I too am a low paid developer. I spent the first 20 years of my life doing skilled trade work and following a blue collar lifestyle. I'm now in my first developer role where my title is "Lead Developer." However, I'm the only developer here and I'm paid poorly.
But it is far better than working in a manufacturing facility or anything else I ever did while working for someone else.
I don't want to be the type of person who says "well, I paid my dues, you should too." I want things to be better for everyone. Now one should have to go through the things I went through as a young man. No one should have to be forced to work 6 days per week 12 hours per day simply to be able to barely make ends meet.