2017 Software Development Salary Survey

Work Evaluation

A CAREER IS SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST WORK AND PAY. This year’s survey contained several subjective questions that were meant to capture how respondents felt about their jobs.

It turns out you don’t always have to make sacrifices to get better pay. Respondents who are happier with their situations and have better work/life balance also have better salaries. You don’t have to be miserable to be paid well.

Respondents were asked to rate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent), how easy it would be to find a new job more or less equivalent to their current position. This was used to gauge how well people could move laterally through companies. 64% of respondents were positive (4 or 5) that they could move with ease. The students also shared this high level of optimism, with 60% answering positively.

Our respondents were less confident about negotiating and bargaining for a better salary or perks. When asked about their bargaining skills, 38% answered 3 (not bad but not great), 34% responded positively (4 or 5), and 28% felt they lacked these skills (1 or 2).

When we look at just the self-assessed better bargainers (those who responded 4 or 5), we see that they do indeed have much better salaries than other respondents. The best self-assessed bargainers, those who responded 5, were earning around $107K, whereas those who responded 3, had salaries nearly $38K lower! This data suggests that perhaps the best way to improve your salary is to spend time (and maybe ...