Aug 25, 2017 · 1 min read
- Senior devs often do make Dr/lawyer money. Salaries in the range of $200k — $400k are not unheard of in companies using high salaries as a retention strategy. Aquihired employees sometimes earn $1MM+ per year. Median senior JS dev salary in the US is currently about $140k. It was $120k a few years ago and $100k a few years before that. (Indeed.com salary search). When salary growth beats inflation, that’s an indication that demand is outpacing supply. Comparing to Drs to deny growth is a bit unfair because medical is currently the fastest growing industry in America. Dr is currently $200k (glassdoor) Software is in the top 10 fastest growing industries, beating average industry growth by more than double (US BLS). Demand for lawyers however, is crashing due to automation and AI.
- Applicants is not the same as qualified applicants. Less than 1 dev in 100 is qualified to build complex apps without additional training. Companies hire and make due for 3 reasons: a. It’s too hard to find qualified devs. b. The people in charge of interviewing are under-qualified to make the hiring decision. c. It’s easier to hire and train than find a qualified applicant on the market. b. Is most common by a huge margin because many people weighing in on hiring have only 1–3 years' experience as a professional software dev.
There’s absolutely no shortage of developers who want jobs. There’s a HUGE shortage of qualified senior developers.
