Sure, in software you can go from zero to decent quickly, but you're going to be staying at "decent" forever. Your salary after 3-5 years or so is not going to change and it might even go down in real terms.
Adjusted for inflation and cost of living my salary probably peaked around 10 years ago.
Good point, worth taking into consideration. Depending on where you live and where you come from it may still be a very good deal, but it is a downside. I wouldn't be even considering an idea of going into management if not for this reason.
Still, I'm not aware of any other field where the barrier to entry is this low while average salaries are this high and where there's a higher cap on what you can earn. Are you?
Adjusted for inflation and cost of living my salary probably peaked around 10 years ago.