How the Other Half Works: An Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers

http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/how-the-other-half-works-an-adventure-in-the-low-status-of-software-engineers/?

by csomar • 12 years ago

18 4 12 years ago

michaelochurch.wordpress.com

markpundmann• 12 years ago

I've seen a bunch of these kinds of posts about how software engineers don't get paid enough and it seems to me that a lot of people have this misconception about software engineers. We are part of the labor market just like everyone else. While their is a lot of skill and creativity involved in software development, your work can likely be replicated by someone else, and if that someone else can do your job for a cheaper price, companies are going to hire the cheaper person.

I've got a 6 figure offer coming out of college and not one of my business/engineering friends are making anything close to that. Other majors will make even less. My brother works for a top consulting firm doing the "evil business" and charges clients 300+ an hour, and yet he will only make around ~80,000 a year. It will be years before he will be able to climb their hierarchy and make the big bucks.

So quit your bitching and either invest in yourself so that you have skills that are in high demand and low supply, or start a company so that you can earn profits which technically have no limits.

geebee• 12 years ago

I'd normally agree with much of what you said, with one twist that changes the nature of the discussion completely: you're describing an industry where employers routinely claim that there is a critical shortage of software developers (at the price they want to pay, though this is almost left unspoken).

So I could rephrase your last sentence as "so quit your whining and either invest in your workforce so that they have the skills that you need, or raise the pay you're offering until you get your workers at a rate that technically has no limits."

If we're part of the labor market "like everyone else", then why does our particular segment of the industry spend so much money and time lobbying for special visas and other types of consideration from the government? Like I've said many times here on HN, I support a greater emphasis on skilled immigration. But when a software developer in SF earns only a bit more than a dental hygienist and a bit less than a registered nurse, I don't think that the software developer "shortage" is any more acute than the shortage of skilled workers in every other segment of the economy.

bottled_poe• 12 years ago

"Oh, you're a software engineer. That means you can you fix my computer, right?" -> Frowning ensues

Eiriksmal• 12 years ago

See this HN article[0] and, specifically, the interesting chain of comments starting with Mr. Ptacek's ruminations on the article[1] that ends up linking to Mr. O'Church's writing.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8232746 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8232992

How the Other Half Works: An Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers

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