From May to August 1999, we collected 3,969 responses via the Internet from Software Development readers, visitors to the SD web site, and attendees at the Software Development West Conference and Expo in San Francisco.
Software Development has a nationwide circulation of over 80,000, so the 5% who took our online survey may well be among our most motivated readers—who, we could extrapolate, are doing better in their careers than a random sampling of developers might be. And while the number of respondents grew significantly from last year’s inaugural survey of 2,578 readers, our survey does have limitations. Voluntary responses such as those we gathered can be biased toward strong, often negative opinions. In addition, because we used the increasingly popular technique of collecting a so-called convenience sample of our target population over the web, a margin of error cannot be calculated and no probability can be assigned to the data. Buoyed by the robust response rate, we are planning to make some statistical improvements to next year’s survey.
That disclaimer aside, we’re pleased to note that the 1999 salary and job satisfaction survey does contain some useful information about industry trends and reveals not a group of disgruntled developers but a population of mostly male, mostly seasoned, mostly content, mostly 40-hour-a-week-working, mostly $60,000-per-year-earning developers who overwhelmingly like their bosses and coworkers. Life is good.
For a full accounting of the responses to each survey question, visit www.sdmagazine.com/1999survey.
| Industry Breakdown |
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In line with our findings last year, 35% of respondents are software engineers, programmers or analysts. Technical team leads or project managers make up 23%, application architects or specialists, 13%, and consultants, 9%. Most are salaried, full-time employees, and 69% have worked for their company for five years or less. While 77% are younger than 45, 79% have anywhere from six to more than 15 years of experience. This is an erudite group.
A full 71% consider their responsibilities at least 70% technical and less than 30% managerial. Most respondents (87%) like their bosses, but 32% don’t feel that upper management supports their development strategies. Not a group that’s likely to "go postal," 96% of those surveyed like their coworkers.
| Average SD reader salaries in thousands of U.S. dollars |
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The few SD millionaires in the bunch are not just using the Internet to check their stock quotes; they also took a moment to complete our survey—two millionaires did, to be precise. Most everyone else fell within well known salary ranges (see chart). Do readers feel their salaries are competitive for their regions and responsibilities, respectively? Yes, says 68%, and yes, says 57%. For those planning to change jobs, more are motivated by the prospect of finding greater challenge than that of receiving higher compensation. Most have received a raise recently, in the range of 1% to 15%, and not in the main due to a promotion. Regular raises and bonuses primarily fall in the range of $1,000 to $5,000. Most repondents are able to take all or part of their several weeks of paid vacation every year. As for outlandish perquisites, only 3% reported being handed the keys to either a corporate condominium or corporate car.
Technical skills
In defining the most valuable technical skills they need currently, SD readers have their priorities straight: they’re thinking architecturally, have relegated any remaining Y2K hysteria to the bottom of their to-do list. Only a very small percentage is concerned with mastering specific tools. Component-based development also nudges out specific language skills. Managing people and projects is crucial, respondents say—perhaps indicating a maturing of the industry. Looking forward five years, readers are secure with the skills they have now and think these will continue to be keys to success. Interestingly, C++ loses a bit of luster in its future skills ranking, while Java gains prominence—although the two are neck-and-neck in the current rankings.
Types of applications
As of early August, only 21% of respondents were still working on Y2K projects. While most are toiling at traditional types of client-server applications, Java, intranet, and Internet projects are increasingly common. Almost 12% are doing real-time or embedded development, but very few are working on e-commerce—perhaps because most are focusing on the overall Internet application, rather than the specific business-to-consumer type transactions.
The glass door
In 1998, 206 survey respondents identified themselves as female; in 1999, that number more than doubled, to 421. The percentage of respondents who were women grew slightly, from 8% in 1998 to 11% in 1999. As we continue to gather career data annually, it will be interesting to see whether the proportion of women respondents mirrors an overall trend in developer demographics.
Hiring trends
In what could be construed as an early indicator of a levelling off of the high-tech economy, this year fewer respondents reported that their companies were adding employees—55% in 1999, down from 61% in 1998—and slightly more—9% over last year’s 6%—reported staff cutbacks.
Company size
Companies of over 1000 employees are the most common among respondents, who generally work in application development or IS departments of 100 or more people. But two thirds of the development teams are comprised of fewer than 10 people, perhaps an indication of the effectiveness of small teams. Applications being developed are usually for 500 to over 5000 users. SD readers work overwhelmingly in the private sector.
A reasonable work week
Contrary to the conventional wisdom that developers’ high salaries are tempered by the need to work 60 to 70 or more hours per week, 61% of our readers (the same number as last year) reported clocking a reasonable 41 to 50 hours per week. Most are responsible for between one to five projects.
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Application Architect • Applications Specialist Involved in the overall design, implementation, and enhancement of corporate applications. Develops or supervises the development of functional specifications, user interface specifications, and the development of code to functional specifications. Sets architectural and design direction. |
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Technical Team Lead • Project Manager Responsible for the timely and successful completion of projects. Provides technical vision. Involved in project execution throughout all phases of the software development life cycle. May also manage technical staff and handle managerial issues including scheduling, hiring, and budgeting. |
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