Programming skill is only a small part of why Wall Street Programmers earn top salary. The major factor is that their industry is very close to the money, and their jobs are close to the money. As a result, it's easy to measure someone's worth in terms of currency. In trading, if your group is making money, and you can convince everyone else (or just the boss) that you are worth x% of the profits, then there you go. As your industry and job function moves further and further away from the money, it gets harder to measure your performance in terms of raw "dollars", but the game to convince everyone else your currency worth still applies.