>>Inflation adjusted salaries for programmers have been dropping since
>>1970, and they will continue to do so.
That is because there are a lot more entry level jobs, and a lot of jobs are requiring "programming" as part of the job. For example, in the KC area, Gateway has a big customer support center and they are looking for "programmers" to fill these positions. However, initially they were only offering around 25K, but on the other hand, they were looking for only people from tech schools or juco's that were not BSCS. Anymore, anybody and their cousin is getting programming jobs, and that is what is driving down the average. This is typical of the trend in any profession as it expands from a small group (which it was in the 70's) to a very large group. In the 70's, minimum systems were multiples of average salaries, while most systems (PC's) are now fractions of a monthly salary. To some extent, you would be willing to risk inexperienced people on inexpensive machines, and a lot of high school and college kids are working part time as "programmers". This trend has a lot more than just "global economics" involved in it.
Signed: One who is not worried about competition from foreign born programmers, whether they work there or immigrate here temporarily or permanently. |
