Who's gonna make more moeny, Programmers or Networkers?

ThePrimetimer

Hey Guys,
Just got a quick question. I just got done reading a post that said that a programmer turned down a 90K a year job and was just wondering if a networker can make that much money? I know the CCIE can, but that's a lot of time to get there. Would love to hear your responses. Thanks

royal

Definitely can if you are good at what you do. Can still even make in the six figures. The most important thing I can recommend is to do what you like, be good at it, and the money will come and you will be happy doing what you enjoy doing.

msteinhilber

ThePrimetimer wrote:

Hey Guys,
Just got a quick question. I just got done reading a post that said that a programmer turned down a 90K a year job and was just wondering if a networker can make that much money? I know the CCIE can, but that's a lot of time to get there. Would love to hear your responses. Thanks

I'm not a programmer, but I would suspect a programmer earning 90k a year would have taken a lot of work to get there too.

You work hard at mastering your trade and you will be rewarded.

empc4000xl

if you like the job and become the best at the field that will determine your earnign potential. Also how much yo are willing to give to the job. Its not just about the job title. I know electricians who make near 100K but they are willing to take the hard jobs, the travel, and all the other hardships to make the money.

JDMurray

Also consider that jobs pay what they do because of where they are located. For example, a programming job in Silicon Valley or Southern Cali will pay more than the same job in a place that's much cheaper to live.

EricO

empc4000xl wrote:

Also how much yo are willing to give to the job. Its not just about the job title. I know electricians who make near 100K but they are willing to take the hard jobs, the travel, and all the other hardships to make the money.

Exactly. It's what you put into it, and if there are oppurtunities available.

GT-Rob

I would say that from where I am from, I see more job postings for programmers, but the ACTUAL pure networking jobs (not server babysitters) pay more on average.

But they are usually pretty close overall.

moss12

I believe programmers will earn more than network engineers personnel opinion

jryantech

Programmer demand is much higher then Networking...

You don't contract programmers

blargoe

jryantech wrote:

You don't contract programmers

You don't? I've known lots of contract programmers.

jbaello

All Programmers I know are contracts with the last 2 big companies I worked for, .Net and Java are indemand, but as soon the project is done and so your contract, programmers are easily outsourced it's very competitive those Indians programmers and IT are one of the best in the industry, our Architect who I really admire for his solid skills is an Indian, if you go programming be ready to stand out and prove you are skilled.

jryantech

I have to be so politically correct on here...

You don't contract programmers as much as you contract networkers.
You only contract programmers for projects (just like you contract a networker for a setup) but if you are a programming company you don't contract programmers.

Maybe I should say there are less contracted programmers than there are contracted networkers...

dynamik

jryantech wrote:

I have to be so politically correct on here...

By politically correct, do you mean factually accurate?

jryantech wrote:

You don't contract programmers as much as you contract networkers.
You only contract programmers for projects (just like you contract a networker for a setup) but if you are a programming company you don't contract programmers.

So, you're saying its like if you do networking work for a consulting company?

jryantech wrote:

Maybe I should say there are less contracted programmers than there are contracted networkers...

Do you have a source for this? What are you basing this statement off of? I'm genuinely curious; I haven't seen any data for something like this.

GT-Rob

Every company will do things differently as far as contractors, it depends on their needs. If they need just one short project done, they are probably going to go out side for it.

dtlokee

We have no full time programmers, all contractors.

We have mostly full time network engineers, a few contractors.


To the OP, you will get out whatever you put in to the career as was already stated. Programmers can make good money but not entry level, same as networking. I would say a programmer with 5+ years of experience has put in the same amount of work into learning their craft as I had perusing the CCIE. I think you'd be lucky to land a "Senior" (100k + salary) level position without 5+ years as a programmer, this would put you in the same arena as a CCIE if you work for it.

IMHO I find coding to be a lonely pursuit, I would avoid it if I can.

jryantech

Let me clarify more...

Programmers are contracted more then Networkers in some areas.
And Networkers are contracted more than Programmers in some areas.

Now if you have anything to nit pick from that statement I give up on humanity.

mikej412

jryantech wrote:

Programmers are contracted more then Networkers in some areas.
And Networkers are contracted more than Programmers in some areas.

