Computer scientists (programmers) have got to be the MOST overpaid profession in the entire world. It takes a smart individual only several hours to learn how to program a new language and it takes the average idiot a couple hours to learn HTML. So if you start with HTML and progress your way to all sorts of interesting programming languages you could honestly learn how to program just as well as the next guy without getting a degree. In fact, more and more in the future people will be expected to know some sort of programming for their job (whether they know it is programming or not).
But then again, this is coming from me, who has been doing a lot of light programming my entire life and is very computer literate and workin' on bein' speakin' 'n readin' literate :).
It's just like learning a new language. If you get thrown into a foreign world and forced to survive, I am convinced you will be able to pick up just about any language. What about you?
I also know though that a lot of nerdy kids are getting paid by very non-tech-savy wealthy individuals to make them website and apps and other business essentials and they get ripped off for it. Let me explain: in brick laying, someone who tends the haws and stirs the mud gets paid less than someone who knows how to apply the cement and place the bricks correctly. Someone who designs the blueprint gets paid more than the person who lays the bricks.--why? because they have more invested in their jobs--the haws tender (sp?) progresses into the brick mason after gaining experience and watching to see how it all works. The architect went to school and therefore invested more devoted time to his job, plus they log a lot more hours that the haws tender doesn't even know about, and they generally have more creativity and talents that the construction worker doesn't apply. At this point you could compare the computer scientist and the architect and say they sound similar, but here is where the difference comes in: the architect has to write up a new plan every time he sets to work. No two plans are the same unless they are constructing two identical buildings. But the computer programmer on the other hand, can make two different programs and yet use the same code they wrote elsewhere. --I'm not an expert at architecture, but I don't think they can just copy full blueprints and make entirely different buildings.
If anyone can find that one piece of evidence (that architects often copy large sections of buildings relatively simply to place inside other buildings) I am comfortable changing my argument to claim that computer programmers should be paid exactly the same amount that architects are.
What are your thoughts?
Perhaps it's that other jobs are underpaid...
ReplyDeleteComputer programming is just a skill/talent/ability that people want badly enough to pay good money to have it.
In programming there are different kinds of work to do as well. In your comparison you have an architect and a programmer, but you give the programmer only code to be written. In order to be fair you'd have to be asking the architect only to design one room, not a whole building. Can that same room be used over and over again with little to minor changes? Yes it can(depending on use, but the same with the code).
I could go on but that's not really what I wanted to talk about.
Everyone has talents and abilities. That's why they have the job that they do. They do something well enough that someone is willing to pay them to do it. They are creating value for that individual or group they are serving.
So if you're complaining about not getting paid enough there are a couple things you could do.
#1: Ask yourself, "How can I develop this ability in a way that people would be able to pay more for it?" or "How can I make it so my talents can reach more people and build a broader clientele?"
#2: You might realize that the skill you're using to make money only has limited earning potential(fast food is an easy example) and you should develop better skills(nun chuck/bow hunting) to make more money.
#3: Do nothing.
Don't complain about people getting paid too much. In the tech industry there is more work to do than people to do it and so they will naturally get paid more to do it.
The ability to make more money lies inside the individual; and they have the choice whether to develop or improve their skills, or their ability to reach more people with their talents, in order to create more wealth for themselves and value for others.
An architect could do more jobs, get higher profile jobs, find ways to reuse pieces he's designed before to shorten design time. He is only limited by himself.
While anyone can learn a profitable skill(#2) the best way to make a living is by living your sole purpose. Doing your talents which you have been given and are passionate about, because when you're in love with what you're doing you will do it better than anyone else can.
In short let me sum it up like this.
ReplyDeleteIf I am in demand people will give me money for what I do. The higher the demand the more money people will be willing to offer.
I should now ask myself, knowing that my time is limited, "What can I do to raise the demand for my self and my time?"