Many years ago, I thought that being a good technician would guarantee me a salary that could pay the bills. And it did, I can’t deny that: at my previous company, I had many opportunities to take part in very different projects. Over time, I gained not only technical experience but also experience working with end customers. I learned that team dynamics, the work environment, poor time management, and so on could sometimes have a dramatic impact on good software development. I also spent a great deal of time developing software—in other words, I gained a lot of varied experience, and I feel very fortunate.
The years went by… The work remained just as demanding, with very difficult and suffocating periods of stress. As time passed and my colleagues and I successfully delivered projects, I think I was held in good regard at the company. I was well thought of and, in some way, earned the trust of my colleagues and managers—at least most of them.
Before I knew it, I’d been labeled “the person who gets things done,” and I started running into barriers—not only to changing projects or departments, but also to getting promoted. Unfortunately, in my country’s prevailing corporate culture, promotion was the only way to reach the next salary level. Somehow, I’d been pigeonholed as indispensable in certain areas, and they didn’t want to move me. People didn’t want to take me out of my role because I was good enough at it, and, paradoxically, that kept me from developing my career further.
I’m not talking about gleaming Silicon Valley companies, backed by venture capital and spending freely, where a developer can supposedly earn a six-figure annual salary. I’m talking about the period before the 2008 crisis, when a university-educated computer engineer working in software development wasn’t paid an extraordinary salary either. You can make a living from it, of course, but it’s only natural to want to improve your financial situation over time, at least a little.
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: it’s hard to achieve substantial financial growth by working exclusively in software development, and even harder within a company. No matter how good you are, you’ll struggle if your goal is to earn significantly more money, I’m afraid. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I am saying it’s unlikely.
Paradoxically, the digital economy guarantees us work, but not necessarily a great salary. At least in my country, and despite the crisis, it’s relatively easy to make a living as a developer, IT technician, analyst, and so on. But as you get older, the career ladder and salary scale begin to diverge; each passing year can make you feel increasingly stuck, if not completely blocked, financially. That’s just how it is. I only have to look at people I know who are over forty, still doing mostly development work just as they did ten years ago, and are practically in the same place. Excellent technicians, but with stagnant bank accounts. Depending on what matters to you, you may not even think about it, but I know everyone would like to earn more.
And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing—not at all. But if your goal is to make significant financial progress, being a very, very good professional doesn’t guarantee anything, with all the exceptions there may be.
And yet, it’s never been easier to have more than one source of income, sell your own products globally, and develop an idea on a very small budget, as described in this popular book: The $100 Startup.
It’s never been easier to earn money in the digital economy, and those of us whose profession brings us closer to it have a much lower and more accessible barrier to entry.
What are the alternatives?
Here are some ideas if you want to explore interesting paths:
- Start your own microbusinesses, more or less related to the activities you know well and enjoy.
- Consider working for commission or results instead of by the hour. Is it better to earn an extra €100 a month, or to own 20% of something that can be sold thousands of times?
- Develop your own business idea and find the right environment to make it happen.
- Write books and earn royalties on technical topics you know well.
- Create video courses and offer them on platforms such as Teachable.
- Offer services through platforms such as Fiverr to attract a steady stream of work.
- Publish a good project on GitHub and charge for a commercial license or support hours, as with OrmLite or Picly.io.
- Follow the advice in books such as Start Small, Stay Small.
Like it or not, every activity above involves spending some of your time on tasks that aren’t exclusively technical. You’ll need to work directly with clients and improve your communication. You’ll learn that marketing and promotion are essential. Likewise, building a business, even a small one, will also teach you to manage teams and develop some financial, employment, and accounting literacy.