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Trade Group: US Software Developer Wages Fell 2% Last Year

First time accepted submitter russotto points out the claim of industry group TechAmerican Foundation (reported by Computerworld) that "wages for the software industry are falling, not rising. Wages fell 2% to $99,000 in 2012." Averages are one thing; the article points out though that wages vary vastly within the industry, and that some jobs are harder to fill (thus, better paid) than others. An excerpt: "Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates, a research firm that also analyzes IT wage and employment trends, cited a number of reason for the decline in wages for software professionals. First, technology is becoming easier to implement without having an IT professional, he said. Also, the option of turning to outsourcing creates less pressure to increase wages. As the recession continues, companies continue 'to look at productivity and will often look to hire individuals who are lower cost employees,' said Janulaitis. That could include displaced baby boomer workers who have been out of work for some time and 'will take a lower paying job just to get back into the workforce.'"

4 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sad, but true by HornWumpus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Worker was a fool for starting the conversation without an offer in hand.

    Then next line should be:

    WORKER: Hire those programmers, I quit. Best of luck to you.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  2. Re:Sad, but true by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Might work once, and not really all that well.

    If you want a good raise you need to change jobs or be ready to.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  3. Re:And in other news... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good managers are very rare.

    So we're told. Yet, the distribution of good and bad managers is almost exactly the same as good and bad line workers.

    most of them are worth the money because they can generate share holder wealth.

    Share value increases most when jobs are cut. Any idiot can cut salaries and jobs to get a quarterly bump in share price. The success of US corporations has more to do with corporate consolidation increasing pricing power than it does brilliant management.

    We have a system where management success means the failure of everyone else who works for the company. Instead of an economy that is based on widespread prosperity, we have one based on prosperity for a very small group who succeed in a system whose rules they set, and misery for everyone else.

    We actually have some historical experience with these situations, and it never, ever ends well for elite.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Re:And in other news... by mysidia · · Score: 3, Insightful

    $99,000 makes the developer a demi-god.

    I'm not sure what kind of methods used to calculate this 99,000 number comes from anyways. Maybe stock grants for developers involved in startups? Or maybe it's a geographic thing.

    I've been professional in this field for 6 years; I have a bachelor of science in CS, 8 programming languages, and I don't see nearly half of that.

    Admittedly i'm the only developer in my organization, and I get hit with system engineering tasks and working with IT technicians as well, to provide them the help they need to understand what actions they need to be taking.

    But I think the 99,000 number is a fiction.

    Compensation probably varies from company to company... so where appreciation from stock option grants is considered in some companies 99,000 may be Demo-God status... in other companies 99,000 might be feh...

    Companies are unlikely to pay programmers more than their CEO though; furthermore, pay decreases down the chain of managers, and the more managers there are above the developer.... probably, the more people there are that the programmers' definitely won't get paid more than.