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Salary-Comparing Survey Identifies Top-Paid Developers, Discovers North America Pays Better (linux.com)
21,000 developers were surveyed for this year's annual survey by VisionMobile -- and for the first time, they were asked about their salaries. An anonymous reader quotes Linux.com:
[S]killed cloud and backend developers, as well as those who work in emerging technologies including Internet of Things, machine learning and augmented/virtual reality can make more money than frontend web and mobile developers whose skills have become more commoditized... The top 10 percent of salary earners in AR who live in North America earn a median salary of $219,000, compared with $169,000 for the top earning 10 percent of backend developers, according to the report... New, unskilled developers interested in emerging tech will have a harder time finding work, and earn less than their counterparts in more commoditized areas, due both to their lack of experience and fewer companies hiring in the early market.
Along with skill level and software sector, developer salaries also vary widely by where they live in the world. A web developer in North America earns a median income of $73,600 USD per year, compared with the same developer in Western Europe whose median income is $35,400 USD. Web developers in South Asia earn $11,700 in South Asia while those in Eastern Europe earn $20,800 per year.
For developers who want to move up in the world, VisionMobile suggests "Invest in your skills. Do difficult work. Improve your English. Look for opportunities internationally. Go for it. You deserve it!"
Along with skill level and software sector, developer salaries also vary widely by where they live in the world. A web developer in North America earns a median income of $73,600 USD per year, compared with the same developer in Western Europe whose median income is $35,400 USD. Web developers in South Asia earn $11,700 in South Asia while those in Eastern Europe earn $20,800 per year.
For developers who want to move up in the world, VisionMobile suggests "Invest in your skills. Do difficult work. Improve your English. Look for opportunities internationally. Go for it. You deserve it!"
Here are some direct links to avoid the form:
http://go.linuxfoundation.org/l/6342/e-of-developer-nation-2017-pdf/3qp35l
(also, the form is cool with mailinator addresses if that stops working)
https://ufile.io/26f4a
Also, here's the extracted text of the Key Insights:
• Developers who work in areas with a higher technical complexity or in very young sectors - and therefore with higher barriers to entry and ultimately fewer developers doing it - generally earn more. In Western Europe, for example, the median backend developer earns 12% more than the median web developer; a machine learning developer makes 28% more. Web and mobile development are the most commoditised.
• We’re still a long way off a global market for developers. The median earnings of web developers in Western Europe are half of those of their North American counterparts; web developers in other regions earn half again. This opens up arbitrage opportunities for developers willing to work remotely.
• C# is the most popular primary programming language amongst Augmented and Virtual Reality developers, preferred by 30% of them. This is followed by C/C++ (16%) and Java (15%). Interestingly, professionals are more likely to use C# or C++ in comparison to hobbyists.
• Almost 90% of AR/VR developers would be considered juniors by other industries’ standards, having less than 2 years experience. The industry consists of many newcomers who are inexperienced in the field - they will not be deeply invested in any tools, technologies or platforms, so any vendor has the potential to establish market leadership with the right product.
• 48% of web developers are currently using a third-party library or framework other than jQuery as their primary way of doing front-end web development. Angular and React account for 30%, leaving all the others fighting for the remaining 18%. Indeed front-end web development is such a fragmented space that no other single library or framework accounts for more than 2% of primary usage.
• Facebook’s React appears to dominate Google’s Angular in online discussion and open source activity. However, not only is Angular 2.x the primary framework for about as many developers as React (10% vs 9% globally), but Angular 1.x is still the most popular overall by a slim margin (11% use it as their primary framework). In total those using one or the other version of Angular number more than double those using React.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most popular primary cloud hosting at every company size. For the smallest companies (1-5 employees) where Amazon has just a 15% share, they face very credible competition from Microsoft (12%), Google (11%), and Digital Ocean (10%). However, when we look at larger companies, Amazon’s share grows to 26-27% at every size, Microsoft stays in the 11-13% range, while Google fades along with Digital Ocean. Google has just a 5% share of companies with more than 5,000 employees, and Digital Ocean just 4% at the same size.
