat out BB Front Office at the first 2-3 years. But High Finance ceiling is way higher and I believe at later stages most High Finance roles will beat SWE at trading firms. 

I used to think that BB IB/FO is the pinnacle with 300-400K total comp with 3-4 YOE, as an associate. 

But even after IB, so many exit opportunities pay even better, such as PE (KKR), VC firms, Hedge funds etc. 

Am I understanding wrongly that, if one solely cares about $, finance IS the way to go. Not tech. Yes i understand that getting into BB Front Office/HF/PE is difficult, maybe the top 1%. But likewise, the same top 1% gets into HFT for SWE.

So if by grinding/working hard and abit of luck, why not choose that 1% in Finance where the salary ceiling is so much higher?