Software Engineer : I have Better skills.
Scrum Master: I have higher pay .

People in positions where they need to “communicate” a lot are paid more. In this day and age communication is the most valued skill. Since many devs are introverts they get paid less because they aren’t communicating as much as POs, scrum masters, PMs and the such. It certainly can generate a lot of frustration

@black-kite only half true. When I was a junior , my senior communicate very well and managed project well. He is always my model to learn from. But he still underpaid. Meanwhile scrim masters who bitxhong about everyone's job and contribute less gets double of my senior's salary.

Communication for a skill is one thing. High pay the wrong person is another thing.

@johnmelodyme did your senior eventually end up in a management position?
I’ve noticed that’s often the case. Devs moving to management roles because it’s the only way to get a better salary. It’s a shame because most of the time their talents would be better used in the technical realm and they might have stayed had their work been better rewarded

@black-kite yes.

@black-kite I wish communicating more would go with communicating better, but we can't have that kind of assumption, do we? :(

In my last role, the scrum master's day rate was less than mine (found out when the team's costs to the project were accidentally shared)

We have Solutions Delivery Managers and Client Directors. Both roles get paid a lot more than me but I'm fine with that because I dont want to deal with sales, pre-sales, post-sales, up selling, 24/7 meetings, finessing timesheets and managing high expectations of clients. Some of them don't keep those things from me as an engineer but the best ones let me do what I do best.

Their communication skills with a client is their key skill and isn't one of that I ever want to have. I also never want to spend my time creating a slide deck.

Our structure is Solutions Architect - > Senior Data Engineer - > Data Engineer. I was recently promoted to a senior and now make more than my manager.

@cmarshall10450 your mindset is good and I’m with you when you say that’s not the skillset you long for. However, people that have those skills probably don’t yearn to acquire programming skills. And don’t get me wrong; my point isn’t to perceive the glass as being half empty. I’m just trying to understand why one skillset would be valued more than another.

but oh boy, a good scrum master makes a big difference