Why finance earn more than tech

We know that bankers worked at top firms and engineers worked at top tech firms have similar salaries in the first year or two. But as they advance their careers (move to PE or move up the ladder), on average people started as bankers will earn more than engineers, which is the reason why people choose finance over tech.

My question is why a career in finance on average will earn more than a career in tech?

7 Comments
 

The main reason why anyone earns a living is that people go to firms and convince them that they will make more money for the firm than they will cost.

In finance it is much easier to quantify how much money you individually can make, and thus make a much more convincing argument that you deserve to be paid a good portion of the money you made for the firm.

 

At the higher levels in financial services your performance can be tangibly measured by how much revenue you bring in and therefore your compensation is tied to that. There's a reason not everyone makes it to MD, it's fucking hard. In tech if you're good, they are going to pay to keep you around. At the higher levels they're still making a shitload, it's just different.

 
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