According to PrincetonReview.com web programmers make up to 80K a year while software engineers only make up to 55K a year. Not to mention they claim that web programmers who go freelance/start their own business make up to $250K a year.

Is any of this true? Or is it a bit overexaduation?

I always thought that a software engineer made around $125-150K a year after 10 years, while a web programmer only made at most $60K a year.

I all depends on where you live. If you live in Southern California, $200K/year is barly enough to live on. But if you live where I do in the middle of the nation you can live comfortably on 1/4th that.

It is probably easier to set up your own web dev company rather than a software company so that is probably why the average is up.

Well, ultimately all depends upon you, your knowledge, creativity,etc etc....

You could expect to be a well earning web developer if you just know what does this code means. Rather you need to know how to use that thing. Similarly with software too.

So if you are good enough you wil surely earn well.

Its all like studying, if you prepare well you will score.

it depends on:
1. your knowledge, will force
2. people who surround you
3. company where you work

By software programmers you mean programmers in which language ?

The demand for web "programming" has certainly risen. But... To me, web programming is nothing more than a client/server paradigm.

I started my current job 10 years ago. Before that I was working as a construction engineer. At the time, my local newspaper listed tons of "Computer" jobs which were right above the very short list of "Construction" jobs.

Anyway, I was hired into my current job as a programmer. The internet was really starting to catch on, but most of us, privately, did not have high-speed internet connections.

Most software I wrote in my first few years were client based software. Soon enough, we started to write web based intranet applications, which was only practical because we had a "high-speed" internal LAN/WAN infrastructure. (Still, privately, most of us were on slow modems.)

A few years later, with high-speed internet connection being more publicly available (in the US) I've seen increased demand for Internet applications, particularly e-commerce sites. And now, with high-speed internet being more available globally, this so-called "web programming" stuff has really taken off.

Strictly speaking, from a programming standpoint, the coding is mostly the same no matter if its web based or not -- the difference being only the libraries. So, to me, web programming is just a sub-set of software programming. However, if you are multi talented and know a little bit about graphics, GUI design, (x)html, CSS and all of the non-programming, but just as important, nuances of the web, then you've struck gold – or gold struck you! These are the ones who make $1,000,000,000/year... :cheesy: This is what puts you over the edge and beyond the "Regular-Joe/Jane" programmer.

One of the most difficult challenges I see today is the inability for programmers to communicate with different non-programmer team members. There is way too much technical/jargon terminology. It's pratically impossible to teach everyone the innards of programming lingo, but it's not too difficult to teach a programmer standard communication (I hope:rolleyes: ). As a programmer, if you can't learn to communicate with your fellow team members, then you're going to be stuck in a basement and left alone to do nothing but pound out code -- this is what happens to assembly programmers. :eek:

So don't miss out folks. If you're a good programmer, then the hard part is done. Now all you have to do is learn a little bit about, hmmmm, Sales, Marketing, Accounting, Legal and throw in a little bit of Tax and you are set, baby! (Just kidding)

But in all seriousness, in many places, especially large corporations, these departments I just mentioned are content owners on the corporate Intranet site. Therefore, these are the very probable candidnates for funding your next awesome "WEB" program.

Oh, by the way, and don't forget to learn SQL.

It is all relative to what one does exactly and where you live. 55k per year for a programmer? That sounds low. Where I live (NYC area) programmers usually start for around that. Yet again, it depends on experience, type of degree, etc.

My first, entry-level programming job out of school I accepted an extremely low, hourly wage (I will not state how much :o) with zero benefits to program ; that was OK though, I was more interested in the experience which, in the long run, would be priceless and lead to better jobs and more cash flow\benefits in the end. I was getting paid to program-- how could I complain about the money?

I can believe that web programmers are making more than ever considering the rate of growth of e-commerce. And they should make more. Web programmers are still programmers. Languages are languages and applications are applications.

Regards,
Matty

That salary is way too low for software engineers.

well, compared to what people make in Europe it's way too high.
And we make a lot more than people in say Kazakhstan.