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Why are software developers segmented between "rock stars" and "not rock stars"? A salary estimate search on Simply Hired for "rockstar accountant" yielded no

Why are software developers segmented between "rock stars" and "not rock stars"? A salary estimate search on Simply Hired for "rockstar accountant" yielded no results :-)

heresy 16y ago
The rock star accountants are all in jail.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  One would suppose that the real rock star accountants are so good they are unknown by the public.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
alphaoverlord 16y ago
The graphics in this article is very misleading. The first three salary values are average values from SimplyHired.com while the last value for rock stars is the "average salary for the top 10 best paid music stars". If you use the same criteria to search for the last category (rockstars), you simply find an average salary of $54,000, not $50,000,000. http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-(rockstar+OR+%22rock+star%22)+-+developer http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-(rockstar+OR+%2... That's not to say the website's information is accurate or indicative of what people each of these categories actually make. Salaries probably not a normal distribution, and the real high earners wouldn't be captured by guesses based on mean income. I would rather make the argument that the graphics displayed and information provided are really bad metrics. They are at best confusing, at worst misleading.
- JoachimSchipper 16y ago
  Not to mention the fact that the author confused 1622% and 1622x...
- gaius 16y ago
  Rock stars not rock musicians in general.
- Retric 16y ago
  If you want to find the income from the top programmers you would need to include people like Bill Gates. While he spent most of his life as management most of his wealth from stock gained while he was a programmer.
Cushman 16y ago
I'm pretty sure some hedge fund managers earn more than every rock star put together.
thenduks 16y ago
That's exactly the point, they aren't. It's just a buzzword to draw attention to a job posting just like "senior" or "experienced" were before it. No reason to start the hype machine up over this stuff, if you ask me.
- gaius 16y ago
  It is the complete opposite of "senior" or "experienced". It's 22-years-old, thinks the web is all of the computing world, and thinks fleshing out a framework is all there is to programming.
  - thenduks 16y ago
    Sorry, I think you misunderstand my point. I'm not comparing the terms' meaning, but rather the purpose of using them. You want to attract a certain kind of developer with a term like 'rock star' or 'ninja', just like you want to attract a certain kind with 'senior' or 'experienced'. That's all. The point is they don't really mean anything.
kgo 16y ago
It's in the Mythical Man Month, not that Brooks uses the term 'rock star' Good developers are 10x more productive than average developers. There are no comparable studies for accountants.
steerpike 16y ago
Becuase its the software developers' turn. Strangely enough, it happened in hospitality just before I left that industry, the term 'Rock star chef' was being used a lot to describe the new wave of chefs who were more interested in getting their profile up so they could get on television rather than actually try and cultivate a decent restaurant. The focus of the business drive shifted massively. I have a vague theory that it just cycles through industry after industry and it's interesting to try and spot the wave before it occurs.
- kemayo 16y ago
  Was it being used as a negative term in the hospitality industry? If so, that's an interesting difference in apparent outlooks, since it's almost always meant as a compliment in programming.

Why are software developers segmented between "rock stars" and "not rock stars"? A salary estimate search on Simply Hired for "rockstar accountant" yielded no results :-)

heresy 16y ago

The rock star accountants are all in jail.

InclinedPlane 16y ago
One would suppose that the real rock star accountants are so good they are unknown by the public.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

alphaoverlord 16y ago

The graphics in this article is very misleading. The first three salary values are average values from SimplyHired.com while the last value for rock stars is the "average salary for the top 10 best paid music stars". If you use the same criteria to search for the last category (rockstars), you simply find an average salary of $54,000, not $50,000,000. http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-(rockstar+OR+%22rock+star%22)+-+developer http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-(rockstar+OR+%2... That's not to say the website's information is accurate or indicative of what people each of these categories actually make. Salaries probably not a normal distribution, and the real high earners wouldn't be captured by guesses based on mean income. I would rather make the argument that the graphics displayed and information provided are really bad metrics. They are at best confusing, at worst misleading.

JoachimSchipper 16y ago
Not to mention the fact that the author confused 1622% and 1622x...
gaius 16y ago
Rock stars not rock musicians in general.
Retric 16y ago
If you want to find the income from the top programmers you would need to include people like Bill Gates. While he spent most of his life as management most of his wealth from stock gained while he was a programmer.

Cushman 16y ago

I'm pretty sure some hedge fund managers earn more than every rock star put together.

thenduks 16y ago

That's exactly the point, they aren't. It's just a buzzword to draw attention to a job posting just like "senior" or "experienced" were before it. No reason to start the hype machine up over this stuff, if you ask me.

gaius 16y ago
It is the complete opposite of "senior" or "experienced". It's 22-years-old, thinks the web is all of the computing world, and thinks fleshing out a framework is all there is to programming.
- thenduks 16y ago
  Sorry, I think you misunderstand my point. I'm not comparing the terms' meaning, but rather the purpose of using them. You want to attract a certain kind of developer with a term like 'rock star' or 'ninja', just like you want to attract a certain kind with 'senior' or 'experienced'. That's all. The point is they don't really mean anything.

kgo 16y ago

It's in the Mythical Man Month, not that Brooks uses the term 'rock star' Good developers are 10x more productive than average developers. There are no comparable studies for accountants.

steerpike 16y ago

Becuase its the software developers' turn. Strangely enough, it happened in hospitality just before I left that industry, the term 'Rock star chef' was being used a lot to describe the new wave of chefs who were more interested in getting their profile up so they could get on television rather than actually try and cultivate a decent restaurant. The focus of the business drive shifted massively. I have a vague theory that it just cycles through industry after industry and it's interesting to try and spot the wave before it occurs.

kemayo 16y ago
Was it being used as a negative term in the hospitality industry? If so, that's an interesting difference in apparent outlooks, since it's almost always meant as a compliment in programming.