What Software Engineers Earn Compared to the General Population

Post by khedoros » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 9:53 PM UTC

ThomaszKrueger wrote: post #117

The use of the term Engineer is very unfortunate. In many places (Texas and Florida come to mind) one cannot claim to be or perform the functions of Engineering without being properly licensed and member of a board of professional engineers.

Post by michaelmrose » Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 10:01 PM UTC

V-2 wrote: post #9

TrickedOut wrote: post #2

I really detest when software engineer salaries are compared to the salaries of the general population (often to cite how our sector is "overpaid"). Usually lacking from such simple comparisons: 1. Discussion of how software engineers have to go to college for 4 to 6+ years, but the general population is weighted towards those far fewer years of schooling 2. Discussion of downtime -- the amount of time software engne…

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…

Post by jazzyk » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 12:19 AM UTC

beeboop wrote: post #80

jazzyk wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We pay taxes in the US as well :-) Maybe a bit less than in Europe, but we get very little in return (no subsidized daycare, no 30 days of vacation, etc). US tax revenue is mostly spent on maintaining all the 170+ military bases around the world, aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, etc.

60% of federal budget is social security, unemployment, medicare, and health spending. 16% is military. I think the bigger problem is that money spent in healthcare doesn't go nearly as far as it does elsewhere due to bloated healthcare costs.

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 12:49 AM UTC

Grishnakh wrote: post #130

cookiecaper wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an argument that this is an in-demand service that will be practiced legitimately or illegitimately. Thus, instead of providing the atmosphere for a black market, the state licenses practitioners so that some standards can be enforced and so that it has a way to prevent known-harmful quacks from practicing.

You could make that argument about a bunch of things: prostitution, drugs, auto mechanics, etc. But I don't see much push to license these things rather than criminalize them or ignore them. Drugs cost society a huge amount in many ways, but there's been no push to license that until just recently with marijuana. Mechanics aren't licensed, though they do have a totally private certification system. How many people ha…

Post by criddell » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 1:26 AM UTC

jazzyk wrote: post #137

criddell wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll accept that software engineering is a profession when software engineers accept the same level of responsibility for their work that doctors and lawyers do. When that happens, brace yourself for a never ending stream of malpractice suits.

There are lawsuits filed for delivering shoddy work, unmet deadlines/commitments. They are just less publicized, because human life is (usually) not at stake.