Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Visualizing the Best and Worst Paid Jobs in the Tech Sector (howmuch.net)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

An anonymous reader writes: We often associate the tech sector with high-paying jobs and cool offices, but it turns out that the grass is not always green on the other side. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal finance site HowMuch has created a graph that showcases the 15 best and worst paid jobs in the technology industry.

13 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. More useless salary comparisons by iotaborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yet again we have these useless base salary comparisons that aren't indexed to cost of living. Many in the tech industry see significant portions of income coming from bonuses and equity. Consider the bay area; $150k total comp is more like entry level software engineer these days, and AI/ML folks can pull in $300k+ from the get go.

    1. Re:More useless salary comparisons by lgw · · Score: 2

      Anything that conflated "IT" with software development is BS to begin with. I have to wonder what a "Computer Programmer" is supposed to be, as I've never seen that as an actual job title. Especially since they also have "Applications Software Developer" and "Systems Software Developer" as different jobs (and I haven't seen those titles in 20 years).

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:More useless salary comparisons by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Informative

      $150K is still not a typical starting salary in for programmers Silicon Valley. I'd expect that to be more common in a reasonable job for someone with10 years experience. For entry level the person is a complete unknown though with no graduate school, that's way too high to start with, except for a few companies with more cash than brains.

      There is a snag here though. What people report as good salaries rise faster than the typical yearly raise or rate of inflation. So if you're getting a decent 5% raise each year you may not be able to catch up. So people usually get the biggest boost in pay by changing jobs, because then the pay rise isn't limited to a certain percentage. Which is counter productive because it makes it hard to keep employees or get them caught up in pay.

  2. contracted work by sakono · · Score: 2

    companies are contracting out more and more IT support. I'm a enterprise lead printer tech, so I help techs all around the country with issues and help find solutions to many problems we run into by working with the printer hardware or software engineers. but I only pull in 41k before taxes since the printer company contracted out techs to another company. I'm seeing more and more of that happening too. it sucks.

    1. Re:contracted work by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      HVAC puts you in 115 degree attics and crawl spaces with 1 cm clearance and brown recluses.

      Every day in the heat. Grunts in that job get paid because they have to be.

      Do new construction, not maintenance, if you can. Maintenance 'crawler' is a kids job, because it will wreck you if you're not a kid with no health issues.

      In the meantime, enjoy the AC.

      At least try and get a new job in support somewhere better. Maybe climb up to testing, somewhere that does dev. The fact is that if computers are just overhead, you will be overhead. Go work support somewhere that makes money with computers, doesn't even have to be directly with software development. Do a better job picking your next employer. Best time to look for a job is when you have one...no time like the present. etc

      Avoid any business that produces pure commodities. Those are always run by marketing.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  3. What's in a name ? by King_TJ · · Score: 2

    I'd agree that a lot of these salary rates look approximately correct to me. But you only know so much from a job title.

    For example? According to this chart, a Network Administrator gets paid about $58,873 yet a Network and Computer Systems Administrator gets $86,430. I bet if you actually talked to a number of people who were given each of those job titles, you'd find a big mish-mash of what people holding either title actually did as job responsibilities. Arguably, someone purely doing "Network Administration" might be the one getting paid MORE, because he/she was purely responsible for high-end Cisco switches and networking gear, firewalls, etc. -- which require more specialized skills and certifications than someone just doing Windows PC workstation support or taking care of user account setup via Active Directory or what-not.

    And heck, my own job title is "Support Analyst" -- which seems to be a completely made up name, created by pulling from a couple of different job titles and pasting words together. I can't ever find a salary match for my particular title -- and I'm quite sure that was done on purpose.

  4. Looking at TFA's graph... by Nutria · · Score: 3, Funny

    Customer Success Representative??

    Right. And secretaries just loved it when they were "upgraded" to becoming Administrative Assistants.

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:Looking at TFA's graph... by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      Tall men earn more than short ones, on average.

      Wear elevator shoes during interviews. Even if you're tall. Every inch counts (preemptive: that's what your mom said).

      I wonder if 'Amazon women' earn more money?

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  5. Another useless survey by filesiteguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Like others have reported, this survey is pretty much useless. An IT manager making $150/year in silicon valley is on the poor side, while one in - say, Lincoln Nebraska - would be very well off.

    Same goes for the other numbers. Yes, they are relative, but do not take into account regional differences.

    --
    The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
  6. Pay went DOWN since 2000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's showing a programmer making $51.30/hour or $106,710/year (I'm assuming that's as a W-2 salary and benefits.)

    I was a programmer in 2000 making $75K with benefits or $37.50/hour. (Metro Atlanta) That's $54.88/hour in todays money that's $109,760 a year. And according that website, the cumulative rate of inflation was 46% since then.

    And the salaries for other things have fell behind too. I remember project managers getting over 90K back then.
    I wasn't in Silicon Valley or anything, either.

    I would expect much larger increases if there was truly a tech talent shortage.

    1. Re:Pay went DOWN since 2000 by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Put 2000 in context. The first dotcom bubble was going real strong in 2000. The most incompetent people I've ever seen warm seats were doing it in 2000, for fat bank.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:Pay went DOWN since 2000 by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      I remember back then a good many dot-com's merely gave stock options on top of rather ordinary salaries.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  7. Re:Why did BSD die? by f3rret · · Score: 2

    Well, it's sorta purple these days, so strictly speaking the blue screen is dead.

    --
    Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.