And it is, for some reason, maybe higher barrier to entrance, embedded seems to foster an older alumni it is also far more rewarding to those who stay on a technical tract.

The way I see it, in pure play software dev, it up or out or freelance (which is really management but you get to sling some code). I chose the latter after doing a stint in embedded and later executive management. The problem with embedded is that there just are not a lot of opportunities in the states outside of some concentrated areas.