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by rr808 324 days ago
I actually worked in the 90s and 2000s and software was not a popular career because it didn't pay much. Programmers were nerds who did it for the tech, not the money. Ir you say they earned twice as much you have no idea, I had room mates until I was mid thirties.
2 comments
brewdad 324 days ago
Software wasn't paying astronomical salaries back then but it was paying at least as much as any other engineering discipline. Sometime in the 2000s, engineering salaries stayed normal and software salaries skyrocketed.
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SoftTalker 324 days ago
It was the first dotcom boom and VC money that caused the inflation of developer salaries.

Prior to that, software development was just another cost center office job like accounting for most companies.

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JustExAWS 324 days ago
I worked in B2B companies from 2000 to 2020 across 5 out of the 6 companies there was a direct line between our work and net new revenue.

The one job I did have during they time period where I was a cost c center was when I was an architect over integrating acquired companies systems as part of a PE rollup strategy (never again).

Those other 5 weren’t anything glamorous - bill processing, fleet management with ruggedized mobile devices, railroad train car repair software and two health care related companies.

I knew to stay away from cost center jobs after my first job out of college when looking for my second job in 1999. Cost center jobs hardly ever pay well. That’s one reason I run away from any company that is run by PE companies that are more interested in “efficiencies” than growth and I’ve been offered a couple of jobs as an architect for those companies.

Since 2020 I have worked in consulting companies where there was a direct line from my billable hours to revenue and indirect attributions from “enablement” projects 6)/4 influenced the company.

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scarface_74 324 days ago
I entered the job market in 1996. By 2001 doing regular old enterprise dev, I was making $70k in Atlanta GA. The median income then was $44K nationwide.

I was able to get a 2500 square foot house built the next year for $170K.

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