• AWS is also the most popular primary cloud host with developers regardless of targeted audience, although strongest with backend developers who target large enterprises, of whom 29% are primarily using AWS. Microsoft shows greater strength equally with developers who target large enterprises, and those who target small to medium businesses (14% each). They are weaker with those targeting consumers (11%) or professionals (9%). Google shows the opposite patternbeing strongest with developers who target consumers(10%) but only half as popular with those who target large enterprises or internal employees.
• Despite the proliferation of IoT platforms and other tools, the IoT tool market is still underdeveloped and heavily fragmented. IoT developers use comparatively fewer tools than their colleagues in other software sectors. 11% of IoT developers don’t use any of the tools in our list.
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There is no difference between "front end" and "back end" anymore. The same person does both of them, and, alas, the salary doesn't change.
North America pays better, twice to three to seven times better.
H1B, outsourcing to Europe or Asia is always undercutting and threatening. There is just so much pressure on the American software developer to always keep improving and running ahead of the endless hordes of lower cost options snipping at the heels. So much so that a lot of them look at Trump to close the doors and make the race easier.
The H1B lottery is a real lottery, especially for a developer in India. It is an immediate seven fold salary increase.
This survey proves that American workers aren't being harmed by workers with H-1B visas.
Nonsense. You cannot "prove" anything with statistics. We don't know what the salary range would have been if H1B visas didn't exist. In that alternative universe American tech salaries may have been higher. Or they may have even been lower if entire teams were shifted abroad. We just don't know, and this survey "proves" nothing.
The real reason there's so much objection to the H-1B program is rampant racism
Self-interest is a more plausible explanation.
With 11K in South Asia you can live with the same quality of life as someone making $120K in the US.
Yes and no. You can't afford a car, but you can easily afford a live-in housekeeper and nanny for your kids.
If you count that our social insurances are awesome and included: yes.
Does this survey properly factor in things like healthcare and retirement costs?
Because sure, in Western Europe you earn half as much as in the US - but with that salary, you usually already have health insurance, retirement and free education for your kids covered (minus university, which is not free in a number of countries).
These little details could conceivably tilt the balance in favour of the lower salary.
Comparing AR to web/mobile/backend is just silly. The people currently working on AR have to be highly skilled in some very specialized areas, basically inventing both the software and hardware technology as they go along. It's like comparing an actual rocket scientist to an car mechanic and wondering why the scientist has a higher salary.
Also, salary is just one factor. Cost of living, especially healthcare, amount of paid holiday, having a "sick day" quota, workers' rights, maternity/paternity rights, employer spying, progressive society...
I get the impression that salaries in the US are high to make up for the lack of other stuff.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
It doesn't quite cover the difference, but yeah having one month paid vacation and universal healthcare helps to soften the blow quite a lot.
Income means nothing if I have to blow it on basic stuff like accommodation, food, school, and a many thousand dollar rainy day fund in case I stub my toe and need to go to a doctor.
North-American employers have to compensate for the fact that quality of life is significantly lower. If they didn't pay more, they would not attract any foreign employees.
The top 10 percent of salary earners in AR who live in North America earn a median salary of $219,000,
Is it just me or is that a very convoluted way of saying "95th percentile"?
Ezekiel 23:20
You have some very weird numbers there. WHO claims that Spain is 7 or less, UK is 7 or less, France is 16 or less, whereas the US is 12 or more, depending on how you measure it. Source: WHO.
The EU-28 average is slightly below 12. Source: Eurostat.
Ezekiel 23:20
You are a liar. USA has twice the amount of suicides.
http://apps.who.int/gho/data/n...
Sweden: 13.2
France: 15.8
United Kingdom: 7.0
Spain: 7.0
South Korea: 36.8
Canada: 11.4
United States: 13.7
Mexico: 4.1
Oh, and suicide rates strongly correlate to the latitude (because of the amount of sunlight in winter). United States shares most of its the latitude with Southern Europe, but its suicide rate is higher:
Spain: 7.0
Italy: 6.4
Portugal: 12.5
Greece: 4.9
Malta: 6.8
Malta is basically as far south as Southern Europe goes and it is on about the same latitude as Los Alamos, New Mexico, so USA goes even further south. Seriously, suicide rates in USA suck in comparison to what they ought to be.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
This, a billion times this.
