Did Software, not IT, and did honors level equivalent before getting a job.
Started at R32k CTC, and within a year went over R40k CTC monthly, about 50k CTC if bonus and time off included and averaged monthly for yearly. Tbh, after taxes, medical aid and retirement, this is not as much as you'd think (it's still a lot nicer than earning minimum wage/low salary, but don't expect that you can actually afford an expensive car instantly, etc.).
It's very much a case of knowing how to sell yourself, your skill, and the company being good (as in the company recognizes your work and has space to grow).
I know quite a few people that started at R16-20k and stayed there for around two years since they thought their companies would promote them, they never did and are now trying to catch up those wasted years.
The salary is important, but the work and company is as well, always ask your interviewer how long it took to get where they were, and if you click with the interviewer ask what you have to do to get to the same spot.
The reason I say the work is interesting is that it needs to be 1. interesting for you so you're motivated, and 2. something that allows you to grow so you have something to show at the next company.
If you don't get a dev at an interview stage, don't go to the company. A thing I like to do is that if you have a whiteboard question and you think of something more difficult or get stuck to throw a version back at the interviewer and then discuss that, this allows you take more control of the interview and shows that you're capable of reasoning/exploring paths as well if stuck. The reason for those interviews is to test the way you think, and showing independence/deduction is always good. Note this does not mean completely deviate from the question, more to show initiative.
I'd never want to get stuck being a unit tester/quality assurance person, I'd be bored out of my mind and the pay is less, but as others have said, the stress is a lot less, it's truly a 9-5 job, and there's generally a quite clear career progression path in terms of time. Going the software dev route, I don't really see that many "old" people, as in 55-65 bracket, as most usually burn out by then, and in the South African context, a lot of companies usually try and get rid of them as they cost more than e.g. 40-50 bracket that might have similar skill level, because dumb bean counters don't seem to understand that usually they come with a lot of business knowledge and tricks that avoid a lot of trouble down the line. So plan that you retire early 50s and spend accordingly. Software dev is quite a passion job, usually you can get the same/better pay going another route like accounting or engineering with a lot less stress and better hours (mostly, there are always exceptions), and people like cguy are an exception rather than a rule, but again, cguy seems to be very good at his job and he seems to enjoy what he does, I think he'd have been successful no matter what he picked.
If you can get a job as a junior/intermediate and most especially intern, always try and find a mentor to stick with, try and get him to point out flaws etc., don't take code reviews as an attack, take it as an opportunity to grow. If a company doesn't have code reviews or proper pull requests in place, leave, you won't grow there, and there's nothing worse than stagnation when you're starting your career.
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