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Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

programmers.stackexchange.com

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Re: Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

#2

Post by gouranga »

They get paid the same as junior programmers where I work. They are deemed as equal value to the company.

To be 100% honest a good developer should be able to take on all three roles. PM and BA are skills which should be built in as well along side other basics.

Re: Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

#5

Post by gouranga »

Karunamon wrote: post #3

Aside: Yet another useful and thought provoking question and set of answers on SE shut down "because it's not a good fit for the format".

Yes this is getting annoying.

I think when a site reaches critical mass, the pedants and moderati (play on illuminati) start screwing it up. Wikipedia is another fine example of this.

I've stopped contributing to stack overflow now due to this (I accumulated 20k karma to give you an idea how much I thought the idea was promising)

Re: Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

#6

Post by thibaut_barrere »

Good business analysts and PM are more likely (maybe because of the situations they are involved in, or because of their training) to realize and explain what value they bring to the company.

For most "regular" programmers, it's not that clear :)

Re: Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

#7

Post by thibaut_barrere »

ihodes wrote: post #4

What companies are these people working for? The ones I've looked at and the ones my friends work at pay their programmers significantly more than PMs and BAs.

For instance, for companies where programming and IT is not perceived as a core competency and asset, but a cost.

Re: Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

#9

Post by stephencanon »

ihodes wrote: post #4

What companies are these people working for? The ones I've looked at and the ones my friends work at pay their programmers significantly more than PMs and BAs.

This; in my experience median compensation for programmers is comparable to PMs, and the high-end of programmer compensation is significantly higher than that for PMs.

Re: Why do business analysts and PMs get higher salaries than programmers?

#10

Post by timsally »

The top rated comment on this question asserts that the reason why programmers have lower salaries is because they are logical, intelligent individuals who refuse to play the politics game and thus are hated by executives. Not only it this incorrect (have you seen the politics in certain open source software projects ?) but it plays into a narrative that programmers want to believe: business people are corrupt and programmers are superior to them morally if not in compensation. You're doing yourself a disservice if you follow this line of thinking.

On the other hand, the top rated answer has a pretty elaborate and abstract theory about widgets and film makers. I make no assertion about the accuracy of this abstract theory, but I can summarize reality in a much simpler way: many programmers work in businesses where software is a cost center. If you want to make money as a programmer, you need to work at a company where software is a generator of profit and negotiate compensation aggressively after demonstrating your value.

The following is required reading if you'd like an algorithm for doing the above:

Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pro...

Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

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