Ever seen what normal people make? It's a pittance in comparison.

That depends on who is your measure for normal in comparison to programmers: Lawyers? Doctors? Waiters? Cleaners? After that is decided we can check whether you or the GP post is more correct.

Perhaps just look for the median employed person's income as a rough yardstick?

And what area you live in, too.

According to us news best jobs, in San Francisco, the median salary for a dental hygienist is $112,970. For a software developer, it is $114,400, and for a registered nurse, it is $126,670. Numbers are pulled from BLS data (check their methods page).

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-b...

Doctors and Lawyers, of course, earn far more.