At my level, I could probably make five or more times what I make over here in Europe in the US. Easily. Trouble is, I don't even need the money I make here, so why bother?
But here I get 25 days paid vacation plus sick days on top of that (no, they don't count as vacation days here), perfect healthcare, unemployment benefit should I for some reason get unemployed (not bloody likely unless I want to, but in that case it pays, too), retirement plan, worker's protection (law commands I MUST NOT work more than 50 hours a week and even that only for a very short time, with no more than 45 hours a week on average during the year. Oh, and no more than 10 hours a day).
Try to beat that, US.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Plus worker protection laws that can't be beat. Limitation of hours per week, limitations of what your boss can impose on you, certain practices that are common in the US being outlawed, easy and free/cheap access to work related lawyers in case it gets to court (including insurance to cover your cost in case that lawyer says you should sue and you lose)...
The list is pretty long. And it's universal, so companies don't even get the idea to sneak it in on the low level, where people can't afford to defend against it and fight it, and let it creep upwards.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
This, a billion times this.
At my level, I could probably make five or more times what I make over here in Europe in the US. Easily. Trouble is, I don't even need the money I make here, so why bother?
But here I get 25 days paid vacation plus sick days on top of that (no, they don't count as vacation days here), perfect healthcare, unemployment benefit should I for some reason get unemployed (not bloody likely unless I want to, but in that case it pays, too), retirement plan, worker's protection (law commands I MUST NOT work more than 50 hours a week and even that only for a very short time, with no more than 45 hours a week on average during the year. Oh, and no more than 10 hours a day).
Try to beat that, US.
You almost had me until the "perfect healthcare" part. Good one!
How can poor Mexicans and rich Americans both be low relative to their European counterparts?
When most of your people suffer from a mental handicap that tells them offing yourself is a nono because an imaginary being is going to torture you for it eternally, they'll readily suffer a few more years instead of facing the eternal damnation they were told is waiting for them.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Theres no proofs in science, nor the queen of the humanities, economics. However you can make pretty good inferences, and then look how they couple with the theory. And basically immigration actually creates employment, with iron-wall countries having some of the shittiest economies. Economies need to grow to create employment, and the easiest way to grow them is by generating more mouths to feed. And if those mouths can work in high paid jobs, then their job creation potential increases due to higher consumption.
The high wages compared to europe tell two things. 1) Europes tech industry is in the sink. 2) American tech workers appear to be in high demand. When theres high wages, the bargaining power of american workers improves, pushing the market forces in favor of suppliers (workers).
Its pretty damn obvious that H-1B is not hurting american workers at all.
Racism is all about percieved self interest (That percieved bit is the operate here). I dont see any reliable evidence that its anything other than xenophobia. The immigration debate seems fueled by nonsense and fear of foreigners more than anything rational.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
25 paid vacation days is actually the low end.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Are there problems with the healthcare the NHS provides? -yes. If we factor the cost of the healthcare is it bloody great? -yes.
I will never forget seeing a program on US healthcare where a person who lost 3 fingers in an induustrial accident was tol the insurance will only cover X amount and he had to choose two of the three to save.
Hospital bills that leave people paying for decades and the above example do not happen here.
"perfect" is an exaggeration...although in certain areas in the UK you can get very good healthcare because your area has better doctors or hospitals...overall it's still good nation wide.
You know how much it costs to have the most common shoulder injury (clavicle fracture) sorted via surgery or what not? -nothing. No monthly insurance fees, no surgery fees, no outpatient fees, no disposable medical items fees. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.
People wanna get double pay for being constantly nickle and dimed out of their money for everything? -sure go live the American dream. Of coruse most of us that lived there know the "dream" can turn into a bloody nightmare.
So the proper course of action is to start development company in Europe to price undercut the US developers. Seems like a great business opportunity.
Can you do this 100% remotely? If so, how?
We'll make great pets
If you've got something like the NHS, that doesn't stop you from seeking private care if you can pay. What it does stop you is from going bankrupt if you wind up with a condition that would cost far more than you've got.
