Developers, IT Still Racking Up (Mostly) High Salaries

Nerval's Lobster (2598977) writes Software development and IT remain common jobs among those in the higher brackets, although not the topmost one, according to a new study (with graph) commissioned by NPR. Among those earning between $58,000 and $72,000, IT was the sixth-most-popular job, while software developers came in tenth place. In the next bracket up (earning between $72,000 and $103,000), IT rose to third, with software development just behind in fourth place. As incomes increased another level ($103,000 to $207,000), software developers did even better, coming in second behind managers, although IT dropped off the list entirely. In the top percentile ($207,000 and above), neither software developers nor IT staff managed to place; this is a segment chiefly occupied by physicians (in first place), managers, chief executives, lawyers, and salespeople who are really good at their jobs. In other words, it seems like a good time to be in IT, provided you have a particular skillset. If those high salaries are in Silicon Valley or New York, though, they might not seem as high as half the same rate would in Omaha, or Houston, or Raleigh.

Comments

Hold on a minute

[ranton]

How does this fit into my worldview where H1-B Visa holders are taking all of our jobs and lowering all of our wages? I'm just lucky I am easily able to ignore evidence that I don't like, or else this article would be troubling.

Re:Hold on a minute

[Anonymous Coward]

It fits just fine, the question now becomes, "What would the wages be without them there as a controlling factor to suppress them?"

Nice attempt to sound smart while acting like a shill though. Unless you think companies like Infosys don't exist though, then enjoy living the dream.

Re:Hold on a minute

[Thanshin]

I knew I should have been a cyborg lawyer programmer. But I was afraid of ending up just doing cyborg lawyer maintenance.

Re:Hold on a minute

[cyberchondriac]

1) Why do teachers always rank as an all important metric? There are good teachers and bad teachers.. even lousy teachers, there's nothing that special about their profession compared to many others. They are not beneficent deities, shaping our future via our children, though the rhetoric would have you believe that. It's just another angle for the whole, "think of the children" routine.
2) My sister-in-law is a teacher for a high school in NJ, and makes over $80k a year. And that's for 9 months out of the year. I just don't see public school teachers who belong to the NJEA doing all that badly. Private catholic school teachers maybe, but public teachers in a union have it pretty good around here.

Re:Hold on a minute

[wrook]

There is a big difference between teachers and programmers. I know because I've done both jobs. Teaching is the more difficult one to do well. Good programming requires rare skills and an ability to concentrate more than most people can imagine. Good teaching does not need any unusual technical skill. The material you are teaching is really quite easy compared to what programmers have to contend with. The tricky bit is turning around lives that have been destroyed by circumstance and incompetent parents. Excellent programming requires a top notch mind and a devotion to learning. Excellent teaching requires a damn near miracle of people skills and good judgement.

Here's the kicker. If you staff your programming team with poor performers, chances are (sooner or later) your business will die because of them. The complexity that bad programmers add to a problem when they are coding eventually becomes so heavy that you just can't move forward. If you staff your school with poor performers, the students still graduate. The schools still operate. In fact, you can cut the budget of a school just about as far as you want, driving out any teacher that cares about money. The students still graduate. The school suffers in that it becomes a center for incarcerating delinquents, but the students still graduate. You just keep lowering the standards and society pays the hidden price.

A gifted programmer can name his price. A gifted teacher? Gets lost in the shuffle. His only reward is what he makes of it.

Where should I apply?

[Anonymous Coward]

$39,000 per year as a Computer Programmer/Analyst here. If you were ever thinking of going into local government just to "get your foot in the door", DON'T. You might not have a leg to stand on.

Bad statistics

[arielCo]

Telling me the composition by career of the top earners is as useful as telling me their composition by handedness - you're telling the story backwards.

Career-wise, it would be useful to tell us the likelihood of making each earning bracket *by career*.

Confirmed..

[modi123]

If those high salaries are in Silicon Valley or New York, though, they might not seem as high as half the same rate would in Omaha, or Houston, or Raleigh.

Confirmed - as a Nebraskan $207,000 appears high and desirable.

Particular Skillset?

[HideyoshiJP]

"In other words, it seems like a good time to be in IT, provided you have a particular skillset."
Oh, I have a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career...

Re:How many really make $140k ?

[cryptizard]

If you consider that poverty level then there is something wrong with you. I don't care where you live, $100k is enough money that you don't have to worry about your day to day life. Maybe you can't buy a second sports car or live in that sweet downtown loft, but you won't have the kind of financial insecurity that the majority of people in the US do.