2017 Software Development Salary Survey

Individual Background

Gender

We had over 425 female respondents—a large enough cohort to likely provide representative results. They represented 8% of survey participants.

As we’ve noted, all salaries are down in 2017; however, women increased their relative salaries compared to the male respondents, from 86% to 92.5% of what their male counterparts earn. In the 2016 survey, women earned around $80K on average, whereas their male counterparts earned $93K. This year, women’s median salaries dropped to an average of $74K and men’s to $80K.

There also appears to be an uptick in new women into the industry: over a third of the female respondents have less than 5 years’ experience, as compared to about 17% of men.

Unfortunately, female respondents still trail men when it comes to their roles. There were no VP/Director or C-level women reporting in the survey. The majority of women, 65%, described themselves as software developer/engineer. (That’s 8% higher than their male counterparts.)

If the trend keeps up and more women continue to enter the software industry, it will begin to redress the lopsided gender ratio. And as women move up the ranks, join larger companies, and gain more experience, hopefully their salaries will increase and close the pay gap.

Age

The age of the respondents skews youngish, with two thirds of respondents 40 or younger, 22% in the 41–50 range, and only ...