What % of programmers work at Google? Yes, "people who went to good startups early" profited immensely (not just Google, but Microsoft, others, etc.) What % of

What % of programmers work at Google? Yes, "people who went to good startups early" profited immensely (not just Google, but Microsoft, others, etc.) What % of programmers work at "software" companies? Here, in this space, that realm receives bulk of focus, and even there, most of these positions are of the one-off variety (or very small teams) compared to corporate IT where not so long ago, hundreds, even thousands of programmers worked in departments now staffed (in what I would estimate to be the majority of firms) by an amalgamation of offshore programmers and imported non-immigrant visa workers. Yes, these jobs pay more than lettuce picking, but the mechanism still serves as downward throttle on wages and bill rates. There is colossal range in low-end to high-end in programmer pay. And jobs at the high end are not as plentiful as those on the low end. And developers in Silicon Valley (or big metro hubs) eclipse the rest of the country where it's not unfathomable for programmers to make less than 50K. I will agree with the contention that the free agency nature of career field is driving out those who do it because they "_enjoy_ their work" -- in non-software corporate positions, I do not believe that was the norm until the 21st century.