How much do programmers earn and what do their earnings actually depend on?

For many of us (I'm talking mainly about people in the industry), the mere conversation about programmers or their earnings causes widespread outrage. Why is this happening and why is this profession so highly rewarded? There are at least a few reasons. In this article, I will try to present the most important factors affecting the amount of salaries of programmers.

1. Hardly anyone can do it - analytical and mathematical mind

In general, everything can be learned, but not everyone is able to be a good mathematician or computer scientist. Many drop out. When I started my studies at the Military University of Technology, the rector of the university asked at the inauguration how many people intend to graduate in cryptology. About 50 people raised their hand. Then he added the sentence: "Congratulations on your courage." I think these words perfectly reflect the reality. However, a lot has changed - learning the C language in the past, and learning a language such as Swift now are two different entities. After all, not everyone is able to cope with the flood of information on internet forums, the English language or YouTube tutorials. For this you need the ability of analytical, programming thinking. Once we have this skill, we can try our hand at programming.

2. Ability to work with people and communication skills

A good Java programmer, fluent in English and great in communication (there are few such ideals in the world), is able to earn even more than PLN 20,000 net / month without any problems. However, he must understand the client's business needs, he must know how to conduct skype calls with the team, how to talk to the target client and how to protect the interests of the company he works for. Only thanks to this, he has a chance to be appreciated and raise his financial expectations. Unfortunately, many programmers, very well prepared in terms of content, drop out at the interview itself because the employer expects something more - even though they are great engineers, they bring little more to their business. When there is an exchange of views between the programmer and the client, there comes a moment of disappointment. Of course, a typical programmer is not always in touch with the client - often his task is taken over by the team leader and he should have high interpersonal skills, nevertheless, the conversation itself in the team is equally important. Then there are no unnecessary tensions between colleagues, wasting time on additional SCRUMs or, worst of all, mistakes resulting in the rewriting of a given piece of code.

3. Experience

However, knowledge and communication alone are not enough. To earn high amounts, i.e. PLN 15,000 - PLN 25,000 net per month, experience is necessary. I'm not talking about experience gained in working for myself, but commercial experience. An efficient ability to show your advantages based on an interesting CV and portfolio of projects will also be useful. People with less experience earn less money in this industry - their earnings (depending on the technology) range from PLN 30 to PLN 70 per hour of work, while their experienced colleagues can count on amounts above and much above PLN 100 net per hour. However, you have to start somewhere, so if you are a Junior or Middle - choose ambitious companies and ambitious projects. Only after entering deep waters do you have a chance to develop.

4. Accuracy and speed

Dear programmers (I'm talking about people earning nearly PLN 20,000 net per month or more) are people who pay great attention to detail. They are not programmers who adhere to the rule - "if something goes wrong, a colleague from the QA department will catch it and at most create a ticket in Jira'r and the bug will be patched." Such people often slip in corporations, but this is not a long-term strategy, and the industry is small enough that any self-respecting programmer will fear for his reputation (if he is actually good). A good (and therefore often expensive) programmer is a person after whom product testing is pure pleasure because errors are sporadic, the software has a clean and well-commented code, everything is created in accordance with the current programming paradigms in a given technology. Such people have a chance to be recommended to other, better paid companies, and if they are quick in their work, they can count on high bonuses.

Summary:

A good programmer is a fast, accurate, communicative and experienced programmer, which makes him effective in action. Such a talented person can count on a high salary (over PLN 100 net per hour of work). On the other hand, a programmer who is lazy, slow, inaccurate and causes problems with the simplest things (angrying the employer, cheating, deliberate inaccuracy and lack of empathy) is a weak programmer who will earn a lot of money for most of us, but it is short-term money, and he additionally, he runs the risk of losing his reputation, which results in the lack of orders or orders in the future.