Surprise finding about South African software developer salaries

I generally love self-taught developers.

But there's value in hons/masters etc. research skills where there tends to be better communication, understand more computer science-based issues usually, and they are able to research to a higher level.

Good self-taught developers will be excellent at learning new tech though.
 
The research revealed that self-taught developers earn roughly the same as those with bachelor’s degrees.
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The only thing the research reveals is that whoever did the analysis is clueless about statistics.

Firstly, I’m using degreed vs non-degreed. The notion that degreed developers are necessarily not self-taught is idiotic.

The set of non-degreed developers 20 years later will not have the same outcomes as the set of degreed developers 20 years later. Specifically, I would bet that a much larger portion of the degreed developers are promoted out of development and/or move overseas that the non-degreed developers. Since this study only samples developers, that (a) remained in SA and (b) have not moved on in their careers, the direct comparison of the groups is not valid, since the amount of (a) and (b) are likely very different between the two groups.

To put more concretely, myself and all my honours university colleagues from my year would likely skew things a lot (we almost all make $500k/y or more), but we’re excluded from the study because we’re almost all overseas. The handful that remained have started their own businesses and aren’t developers anymore (at least not “salaried” developers), so they also wouldn’t participate. I can’t say for sure that this generalizes to this extent at other universities, but I would bet the effect is still very substantial.

So, while this study does say “something” about a selectively subsetted group, the notion that it implies degrees are not worthwhile is entirely non sequitur.
 
MainMeat said:
There's definitely a place for both degree-holding and self-taught programmers in the tech industry, but the advantages of self-taught programmers are particularly noteworthy.

Self-taught programmers often excel in practical problem-solving, creativity, and adaptability. Their learning journey is driven by curiosity and a strong motivation to build and create, which translates into a can-do attitude and the ability to think outside the box. They are typically highly resourceful, learning through hands-on experience and real-world application. This direct immersion often makes them particularly adept at navigating and solving complex infrastructure issues and implementing ideas effectively in production systems.

While a university education provides a solid foundation in theoretical concepts and the underlying principles of computer science, it often lacks the practical, hands-on experience that is crucial for real-world problem-solving. Degree programs can sometimes be more focused on abstract concepts rather than the tangible skills needed for immediate application in the tech industry. Furthermore, self-taught programmers are continuously updating their skills to keep up with the fast-paced nature of technology, often outpacing the more static curriculum found in formal education.

Self-taught programmers are not only proficient in getting things done but also bring a fresh perspective and innovative solutions to the table. They have a knack for thinking outside traditional boundaries, which can lead to more efficient and creative solutions. Their can-do attitudes and practical know-how enable them to run circles around those who have followed a more conventional educational path.

While both self-taught programmers and degree holders have their place, the drive, ingenuity, and real-world expertise of self-taught individuals often give them a distinct edge in the dynamic field of technology.
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Almost everyone I know who started CS with me was self-taught. That’s why we chose CS. I had been writing code for 10 years before starting my degree.

Many of your points are conflating self-taught with real-world-experience. Within a few years people with degrees have both degrees and real world experience.

The purpose of a degree isn’t to be up to date with the “fast paced nature of technology”, but to teach the principles and fundamentals that hold true for decades, centuries or even eternity.

These fundamentals are prerequisite for certain types of work, which augments the type of real world experience one gets, which has a huge effect on career trajectory.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Anyone worth their salt is hardly underpaid. This article is mostly BS (as are most recruitment site articles). Any dev with 6-10 years working experience (graduate or not) who earns R50k should either admit that they're crap or start job hopping to get to where they should be...
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Hahahaha :laugh:, absolutely.. "it's time to hit the road honey!". Sadly, there are brilliant developers earning way less than they should because of "fear of change" or sitting too long at a company that isn't going to give two hoots about them anytime soon. At least some of the devs I know who are still at their first employer (4+ years) are earning substantially less than the market rate :(

I am in the 4 - 6 years bracket and make well-above the market average reported for that bracket. More money to save and invest each month, and liking my new employer :)
 
I learned to code as a kid at home a bit but mostly through side projects while at school and two July holidays at winter school when I was in primary school. The school syllabus was also useful. My engineering degree that focused on code, Elec eng (branch information eng) did not actually teach me hugely more about coding, but did expose me to far more languages. The software management subjects I did in my masters where however incredibly useful and taught me a lot about software lifecycles, and project management in the software world. Still, at least at WITS Engineering the software courses where very basic. To be any kind of decent developer you had to be self taught to a degree.

That being said my degree stretched me in other ways. I honestly feel the brain is more like a muscle than we realize. It grows through exercise and studying engineering fundamentally changed how the logic parts of my brain operate and my ability to understand and break down complex problems. The math alone stretched my abilities a lot even though I don't really use all that calculus at all. It is a difficult thing to quantify but I do feel my mental capacity and abilities where fundamentally improved by what I studied. Its not impossible to do that independently if you focus on self improvement as a developer and keep pushing yourself into growth space but it would be harder as university gives you structure and deadlines that kind of force that growth.

Also working in the SA finance sector as a developer I have on occasion worked with some self taught guys who climbed up but they where a lot less common than degreed people. The banks and big finances companies in my experience can be slightly snobbish and filter CV's to people with relevant degrees. You will see it in the job listings even. Rightly or wrongly that is how it works here despite it not been entirely fair.
 
I have never heard a degreed professional in their field, say that "a degree is not neessary".

I have never heard a non-degreed professional in their field, say "a degree is necessary".

There is a lot of logic missing from this article, it's simply baiting.
 
Cius said:
I honestly feel the brain is more like a muscle than we realize. It grows through exercise and studying engineering fundamentally changed how the logic parts of my brain operate and my ability to understand and break down complex problems. The math alone stretched my abilities a lot even though I don't really use all that calculus at all. It is a difficult thing to quantify but I do feel my mental capacity and abilities where fundamentally improved by what I studied.
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Not directly related to the thread topic... but yeah fully agree, especially the bold part.

When I was in Uni studying Engineering, I felt like my brain worked at a higher clockspeed.
 
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