Metal economy is huge, but there are inputs. Software engineers have no inputs into our projects besides our work and some hardware and electricity. A developer is 99% of the cost of a piece of software.
In other words, your value-added as a software engineer is significantly higher, as a fraction of the money in a transaction, than the metalworker's.
This is because of leverage. Implement software that speeds up a process by 20% once, and every time that process is used from then on the speedup adds value.
We're lucky to be working in a field that enables us to add a lot of value, for relatively little capital costs, and pocket a good share of the difference.
