Study Says Software Engineers Have the Best US Jobs 337
D H NG writes "According to a new study by CareerCast.com, software engineers have the best jobs of 2011 in the United States, based on factors such as income, working environment, stress, physical demands and job outlook, using Labor Department and Census data. Mid-level software engineers make between $87,000 and $132,000 a year, putting them in the top 25% of the 200 professions studied by income. Software engineers beat out last year's number one job, actuary, which came in third, behind mathematician."
Job security (Score:4, Insightful)
Assuming you can actually find a Software Engineering job that will stay in the U.S., yeah, they're the "best."
I think that it's sad, really... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not really. Since it's self-reported, it's up to the person checking the box to bin themselves. What we learn here is that people who shy from calling themselves "software engineer", or are labelled "computer programmer" by their company's org chart, make less than people who report in as "software engineer".
Re:Before slashdotters post with opposition views (Score:3, Insightful)
If Wall Street proves anything, it's that competence and compensation are in no way related.
Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not really. Since it's self-reported, it's up to the person checking the box to bin themselves. What we learn here is that people who shy from calling themselves "software engineer", or are labelled "computer programmer" by their company's org chart, make less than people who report in as "software engineer".
Maybe it's because those who know the difference also know how to make themselves more valuable.
reporting income (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean "software engineer" in lieu of a CS degree. Most schools pay lip service to software engineering, from individual classes all the way to dedicated research programs (like CMU).
But software engineering is nothing more than applied CS. It exists to serve the needs of industry. The people promoting it as some sort of status symbol are delusional.
Re:Software engineer vs. computer programmer? (Score:4, Insightful)
So now you're going to conflate CMU with the diploma mills?
Re:Job security (Score:3, Insightful)