Ask HN: Are my wife and I the only schmucks working in corporate America?

I’m a software engineer with 8 years in the industry, currently at an R&D lab as a staff software engineer. My wife’s an accountant. Across every job I’ve ever had — and every job she’s had — there’s a pattern that’s so consistent it’s starting to feel like we’re losing our minds: We are constantly overworked and relatively underpaid… while the majority of our peers are chronically under-worked and wildly overpaid. At my current job, I’m now starting work at 6 AM and wrapping up around 5:30 or 6 PM, five days a week. It’s meeting after meeting, plus deep technical work that actually moves the needle. And in the middle of this, my boss will randomly ping me for “status updates,” as if I might be kicking back on the beach instead of drowning in deadlines. Meanwhile, the managerial class — from what I can tell — spends their days in “alignment sessions” and “strategy syncs”, sends a few vague emails, and leverages the work of their teams to look busy. This specifically is something I&