2007-2008: 28k in games industry. 2008-2011: 60k ( including bonus ) in finance. 2011-2012: <20k freelancing as a creative coder for museums and advertising,

2007-2008: 28k in games industry. 2008-2011: 60k ( including bonus ) in finance. 2011-2012: <20k freelancing as a creative coder for museums and advertising, lost half my savings doing this... 2013: 68k in educational software used by millions of kids. As a lot of people mention here, only finance pays well in the UK. If you don't mind working in that you can earn quite a lot. The other route is contracting, but that works if you have a skill that is in demand. I am very happy with my current job though I make roughly half what I could potentially get if I went back to finance.