For a variety of economic and historical reasons, many software companies are only likely to succeed in the US.
Without an influx of new people at a faster rate than education, increased salaries from demand will just shuffle existing engineers around. Instead of working at company A, they'll work at company B, earning a few percent extra; and company A, not being able to afford engineers, will either find something else to do, or close up shop. Higher salaries aren't enough to increase the supply of labour very quickly.
Which one of company A vs company B is more likely to be a startup?
What you are actually arguing for, is for software engineers to seek rent on the creation of new companies. You want to slow down growth in the economy and decrease the rate at which software gets applied to new problems, in order to make more salary (for Americans, in particular, as opposed to people less geographically well off).
It's self-interested, and thus understandable. I don't really fault you for arguing your corner. But you should be aware that it's not necessarily in the interest of your fellow Americans, never mind VCs. Other Americans also benefit from the application of software to all sorts of problems. Increased salaries for engineers mean that software is more expensive (however it's paid for), and there's less of it.
PS: the parasites feeding on nexus of finance are a separate issue. It doesn't make your argument more convincing, because they are a special case, recently in particular. Those parasites need dealing with, but the regulatory system has largely been captured, especially in the US. My problem with working in finance is ethics, rather than salary. Much of those earnings have been against latent risks that the taxpayer is underpinning.
You have some good points, but a lot of your argument is hinged on the idea that higher salaries would not bring more talent into the field. It's a statement that isn't backed up, and one I feel very skeptically about.
I think both sides have fine points. I don't support immigration barriers, but I also don't think we should tear the wall down in one fell swoop. If we significantly lower the boundary to immigration all at once, it will probably create a painful cycle in which all workers are significantly under paid until the businesses find the right balance in salary in order to get enough quality.
Ultimately lowering the immigration barriers will probably be good for everyone, tech workers included as the talent market globalizes and opens up more opportunities all around the world. Right now the need for good software globally seems to far outweigh the supply.
I've heard a lot of companies reason for locating in the Bay Area is for access to high quality engineers, way more than it is for financing. It's way easier to take money outside the Bay Area than it is to convince good engineers to move to X.
Without an influx of new people at a faster rate than education, increased salaries from demand will just shuffle existing engineers around. Instead of working at company A, they'll work at company B, earning a few percent extra; and company A, not being able to afford engineers, will either find something else to do, or close up shop. Higher salaries aren't enough to increase the supply of labour very quickly.
Which one of company A vs company B is more likely to be a startup?
What you are actually arguing for, is for software engineers to seek rent on the creation of new companies. You want to slow down growth in the economy and decrease the rate at which software gets applied to new problems, in order to make more salary (for Americans, in particular, as opposed to people less geographically well off).
It's self-interested, and thus understandable. I don't really fault you for arguing your corner. But you should be aware that it's not necessarily in the interest of your fellow Americans, never mind VCs. Other Americans also benefit from the application of software to all sorts of problems. Increased salaries for engineers mean that software is more expensive (however it's paid for), and there's less of it.
PS: the parasites feeding on nexus of finance are a separate issue. It doesn't make your argument more convincing, because they are a special case, recently in particular. Those parasites need dealing with, but the regulatory system has largely been captured, especially in the US. My problem with working in finance is ethics, rather than salary. Much of those earnings have been against latent risks that the taxpayer is underpinning.