Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
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Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#2Whether you were aware of it or not, there have always been programmers working for elite companies making high salaries and programmers working for medium or small companies making average salaries as well as programmers just getting by working for unfunded startups or online bidding or whatever they can get.
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#3As a manager I’d probably advice against picking programming unless you love it. In our educational system the increase in short-length programming classes at academy level has exploded and I doubt the market will keep up.
Really great comp science or engineering students won’t ever have a problem, but I fully expect the short-length, autodidact or mediocre students to be entering a saturated market within the next five years.
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#4In Seattle, salaries are definitely bimodal (at least from my experience over dozens of offers from me and fellow classmates).
Many mid/small corps are paying ~75-120k base with x stock which is of course not worth anything yet.
Most large competitive firms are paying more around 115-150 with 15-75 in stock.
So an explicit divide between the mid/small companies and the large tech giants exists here.
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#5As a manager I’d probably advice against picking programming unless you love it. In our educational system the increase in short-length programming classes at academy level has exploded and I doubt the market will keep up. Really great comp science or engineering students won’t ever have a problem, but I fully expect the short-length, autodidact or mediocre students to be entering a saturated market within the next f…
do you have any quantified evidence of this or is it just a gut feeling
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#6As a manager I’d probably advice against picking programming unless you love it. In our educational system the increase in short-length programming classes at academy level has exploded and I doubt the market will keep up. Really great comp science or engineering students won’t ever have a problem, but I fully expect the short-length, autodidact or mediocre students to be entering a saturated market within the next f…
That point hasn’t been hit yet. Discouraging people from learning programming because you anticipate that point to come soon is unfortunate coming from a manager of programmers. Regardless of job opportunities, which I disagree with but is beside the point, being able to program increasingly allows people to create value and bring ideas to existence.
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#7I'm partial to the O-ring explanation. Software engineering is uniquely multiplicative because it's possible for a software engineer to create software that does software engineering.
Chemical/electrical/mechanical engineers can't use their field to automate their field. Doctors and lawyers are almost exclusively service jobs, unlike the manufacturing nature of engineering.
Automation is a force multiplier, and software engineering benefits from being able to create automation, apply automation to others, as well as being able to apply automation to itself.
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#8How do I know which mode I’m in?
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#9IMHO, the title should be fixed to mention that it is only about developer compensation in the USA.
I am always surprised at the salaries in the USA. I have two bachelor degrees and two master degrees from two well established universities, and earn about 2k euro a month (before 20% tax deduction), which is considered fairly decent for a starter. Even then, many corporations outsource software development to Eastern-European countries.
Re: Is developer compensation becoming bimodal?
#10O-ring sounds reasonable.
Also, consider what kinds of firms hire these professionals. For almost all professions, there are firms that do what the profession is called. There are accountancy firms that do specialist account. There are law firms that do specialist law. And there are software firms that make software ordinary firms don't make. But then there are also firms that happen to have a lawyer, and accountant, and a software developer. They might be some industry firm like a widget manufacturer. In these firms, the professional is not quite the most important resource. Sure, you need some, but you don't think of widget factory as requiring the top professionals. Often you'll hear the firm considered as a sort of lifestyle choice: less stressful than the law/accountancy/software house. And of course if you need specialist help you'll know which external firm to get it from.