Software engineering as a career option
Software engineering can be an attractive career:
- Salaries are high, with the median software developer making $93,350 per year and some making double that.
- In contrast with professions such as law and medicine, no graduate work is required. So one can enter into the workforce
Qualifications
The most common route to becoming a software engineer is to major in computer science as a college undergraduate. However, this is not strictly necessary. According to software engineer Alyssa Vance
"A college degree isn’t necessary, but it can be very useful, since a lot of larger companies will only hire people with degrees (especially if you lack previous experience). If you don’t have a degree, try applying to smaller companies and startups, which have more flexible hiring procedures. Majoring in computer science and having a high GPA may help, but it won’t get you a job by itself, and a lot of places don’t care much."
Earnings
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median software engineer made $93,350 in 2012. Stanford University reports that Stanford computer science majors make $93,850 starting salaries. According to Glassdoor, the average Facebook software engineer makes $165,795 per year (including bonuses) and the average Google software engineer is makes $145,093 per year (including bonuses). According to 80,000 Hours (based on a a closer look at the Glassdoor statistics as well as interviews), "An engineer at Google can expect to earn about $150-$200 p.a. after 3 years of experience.
Work-life balance
It's been reported that software engineers at Google work about 50 hours per week.