How much can you earn as an entry-level software developer?

If you have made a career choice as a software developer, you will obviously like to know about the entry-level salary for your profession. This will influence your choice of company and location when choosing your first job. This post will focus on factors that will impact your salary.

 

Software developers are usually paid a monthly salary rather than an hourly rate. According to survey reports the average annual salary for an entry-level software developer in the US in 2019 is around USD 57,000 in a year. According to ZipRecruiter, an American employment marketplace for job seekers and employers, the annual salary for job seekers ranges between USD 64,500 to 48,500. The national average annual salary of software developers stands at USD 57,198 per year which is the average annual salary in many parts of the world.

 

Some software companies have now resorted to offshoring their work to resources in other countries to reduce the expense of hiring talent in their own country. If you are working in one of these offshoring firms then you cannot expect the same salary level as given above.

 

The software developer salary can also vary based on the software language you are good in. According to PayScale, this is the average annual salary for a software developer based on his skill:

Rank	Language	Average Salary
1	C#	$67,832
2	JavaScript	$70,213
3	SQL	$68,378
4	.NET	$70,968
5	Java	$68,665

 

Company you choose to work for:

When starting your job search, you might be wondering which companies to apply for. Naturally, you will look at companies that offer you a better pay package. Let us warn you that landing a job in a big company does not necessarily translate into a big pay package especially for entry-level software engineers.

 

According to levels.fyi, a startup that relies on crowdsourced data to discover and interpret facts about IT companies, an entry-level software engineer in Google gets an annual pay of USD 189,000, while someone at the same level in Facebook can earn an average salary of 166,000 USD.

 

But remember if you land a position with a good compensation package, you are expected to have a higher level of professionalism when fulfilling your roles and responsibilities. The company will have more expectations if you are getting a higher level of compensation.

 

Salary and unemployment rate:

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has reported that the present unemployment rate in the software industry is at 1.3 per cent. This is the lowest since the BLS started measuring the unemployment rate. This means that the software companies must offer good salaries on par with their rival companies in order to secure the best talent.

 

The salary you may get as an entry-level software developer depends on many factors. However, securing your first job is the initial step in your career progress as a software developer. Remember, the greater the number of years you add to your work experience, the better your chances of going up the career ladder and landing a job with higher compensation and benefits.