Isn't it possible that in some areas Programmers and Networkers are contracted equally?

I broke 100K when I started contracting as a programmer over 10 years ago -- and my hours were cut back to a normal 40 hours a week.

Right now contracting to do networking is paying me more -- but the hours are longer and can be strange sometimes. And when I get my CCIE I refuse to take a pay cut.

dtlokee

mikej412 wrote:

jryantech wrote:

Programmers are contracted more then Networkers in some areas.
And Networkers are contracted more than Programmers in some areas.

Isn't it possible that in some areas Programmers and Networkers are contracted equally?

Or not at all?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands

mikej412

dtlokee wrote:

Or not at all?

I think that would just be a case under the "equally option"
0 = 0

dtlokee

mikej412 wrote:

dtlokee wrote:

Or not at all?

I think that would just be a case under the "equally option"
0 = 0

As usual you are correct.

savior faire

People in systems development are always more valuable to any company. You are more so if you have more of a business perspective than technical. YOu will be more visible to upper management.
I've been in systems development since the early 70s and this has not changed.

msteinhilber

savior faire wrote:

People in systems development are always more valuable to any company. You are more so if you have more of a business perspective than technical. YOu will be more visible to upper management.
I've been in systems development since the early 70s and this has not changed.

This is not the case if the company maintains a network but does not do any custom software development. In this case then the network team is more valuable.

In companies which have development as well as networking departments, they all rely on each other. How many developers could achieve success without the network availability?

This thread is a great idea, but so far it's completely filled with mostly biased opinions.

networker050184

Who makes more system admins or network admins

dynamik

networker050184 wrote:

Who makes more system admins or network admins

Who cares? Who gets more women?

Or is that another 0 = 0 scenario?

gojericho0

Either way...you will all be living...in a van...DOWN BY THE RIVER!

zen master

Depends on your location, and which company you're in. In my country, there's no software development industry, and pretty much all our software comes from foreign countries, so anyone who gets into programming will a) have a hard time finding a job, and b) be paid pretty poorly unless they find a job in a bank. Network Administrators and Database Administrators on the other hand to relatively well, and are in much greater demand.

ladiesman217

drakhan2002

ThePrimetimer wrote:

Hey Guys,
Just got a quick question. I just got done reading a post that said that a programmer turned down a 90K a year job and was just wondering if a networker can make that much money? I know the CCIE can, but that's a lot of time to get there. Would love to hear your responses. Thanks

Since I don't want all the QQers out there crying, I'll state that I work at large multi-national financial institution. An organization that has tens of thousands of employees in many countries. I am an Information Security guy and have been with this company for 7 years now. This is what I've see over that time.

In 2005 we started outsourcing our programming to India. We sent several teams of management and business analysts there to contract with a few of the larger firms there. After 2005, I started seeing the programmers simply "lose their jobs." Right or wrong, that's what has happened.

On the flip side, the people that were more senior level programmers were kept and some of them became project managers managing the projects of the offshored teams. Others became QA.

I've seen the exact opposite on the networking side of the house - in fact, I've seen an expansion in employees at all levels - from entry level to senior management. As we've pushed more and more into emerging technologies such as mobile and wireless, we have required skillsets we don't currently possess. So...we hire.

As far as cash. I can't say how much a programmer makes, but from what I've seen in large financial firm, we just outsource it. It is cheaper for us ultimately to have someone else make the software and for us to maintain it...and it takes far fewer hands to maintain it.

I know for a fact there is a guy who sits down the hall from me who is 35 years old. He doesn't have any certifications at all, but he's been doing networking for 15 years. He makes $110,000 per year. And...he makes it in the mid-west part of the US...which means if he was living on the coasts, it would be more like $150-$170K.

What I'm getting at is from what I've seen and I'm not stating this as the only OPINION, networking seems to be more stable and perhaps more lucrative than programming.

I don't know what the OPs level of skill is, but if you're just starting out, it doesn't matter which direction you go, because it is probably going to take you a good 10-15 years to make that kind of jack.

My 2 cents.