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Dr. Dobb's 2012 Salary Survey

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

CowboyRobot writes "It's that time of year again, and Dr. Dobb's has posted the results of their survey of salaries of 3,500 developers and managers. 'While many salaries are flat, they are increasing overall, except for some heavily disfavored niches.'"

7 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. Unit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Call me stupid, but I don't get it. Software developers earn $90... per what?

  2. Annoying slide show looking for hits by Kergan · · Score: 5, Informative

    The results are spread on a gazillion ad-littered pages whose content are shorter than this text field. Even the print page has ads on it and only includes the current page you're viewing. How do I mod article -1?

  3. It's sad by Bigbutt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dr. Dobb's Journal (DDJ) was a monthly journal published in the United States by CMP Technology. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. DDJ was the first regular periodical focused on microcomputer software, rather than hardware. It later became a monthly section within the periodical InformationWeek called Dr. Dobb's Report and is now a news website published by United Business Media

    Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontia
    Running Light Without Overbyte

    How sad is it that such a great resource for us programmers way back in the day is now just a news aggregator. :(

    [John]

    --
    Shit better not happen!
  4. Is that the so called "american dream"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Those salaries are the same (if not lower) as here in Munich (DE).
    And we don't have to pay for a private health insurance or a decent pension.

    Keep your "dream" and "freedom" guys, I thought your salaries were far higher.

    1. Re:Is that the so called "american dream"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The cost of living in Munich is definitely lower than in San Francisco or San Jose, since we're talking about IT jobs. I don't know what you mean with "social isolation".

      Of course taxes are higher, and I'm proud of that. If I lose my job, I don't lose healthcare for my family, and I'll have a decent unemployment benefit. If I cannot afford a private pension, I still have a generous and sustainable public pension, and my kids will be able to go to college FOR FREE, as I did. In big companies workers can elect half of the Board of Directors, so that the company is managed in the interest of BOTH shareholders AND employees. And companies cannot lay off people without a just cause.

      My parents are former factory workers (you know, those that are kindly called "losers" in your country), if I was born in the USA I could have never afforded to pay for college, and I would be a factory worker too.

      If that's what you call "new world", well, keep it.

  5. I disagree with 'ageism' by Muad'Dave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I disagree with the author's take on 'ageism' - I bet that if skill sets were taken into account, the apparent ageism would disappear.

    There are two kinds of 'old fart' in this biz - ones that doggedly refuse to learn new skills, and those that actively seek out and embrace new skills but have the hindsight and experience to see them in their proper place among the existing tried-and-true solutions. Too often I see young, inexperienced developers grab on to the latest thing, declaring it the be-all and end-all of programming. I've seen it a million times - their fervor eventually gets tempered by seeing that their shiny new toy isn't perfect and has more rough edges that advertised. I went thru it in my 20's, as did everyone else, I suspect. I'm old enough now to have seen the "Thin Client! No, Thick client! No, Thin Client!" pendulum swing a few times. :-( (For those of you too young, that would be "thin=Mainframe+terminal, thick=Borland Delphi, thin=web app, thick=phone app).

    The consulting company I work for respects the type II old fart and values their experience. Apparently our clients do as well, since we're in high demand.

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  6. Fellow old fart here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Speaking as a fellow old fart, I remember being in a constant state of panic when ever a new technology came out because it meant that if I didn't somehow get on the job experience with the technology, I would be left in the dust (unemployed). And back in the 90s, if you didn't learn something new and switch jobs, you were considered unwilling to learn new things and grow - now you're considered a "job hopper".

    And back in the early 90s, employers wanted the "shiny new toys" because they thought they could throw out the very expensive mainframes and go all client server - and many did.

    Anyway, you have to chase all the new tech. It is a must in this industry. I wish I did it more!

    Here's an example: when the whole iOS/iPhone thing was first kicked off by Apple, I poo-pooed it. "Here we go again. Another handheld failure!" The folks who latched on at the beginning - jumping on that shiny new toy - go their first and built up the experience and some of very profitable businesses now.

    This time, my experience led me astray and I missed out on getting a big slice of the pie - there are just crumbs left.

    Then again, I bet there are some RIM developers that are shaking their heads now and thinking, "Wait and see."

    This industry is so volatile and capricious that it's impossible to know what's going to be worth while and what isn't. I mean back in the 90s, I used to laugh at the Mac developers for chasing Windmills. I used to laugh at mainframer COBOL guys but there's quite a few still making a living - a nice one at that.

    I thought I was hot shit for being a UNix/client server/C/C++ programmer - then Java came.