Disclaimer: I am not in any Human Resources department and I am not a hiring manager, so I do not know what I am talking about. This entry is for general career goal setting only.
What does career advancement mean to you? What is the next level for you?
I’ve been a software developer now for a little over 10 years and have moved up the career ladder of a software developer a little ways … and am now starting to wonder – now where? What is the next level I want to make it to? In order to determine where I would like to go in the next 10 years, I started looking around … what sort of positions are out there? What do other people do and how well does it pay?
Today I did a little brainstorming and researching of different sites on the net that have rates for consultants and job positions with salary, etc. and have come up with 5 different possible positions for someone with 10 – 20 years of experience in the software industry. The position titles may vary but I’m sure you recognize the responsibilities and range as being someone you know in the industry. I’ve really only looked at 3 aspects – a very rough idea of responsibilities, a top salary estimate and the weeks of work required to reach that salary range. Any of these positions could be in either a software shop or an IT department of a large company.
All salary estimates are based on my limited knowledge of such matters, so please take this into account. The ‘Top Salary’ number is also based on someone who exceeds expectations and is confident enough to ensure he is rewarded for it (ie. not under paid).
For the hourly positions I’ve come up with a 3 tier breakdown that seems to cover what I found in my brief research:
- Tier 1 $50 – 80 hour
- Tier 2 $80 – 150 hour
- Tier 3 $150 - 300 hour
NOTE: All these positions require 10 – 20 years of solid experience in developing software and consistently meeting or beating expectations (otherwise subtract up to 50% of the lower end of the salary ranges).
Non Managing Developer
This seems to be the most popular position due the requirements mainly being 10 years of good experience and hard work. Good written and verbal communication skills are desired, but technical ability and hard work will get the job done. Since this is a full time employee position, the developer has a little more freedom at work when it comes to qualifications - companies will spend more on training full time employees. In order for the developer to exceed expectations and keep advancing, the position will require at least 50 hours a week and personal interests that align with the company’s interests.
Top Salary 80k – 150k
At work 45 hours/week 44 - 46 weeks a year
Managing Developer
This position is usually a developer who has been promoted a development manager role. The challenge of this position is to handle both the management of employees and development of products (which may still require quite a bit of hands on coding). Since this is a full time employee position, the manager often gets stuck in meetings that may truly be a waste of time and often eats into personal time in order exceed expectations.
Top Salary 90k – 175k
At work 45 hours/week 44 – 46 weeks a year
Hourly Contract Developer
This position is really the Non Managing Developer position but for a contractor instead of a full time employee. Due to the income being rated on hours of work the developer’s income is dependent on relevant experience (less flexibility here than with the FTE) and the amount of hours required for the current project. In order to keep increasing the hourly rate, the developer must keep exceeding expectations and work with the company to adjust rates.
Top Salary: 90k – 200k
Tier 1 40 hours/week 36 – 48 weeks a year
Tier 2 40 hours/week 24 – 36 weeks a year
Hourly Consultant A
This is the expert who works for a consulting company and really knows his stuff. The requirements for this position are much more than just being an expert in a specific field, you also need to have superb verbal, written and social skills. In order to be and stay at this level the consultant must consistently be advancing his skill set as well as spend a large portion of time reinforcing his ‘expertness’ by writing articles, books and speaking at conferences.
Top Salary: 100k – 300k
Tier 1 40 hours/week 36 – 48 weeks a year
Tier 2 40 hours/week 24 – 36 weeks a year
Tier 3 40 hours/week 18 – 24 weeks a year
Other common sources of income: Training, articles, books, conferences, blog entries and web sites (advertisements)
Hourly Consultant B (Self employed)
This position is similar to the Hourly Consultant A in its requirements, but this position alse requires the consultant to run his own show. This means the consultant is living off of his own reputation and it alone, as oppose to the Consultant A who can make a good living from the company’s reputation. For the self employed consultant, the time spent reinforcing his ‘expertness’ really is necessary and more important than it is for the employed consultant. One key objective for the self employed consultant is to be an expert in both his niche and an expert in a broader sense (sometimes need options to get the billable hours)
Top Salary: 100k – 400k
Tier 1 40 hours/week 36 – 48 weeks a year
Tier 2 40 hours/week 24 – 36 weeks a year
Tier 3 40 hours/week 16 – 24 weeks a year
Other common sources of income: Training, articles, books, conferences, blog entries and web sites (advertisements)
If any readers actually make it this far in the entry and would like to comment on how accurate or inaccurate this all seems – I would love to hear about it.