Yes, but you're also hanging around on HN. :) I'm thinking more of the other guy, who was just as smart as you but perhaps not in love with tech, and had to decide if he wants to give up 50K to be an engineer. (I think you're referring to choosing between engineering jobs - I meant choosing between career paths.)
Also: it's sad that beyond the comp issue, they're often sacrificing prestige, at least in the US. It's just as hard to become a qualified engineer at top firm, but the general public just doesn't find that as impressive as being a lawyer, doctor or banker. I know lots of lawyers and bankers for whom a big reason they're in that job was the prestige and ego-boost associated with it.
I've been doing this a while, and have found that prestige from non techis, for us engineers, is based on the company we work for. Tell someone you're an engineer at google or facebook and you get the prestige. Tell them you're a programmer at some startup they've never heard of and their like "yeah, whatever".
I think a lot of it has to do with people overusing the term "engineer". I know people with that work for the phone company that have lower skill jobs but still get the title "network engineer" or some such. Normal people can't distinguish between this and the hard profession.
Also: it's sad that beyond the comp issue, they're often sacrificing prestige, at least in the US. It's just as hard to become a qualified engineer at top firm, but the general public just doesn't find that as impressive as being a lawyer, doctor or banker. I know lots of lawyers and bankers for whom a big reason they're in that job was the prestige and ego-boost associated with it.