I am not sure how universal this experience is, but I don’t think my salary was ever related to my productivity. Only on the most general level: without being able to program I wouldn’t be able to apply for programming jobs. But when I am already in the “software developer” set, other factors typically matter much more.
In my experience, most companies have a problem finding enough programmers. They also seem to have a general idea that they should pay “enough, but not too much”, so approximately as much as other companies in the same region are paying their programmers. As a result, the programmers’ salaries are mostly similar, regardless of whether the work is simple or sophisticated, easy or difficult, and whether the programmer is competent or not. This might be a European thing.
What actually matters here, is mostly the country. If the same company has branches in two countries, one of them in Western Europe, another in Eastern Europe, there may be e.g. a 3x difference in salaries for people with identical qualifications, doing similar things, sometimes working on the same project. So, forget productivity; the most impactful thing for your salary is to relocate. (Of course, that may increase your costs of living.)
Within the same country, it seems that some companies are generally more generous, some others are more stingy. The programmers working for the generous company get higher salary than the programmers working for the stingy company, regardless of their productivity. Yes, the generous company may be more picky at the job interviews, but it seems to me that in general, all companies are trying to hire, the differences in salaries are not advertised sufficiently (I do not clearly understand why), so the programmers apply more or less randomly, the competent ones get hired quickly (and their salary depends on the company they chose), the hopeless ones get rejected everywhere, and the mediocre ones need to make a few interviews until they find someone who desperately needs them (and gives them approximately the same salary as to the competent ones).
What didn’t increase my salary: working harder, learning new technologies, accepting new responsibilities.
What did increase my salary: doing job interviews at many companies and choosing the one that paid most, calling my friends and asking how much they make at their companies and applying at the generous ones.
Not sure what this means for the impact of AIs on programmer salaries. I kinda expect that nothing will change (the programmers will be able to do more, the companies will want more to be done), but who knows.
Yes, I should be clear that compensation for individual programmers depends more on other factors than productivity. Productivity matters more at the macro level by setting the conditions of the market in which individuals operate.
I think this is one of those classic things that people get tripped up on, and I didn’t go out of my way to dispel the confusion in my post.
I am not sure how universal this experience is, but I don’t think my salary was ever related to my productivity. Only on the most general level: without being able to program I wouldn’t be able to apply for programming jobs. But when I am already in the “software developer” set, other factors typically matter much more.
In my experience, most companies have a problem finding enough programmers. They also seem to have a general idea that they should pay “enough, but not too much”, so approximately as much as other companies in the same region are paying their programmers. As a result, the programmers’ salaries are mostly similar, regardless of whether the work is simple or sophisticated, easy or difficult, and whether the programmer is competent or not. This might be a European thing.
What actually matters here, is mostly the country. If the same company has branches in two countries, one of them in Western Europe, another in Eastern Europe, there may be e.g. a 3x difference in salaries for people with identical qualifications, doing similar things, sometimes working on the same project. So, forget productivity; the most impactful thing for your salary is to relocate. (Of course, that may increase your costs of living.)
Within the same country, it seems that some companies are generally more generous, some others are more stingy. The programmers working for the generous company get higher salary than the programmers working for the stingy company, regardless of their productivity. Yes, the generous company may be more picky at the job interviews, but it seems to me that in general, all companies are trying to hire, the differences in salaries are not advertised sufficiently (I do not clearly understand why), so the programmers apply more or less randomly, the competent ones get hired quickly (and their salary depends on the company they chose), the hopeless ones get rejected everywhere, and the mediocre ones need to make a few interviews until they find someone who desperately needs them (and gives them approximately the same salary as to the competent ones).
What didn’t increase my salary: working harder, learning new technologies, accepting new responsibilities.
What did increase my salary: doing job interviews at many companies and choosing the one that paid most, calling my friends and asking how much they make at their companies and applying at the generous ones.
Not sure what this means for the impact of AIs on programmer salaries. I kinda expect that nothing will change (the programmers will be able to do more, the companies will want more to be done), but who knows.
Yes, I should be clear that compensation for individual programmers depends more on other factors than productivity. Productivity matters more at the macro level by setting the conditions of the market in which individuals operate.
I think this is one of those classic things that people get tripped up on, and I didn’t go out of my way to dispel the confusion in my post.