A programmer's job is easy. At a well-structured and thriving workplace, there's never really a need to work oneself until burnout. For many, it's also a fulfilling and rewarding profession intellectually.

So why in the world do we get paid so much to do relatively enjoyable work while millions slave away in backbreaking minimum-wage jobs?

It's not because what we do is terrifically hard work - it isn't. It never strains you physically, and only at times does it force an experienced developer to go out of their comfort zone intellectually.

No, we get to reap the extra rewards for the simple reason that the demand for our skills far exceeds the currently available supply. That's it.

If employing a rare variety of sentient oranges would, for some weird reason, increase profits, be sure, Google's offices and Glassdoor's salary charts would look very different.