I think the big difference is not "tech vs non tech" but "software vs non-software".
Software companies have beautiful margins. Their incremental cost is practically zero, their biggest expense is headcount for R&D, etc.
Non-software companies have to deal with gross things like inventory, lead times, logistics, shipping, RMA, etc etc... You know, the dirty details of not having the luxury of literally just selling information/bits.
Software companies great margins mean that employees can capture a larger share of that (because they create so much value). Lower-margin businesses can't, so the pay isn't as good.
Yes. The more I browse though the NAICS hierarchy, the more I feel uncomfortable excluding hardware-heavy companies like Garmin.
On the other hand, it also context-dependent. Let's say you're looking for a job opportunity as a software engineer/developer/programmer/..., how much priority would you put on whether the company has tangible inventory?
I think the ambiguity in the term "tech industry" is one reason related discussions flourish.
Software companies have beautiful margins. Their incremental cost is practically zero, their biggest expense is headcount for R&D, etc.
Non-software companies have to deal with gross things like inventory, lead times, logistics, shipping, RMA, etc etc... You know, the dirty details of not having the luxury of literally just selling information/bits.
Software companies great margins mean that employees can capture a larger share of that (because they create so much value). Lower-margin businesses can't, so the pay isn't as good.