U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
computerworld.com
U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
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Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#2The Dice salary survey says salaries went up. I wonder which is right: http://media.dice.com/report/2013-2012-dice-salary-survey/
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#3This does not necessarily mean that wages are falling. It could be that a lot of the new jobs created are "beginner" jobs with lower wages that pull the average down, but the existing jobs still pay what they used to or more.
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#4I really hate DOL stats. They have a menu of jobs, and you have to slot people into them. Often you have jobs that are halfway between 2 and you don't know which is "better", so you just pick one (e.g. I write a lof of excel macros, does that make me a programmer or an analyst? To me, it's obviously not a programmer, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not applied universally). Also, categorizing people is often left to the discretion of the employer, and sometimes they have an incentive to lie (R&D tax credit anyone?). These stats include tech support and also capture a wide range from "Web Developers" to "Computer and Information Research Scientists".
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#5The Dice salary survey says salaries went up. I wonder which is right: http://media.dice.com/report/2013-2012-dice-salary-survey/
To compare, you'd need to know the statistical and systematic uncertainties of each measurement.
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#6This does not necessarily mean that wages are falling. It could be that a lot of the new jobs created are "beginner" jobs with lower wages that pull the average down, but the existing jobs still pay what they used to or more.
What is / will drive wages down is making the process of becoming an (experienced) programmer easier, by lowering the per case work needing done and lowering the barrier to entry (compare writing C++ in 2002 to 2012), and the resources available) and that most use cases are best suited by high level dynamic languages like Python or Ruby, which have significantly less work investment to get results compared to old favorites like Java or C.
Most people don't need a tech savant. As that becomes more apparent as it becomes a game of legos putting blocks together rather than having to plastic cast mold every block yourself, I expect mean salary to drop.
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#7This does not necessarily mean that wages are falling. It could be that a lot of the new jobs created are "beginner" jobs with lower wages that pull the average down, but the existing jobs still pay what they used to or more.
Which, to be fair, the article points out right at the top:
"There are multiple theories for the decline in pay, but a common one cited by analysts is simply that the new people being hired are paid less than those already on the job."
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#8This does not necessarily mean that wages are falling. It could be that a lot of the new jobs created are "beginner" jobs with lower wages that pull the average down, but the existing jobs still pay what they used to or more.
What is / will drive wages down is making the process of becoming an (experienced) programmer easier, by lowering the per case work needing done and lowering the barrier to entry (compare writing C++ in 2002 to 2012), and the resources available) and that most use cases are best suited by high level dynamic languages like Python or Ruby, which have significantly less work investment to get results compared to old fav…
Possibly, however the better you are the faster you work the higher your value per hour. If I can be 3x as efficient as a junior dev I'm still worth more.
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#9This does not necessarily mean that wages are falling. It could be that a lot of the new jobs created are "beginner" jobs with lower wages that pull the average down, but the existing jobs still pay what they used to or more.
Which, to be fair, the article points out right at the top: "There are multiple theories for the decline in pay, but a common one cited by analysts is simply that the new people being hired are paid less than those already on the job."
But these are not necessarily "beginner" jobs: these unemployed people may have been hired back for the same types of jobs they had before, but at lower salaries. If you've been unemployed for a couple of years, you're probably willing to settle for less money just so you could have a job again.
Re: U.S. Software developer wages fall 2% as workforce expands
#10This does not necessarily mean that wages are falling. It could be that a lot of the new jobs created are "beginner" jobs with lower wages that pull the average down, but the existing jobs still pay what they used to or more.
I think even in the Silicon Valley the salaries other than the selective big guys has not even kept up with inflation. A 2 year-experience developer still gets between 80-100k or less. This is what was being paid in 2000 as well. The situation is probably the same elsewhere.
Of course, my numbers above are from my own poor sampling.