David -- My concern here isn't chiefly about the rate/salary levels in the profession but moreso about the general public's perception of the complexity of the knowledge base and effort required to be successful as a halfway decent programmer.
It's true that I do certainly have my opinions about rates, and think that the above issue is probably a prime factor in pricing. Sorry for any confusion. --Kristina > Kristina Anderson wrote: > > This goes back to my point about the status of the profession -- if > > we're being compared to cooks and service technicians, you know times > > are going to be rough for us. I'd rather be compared to a lawyer...and > > make closer to what they make...what we do is no less complex. > > Then you do not know what personal chefs make. Most of them have salaries that > rival that of senior developers, if not top them. There are also various kinds > of personal chefs. Some have one customer and are available 24x7, others have > multiple customers and do the food shopping for them as well as prepare meals > that can be reheated easily or it just happens that they manage to dish dinner > at one place and then handily make it to the next one in time. > Besides that, I know a few lawyers that make less than I do for twice the > amount of work. In regards to service technicians or supporters in general, > they are absolutely undervalued. Developers make software so that QA can test > it, sales can sell it, and support can support it. the group that spends the > most time with customers is support. Why would you want the least paid > employees be the face of your company? And the developer is dead in the water > without the service tech, but not the other way around. From that perspective > developers should get paid low wages and get the dirty parking spots in the > back of the lot. But I guess that adds to your point that being a lawyer is > preferred, especially since in a judicial system like the american one you > have job security like nothing else. > > David > _______________________________________________ > New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List > http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk > > NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online > http://www.nyphpcon.com > > Show Your Participation in New York PHP > http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php > _______________________________________________ New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online http://www.nyphpcon.com Show Your Participation in New York PHP http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
