In Italy salaries for tech jobs are higher, but still pretty low if compared to the US, UK or Germany (incidentally, that's why I'm working on creating a startup, even if personally I fare pretty well above the average) and also low if compared to some other jobs that require lots of skills.

I thought a lot about this situation, and I think that the fundamental problem here is that, for organizational, cultural and historical reasons, good or even great software can't give the same added value to businesses as it can give in other countries. As an example, efficiency here is often less important than personal relationships, and of course software con contribute much more to the former.

I don't know the specific situation of Portugal, but I guess the situation could be similar. If it is, working for other countries - either online or moving there - could be your best bet. If you stay there, though, you could also look for ways in which software solutions could add more value, and so be paid more - but this requires much more than sw development skills. I hope to be able to do that in time, but for now I'm developing for the international market (in my free time).