Are you going to wait longer than you would if you can pay for it? Yes. Is that any worse than what happens if it's pay-only, and you can't pay?
It depends a bit how things are calculated.and things differ per country.
I work 38 hours per week. Officially I work 37.That means I get 1 hours per week extra. That is 5 extra days per year. The company give soe extra days as well. 2 days if I was not sick in the previous year. 3 because I have worked a certain amount of time and then some extra because they want to. That brings me to 32 +2 offcial holidays that are on a weekend, so 35.
The official count would be 21. If that would be it (and some get only that) and I would work 50 hours per week, I would have at least 1 day per week or 50 days per year extra.
That said, I know people who work 4 days and are still full time. 9h30 or the like per day and they STILL have 45 days.
So it is much easier to find a balance between home and work. If people do overtime ALL the time that means one of these things (in reverse order of likelyness)
They are incompetent in their job
Their manager is incompetent at their job
There are issues at home, so he uses work to not go home
That last one is important, because if that takes to long, it will influence the quality of work delivered.
And as the GP explained, sick days do not count as holidays. You are still paid. How much depends on country as well on the period you are sick and if there is an extra insuarance that covers the money difference. Because after 1 month (where I work) you will get 80% and later it will go down further to 60% and then minimum wages.
Are there people that abuse the system? Yes, but not enough to punish the rest. People who get caught will lose everything and need to pay back everything, so the risk is pretty high compared to the gains. Obviously that would mean that they can fire you and you will not get any unemployment benefits. Also unwise to use them as a reference for a next job.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
access to toys like fire arms and off road vehicles makes my quality of life decidedly better than my European counterpart.
Always good to hear the views of our teenage readers!
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I am German and the lowest amount of paid vacation days I ever had was 28 (working for a Finnish company). In all other cases I got 30 paid vacation days. Official holidays that are on the weekend are considered tough luck in Germany, though.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
"You deserve it!"
What a dumb punchline. No, you don't "deserve" it (success). Go pursue it, but no one owes it to you.
I think racism might be slightly too strong, but I will say there is definitely cultural clashes.
1) Rude and sexist behavior towards women, especially women managers. The story I heard was that with one Indian, the female manager finally broke him with relentless pager duty backed by 8 AM meetings and 2-3 unplanned office moves where his stuff was dumped in boxes and moved to progressively smaller cubes.
2) Appalling personal hygiene habits -- not bathing, not changing clothes. A friend seated next to an Indian filed a formal complaint with HR (he worked for a hospital system!) and the Indian had to basically meet with some kind of social worker to explain how hygiene worked in the US.
3) Clannish behavior among groups of Indians where they won't interact with American colleagues and setup conflicts
Mostly its Indians who don't assimilate, which is pretty much everyone's complaint about immigrants.
Speaking of chemo and the UK. I was on a year of chemo, that almost killed me three times. I found out the rules for administering it in the UK were lax enough I would have been guaranteed killed by the chemo in the UK had I been on it the full year.
But it sounds like they wouldn't have approved me for the full year, so I guess that explains why they are lax on blood tests for it since people don't get it. Yes, had I gotten cancer in the UK I would have been dead already, had they treated it or had they not treated it. In the US I was able to get "proper" treatment that worked.
Cancer survival rates in the UK are lower than those in the rest of Europe. But the rest of Europe also has socialized health care. Sweden's survival rate is the highest in the world. Should you attribute that to their socialized health care?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11891554/UK-cancer-survival-worst-in-western-Europe.html
And it's not clear whether the UK has lower cancer survival rates than the U.S. or not, because the UK has a national database, while the US doesn't. So it turns out there aren't actually good statistics for the US cancer deaths, because there's isn't any central agency they get reported to. On the other hand, every cancer death in the UK gets recorded.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
From TFS: [ For developers who want to move up in the world, VisionMobile suggests "Invest in your skills. Do difficult work. Improve your English. Look for opportunities internationally. Go for it. You deserve it!" ]
No, just... No.
This whole "you deserve it" bullshit is the root cause of the self-entitled asshole epidemic we see today. Stop it.
I tend to rant.
Yeah, but not everyone is lucky enough to be the president of the US.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.