Ask HN: If everyone can learn programming for free, why is the salary high? - kwikiel
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Silhouette
It's only free if your time has no value.

In reality, programming is a highly skilled profession that requires
considerable investment in time and hard work to get good at it. If you make
that investment and gain those skills, you can use them to generate a lot of
value, and that's why it pays relatively well as an industry.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
I'll go further than that. It takes a certain kind of thinking that not
everyone can do well, regardless of time and effort that they are willing to
put in. (Of course, those people may also be less willing to put the time and
effort in, because they can tell that it's not a good fit for them.)

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Indomit
Free, doesn't mean easy.

Everyone can be physically fit, for free, yet not many achieve and or maintain
it.

~~~
halfbrown
This is one of my favorite responses to the OP's question due to the simple
truth it tells.

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jimrhods23
Anyone can slap down some code and get something to marginally work from a
tutorial they read online.

The skill (and subsequent value) comes in when priorities change, things need
to be refactored, and you need an experienced developer to come up with a
solution that works well.

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DsaintL
Despite the fact that there are plenty of free tools to learn the technical
skill, not many people want or have the time to invest into learning it. There
is a pretty high demand for programmers but the supply is comparatively low.
This leads to high salaries.

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mknze
Imagine if all learning was free, would this eliminate well-paid specialists?

