I recently was introduced to some people working in the financial industry and it looks like the pay in big banks/hedge funds/etc. is extremely high - probably 2-3 times the pay in the big software companies (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo) and it can go even higher. That's not really big news to me, but it was interesting to get reminded of it.
My question is - are there any other industries where software engineers get paid so well or is it just the financial industry that does it?
In general, the money is big where the money is made! So as a sales engineer you usually have a higher paycheck than the developer that did the "actual work" for you.
The finance industry deals with a lot of money so it is natural that they pay bigger. Imagine you negotiate a good deal over several million dollars for your company - even if you get only 1-2% bonus, you still have a good payday.
Of course you can get paid very well in the software industry as well, but thats pretty rare since your income usually doesn't depend as much on the profit of your company.