What Software Engineers Earn Compared to the General Population

Post by Gargoyle » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 6:10 PM UTC

Gratsby wrote: post #57

V-2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of software engineers are autodidacts and never graduated in IT. I didn't (I have an MA in politics, obviously irrelevant to my profession). In general unemployment in IT is very low, and there's always a shortage of programmers, so job security is clearly above average. (And government administrations have IT departments, too). It's supply vs. demand, that's all there is to it. I'm not buying any of the above…

While there is a segment of autodidacts, it's not like people can become expert software developers overnight. Software developers work longer hours. I've never been in an environment where developers hang their coats up at 5:00 and go on with their carefree lives. And while unemployment may be low in IT, developers do not enjoy job security.

Post by vonmoltke » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 6:46 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #100

hiram112 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that "working class" has typically, in the US at least, referred to blue collar workers. OTOH, as more and more blue collar type jobs are being obsoleted by machines, I think we're coming up upon a more modern definition of working class: those who do not derive profits from their actual value-add. For example, most other 'professional' type jobs - finance, law, medicine, etc. - typically have a well defined…

There's a big gulf between wage earners and everyone else, but, as I said to the other guy, the professional class and manual laborers don't have identical interests (for instance, which group is more likely to support a free-trade agreement that will cause US factories to shutter but drive down the prices of consumer goods?).

Post by cortesoft » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 6:47 PM UTC

eterm wrote: post #35

frogpelt wrote: post #18

Is it meaningful to compare the median annual income of software engineers to the average annual income of the general population? I'm legitimately curious, what is the statistical significance of an average versus a median?

"average income" as reported is usually the median. Edit: I'm not sure why I'm getting downvotes. Anywhere you read about average incomes from a serious source it'll be the median, no one uses "mean income" for average when dealing with incomes, since the distribution is so skewed. If you even just google "average income" it'll report you the median. Median is so completely standard when reporting on income data that…

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 6:50 PM UTC

Grishnakh wrote: post #94

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chiropractors still need to be licensed.

How does that help things? I can easily find you a licensed chiropractor who will "diagnose" your ailments by just pushing down on your outstretched arm while holding a supplement or homeopathic remedy in front of you to determine if that supplement will fix the problem or not. I won't even get into "subluxations". And because that chiropractor is licensed by the State, the State government is explicitly endorsing th…

Post by TheCoelacanth » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 7:00 PM UTC

vonmoltke wrote: post #104

emodendroket wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big gulf between wage earners and everyone else, but, as I said to the other guy, the professional class and manual laborers don't have identical interests (for instance, which group is more likely to support a free-trade agreement that will cause US factories to shutter but drive down the prices of consumer goods?).

Considering your setup, on what side do you think most software engineers would fall? The elites who have "made it" at Google and Facebook might be fine, but those factories employ tens of thousands of software engineers and programmers in addition to tens of thousands of skilled manufacturing workers. They both lose their jobs when those factories close. Engineering (all engineering, not just software engineering) i…