4 ms·

Some things I noticed: - 55% of programmers surveyed are making less than $20k/yr, which is ridiculous. - 4.9% of programmers surveyed are women - 2.7% of pr

Some things I noticed: - 55% of programmers surveyed are making less than $20k/yr, which is ridiculous. - 4.9% of programmers surveyed are women - 2.7% of programmers surveyed are 51+ - 17.5% of programmers earning less than $20k/yr live in California. That last fact caught my eye, so I did some math: This article (http://www.wired.com/2014/04/no-exit/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/no-exit/) says that the author pays $1250/mo "for a mattress on the floor, behind a panel of imbricated torn shower curtains, in an unheated rabbit warren of 20 bunk beds under a low converted-warehouse ceiling." Assuming they all live in the same space that the author lived in, they spend $15000/yr on rent alone. Assuming that they have health insurance, a cell phone plan, and pay $3/day for transportation, they have (and I swear I'm not making this up) about $3.50 per day to spend on food.

planckscnst 12y ago
Or a bunch of them live off their parents. It would make sense that there is a large population of students living in California using SO.
lucideer 12y ago
the 55% includes unemployed programmers worldwide - 16.7% of programmers with jobs earn <$20k - 2.2% of US programmers with jobs earn <$20k
ramayac 12y ago
I'm a full time developer Java/SQL, finishing a MBA... and I still make < $20k/year. It's ridiculous in USA, but in LATAM it's sad reality.
- thiagocmoraes 12y ago
  In which city do you work? If you go to a big IT center in Brazil such as São Paulo or Campinas, $20k/year is just a little over the starting salary for a new grad from a top school. There's LOTS of worse positions, but this is not really that hard to find, considering that HN crowd is probably more qualified than the average developer...
  - yulaow 12y ago
    In the big cities the cost-to-live should be higher, maybe compensating the difference in salary. Is it?
  - elboru 12y ago
    That's true in Mexico too, if you work for small or local companies in a small/middle city, <$20,000 is almost the rule, but if you go to bigger cities, having enough English skills, with international companies, then salaries are incremented at least 100% (but still far from salaries in the US). That according to my experience, coming from an 800,000 citizens city to Guadalajara second biggest city in Mexico.
  - ramayac 12y ago
    The capital of El Salvador, it's the largest city of the country :|
colmvp 12y ago
Whereas according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23.0% of U.S. programmers, and 39.5% of U.S. web developers are women.
- m4x 12y ago
  Which is interesting, because it implies that female programmers are less likely to use SO (or at least respond to SO surveys) than male programmers are. Why is that? EDIT: or they're unwilling to specify their gender
mathattack 12y ago
Maybe it's 55% of programmers who respond to surveys like this... Could it also be that it's a lot of people in lower income countries?

planckscnst 12y ago

Or a bunch of them live off their parents. It would make sense that there is a large population of students living in California using SO.

lucideer 12y ago

the 55% includes unemployed programmers worldwide - 16.7% of programmers with jobs earn <$20k - 2.2% of US programmers with jobs earn <$20k

ramayac 12y ago

I'm a full time developer Java/SQL, finishing a MBA... and I still make < $20k/year. It's ridiculous in USA, but in LATAM it's sad reality.

thiagocmoraes 12y ago
In which city do you work? If you go to a big IT center in Brazil such as São Paulo or Campinas, $20k/year is just a little over the starting salary for a new grad from a top school. There's LOTS of worse positions, but this is not really that hard to find, considering that HN crowd is probably more qualified than the average developer...
- yulaow 12y ago
  In the big cities the cost-to-live should be higher, maybe compensating the difference in salary. Is it?
- elboru 12y ago
  That's true in Mexico too, if you work for small or local companies in a small/middle city, <$20,000 is almost the rule, but if you go to bigger cities, having enough English skills, with international companies, then salaries are incremented at least 100% (but still far from salaries in the US). That according to my experience, coming from an 800,000 citizens city to Guadalajara second biggest city in Mexico.
- ramayac 12y ago
  The capital of El Salvador, it's the largest city of the country :|

colmvp 12y ago

Whereas according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23.0% of U.S. programmers, and 39.5% of U.S. web developers are women.

m4x 12y ago
Which is interesting, because it implies that female programmers are less likely to use SO (or at least respond to SO surveys) than male programmers are. Why is that? EDIT: or they're unwilling to specify their gender

mathattack 12y ago

Maybe it's 55% of programmers who respond to surveys like this... Could it also be that it's a lot of people in lower income countries?