[mattbgates]

My first job as a programmer in 2011, the boss was paying me US$10 an hour to code in Visual Basic 6. He gave me a $2 raise ($12) after 6 months of proving that I was a good coder. A year later, I ended up having to get a new job because I had debt that I had to pay off and didn't want to take 10 years to do it. Eventually got a job working a web developer for $16-$18/hr.

The advice I have: If you have a college degree or at least 5 years experience in programming, know that you more valuable than you think you are. Also: The reality is, you are replaceable. Keep moving on til you are loving what you do and doing what you love .. and getting paid to do it.

[omouse]

This is why I advocate for even the most junior programmers to earn more cash. Even a junior programmer's code can save hundreds of hours of labour and increase profit.

[kzisme]

Realistically, how much do junior/entry level position developers make?

I'm a senior and graduating in the Spring.

[mod]

Varies wildly with where you're located, how employable you are, what kind of job you seek, etc.

35-80k

[kzisme]

For reference, currently located in the mid-west, but considering moving as well.

[mkaziz]

I got offered 60k-65k as a web dev at three different companies in Chicagoland. 2 were C# consulting shops, a third was an android/ios dev shop. This was 2 years ago now.

[omouse]

I'm sure the salary range is still around that point; there's definitely a salary barrier that is hard to climb over. In Canada for example if you make past 80k you must be a rockstar and a senior dev. The value generated to compensation ratio is out of whack except at a few top tier companies.

[organsnyder]

I've been told by a well-informed source that the median salary for a developer in my town (Grand Rapids, MI) is around $82k. We have a huge shortage of talent here—though, unfortunately, many shops seem to be only willing to consider senior devs.

[carrotleads]

it baffles me how devs can work for those rates...

no wonder I still see Ads for C++ contracts in Melbourne for $50/hr for a mid-senior level job... clearly there are people who work at those rates...

the biggest thing holding dev salaries back is cause many devs love what they do..

[J_Darnley]

Oh I'm sorry that we can't all live in the programmers' utopia that you apparently inhabit where the pay is a thousand dollars per keystroke. Be thankful you have a fucking job!

I would work for $10, not per hour just ten dollars, because it would be more than the zero I earn right now.

[carrotleads]

I understand it is a relative...

but the rates should be similar to what is earnt by other professionals.. in this case the rates seemed to be at burger flipping ones for the region..

basically I feel lots of devs are underselling themselves..

[shoo]

I guess it depends where you're living, and what opportunities you are aware of - or are available to you - and what your next best alternative is.

If you really need the money and don't have another option then working for a very modest quantity of money sure seems like a much better deal than working for none at all.

[k__]

Also the unawareness happens in the other direction too.

I know a bunch of freelancers who get paid a ridiculous amount of money for simple web-dev stuff, just because the companies they work for don't know anything about this and are simply happy to have found a dev.

[carrotleads]

That may well be the case but a dev should not trade his/her time at similar rates to other skills that didn't take much time/effort to learn..

dev skill isn't a common one, it takes a special kind of mindset to be a half decent dev...

[ionised]

Developer roles in the UK pay very poorly for the most part.

We don't seem to be valued much at all.

[omouse]

because we're constantly told that we're lucky to be working on something cool that we usually love to do. we're lucky to have air-conditioned offices and internet access all day.