Becoming Programmer: The Miraculous Way To Skyrocket Your Career (Part 1)
Tags: beginners, career, programming
Published: 2022-02-03 20:08:26

---
title: Becoming Programmer: The Miraculous Way To Skyrocket Your Career (Part 1)
published: true
date: 2022-01-24 19:58:12 UTC
tags: beginners, career, programming
canonical_url: https://bravenew.dev/why-is-it-worth-to-become-programmer-part-1/
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 ![Becoming Programmer: The Miraculous Way To Skyrocket Your Career (Part 1)](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1444703686981-a3abbc4d4fe3?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=MnwxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDd8fG1hZ2ljfGVufDB8fHx8MTY0MjU4MDcyNA&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&q=80&w=2000)

Have you ever wondered if would it be worth it to become a programmer?

I know that I once did. And back then, with not so many friends in IT, I could have really used some guidance.

Unfortunately, the available content on the "worthiness" of programming feels to me shallow, generic, with the same bland arguments copied over and over again. I, on the other hand, believe that people crave honest opinions coming from coding veterans. Especially that many readers consider throwing themselves into the flames of learning to code. And what they really want to know, is if this whole programming hell-ride has the potential to eventually pay off.

Fortunate enough, I've been programming for a living for quite some time. Then, I guess you could say that I've walked through the fire and survived. Was it worth the effort? Well, that's what I want this article to be about. Specifically, I want to share with you **an insider's point of view 😎 on the pros of joining the dev game**.

Over the years, I've collected quite a wealth of internal knowledge and lots of industrial experience, which is now mature enough to share. Then this text will be a melange of my personal notes & anecdotes, feelings & thoughts, occasionally mixed with some data. Also, to add a little spice to the sauce, my opinions tend to be perceived as honest and largely unorthodox, Which should make things even more interesting 😃

Still, before we begin, let's make things nice and organized.

First, I want to clearly state the central question of this article. Which is:

> As an experienced developer, why would I say that programming is a great career path?

Second, to make it reader-friendly, I divided my answer into two separate parts, with four sections each. Specifically:

### Part 1

- Employee's Market 💪
- Compensation & Benefits 💰
- Spectacular Progression 🚀
- Outstanding Flexibility 🐙

### Part 2

- Safe & Future-Proof Career 🛡️
- Fascinating Profession for Life 🌟
- Side Effect: Being Business-Ready 🤓
- Merit-Based Environment 🤝

Now let's buckle up and dive into Part 1.

## Employee's Market (AKA LinkedIn Paradise)

I can't possibly know how the job market's been treating you over the last couple of years. Yet I'm pretty sure that not as good as the guys in IT. Just see how it's been pictured in a brilliant TV show, "Silicon Valley":

{% youtube vVlEVRKv4is %}

Obviously, in reality it's not **THAT** crazy (at least in Europe 🥲). But I can assure you that the mad spirit of the LinkedIn IT jobs market has been caught relatively well.

As for my personal experience, I couldn't describe it better than with a powerful fact from my life:

> Ever since achieving a one-year milestone in IT, I have been receiving more offers in a week than at the top of my previous career I've had in a year.

And yes, this holds even stronger when I compare matching positions, i.e., junior-to-junior, mid-to-mid, and senior-to-senior. And no, my first career was certainly not in a niche market. As a matter of fact, the substantial size of the job market was one of my top motivations for becoming a sales analyst in the first place 😅

So what could be the reason for such a monstrous difference in the number of offers? Well, first off, corporate analysts of any kind were never in insanely hot demand. But this discrepancy holds for a much larger scale. **There's just no industry comparable in total hotness to IT.**

Mind that we speak here of competitive advantage on both country markets and the global one. Meaning, regardless of whether you look for a remote position in an international company or locally in Finland, Poland, or the UK, the number of available coding jobs will be similarly insane. What's crucial, this abundance is structural, consistently observed for years, and everything indicates that it will hold for the future to come.

Now you might wonder if perhaps there are some specific traits or personal qualities you MUST exercise to be perceived as THAT HOT. You know, maybe I have just conveniently walked over them to _sow false hope (and reap fresh clicks for this article_ 😈_)._

But it's none of that. The biblical flood of job offers happens to every programmer I know or have heard of. Sadly, this includes the terrible ones, too! 🙊

The key takeaway is that the demand for coders soars. Combine it with limited supply, and you have a situation where it's getting harder and harder to find even a half-decent software developer. Should you _be_ one, that's just wonderful. Should you _strive_ to be one, that's equally great. Hunger for IT talent seems impossible to satisfy, so the work you're after should be just waiting for you out there.

💡

There is a bit of a caveat here. Being massively desired requires being experienced or, at the minimum, proficient with **popular programming skills and technologies**.  
  
What of niche players, then? (i.e., devs specializing in exotic programming languages, ancient technologies, legacy systems, etc.) Well, due to the uniqueness of their skills, they are paid rather handsomely! But the job market for them is just much, much smaller. Which makes many benefits of being a programmer non-applicable.

## Compensation & Benefits Make a Jolly Man

I will not try to convince you that maximizing material wealth should be the core ambition in your life. Or that it isn't of much importance. Or that the truth lies somewhere in between. It is one of those fundamental life's questions that each of us must answer on our own.

Instead, I want you to simply recognize that an average total package in IT is really, really good. This includes:

<!--kg-card-begin: markdown-->

* **Top of the market salary**

  * More in an upcoming sub-section.

* **Lower than average tax burden**

  * More in an upcoming sub-section.

* **Shares and options for shares**

* **Paid days off**

  * Yes, even when you're self-employed.

  * Usually between 10 to 30 days.

  * Some contracts include an unlimited number of paid days off 🔥 Just remember that it doesn't mean that you no longer have to go to work 😉

* **Sick days**

  * Yes, even when you're self-employed.

* **Top-tier equipment**
  
  * Think laptops, monitors, headphones.

  * Often, you can choose from many available options, including laptop OS (Linux/macOS/Windows), number and sizes of monitors, etc.

* **Educational budget**
  
  * Think books, courses, conferences.

  * Usually, reimbursed expenses must be directly related to your current or future responsibilities at work.

* **Free lunches**

  *  Should you be working from an office.

* **Private medical care, life insurance, etc.**

* **Gym cards & fitness expenses reimbursements**

<!--kg-card-end: markdown-->

This list is not exhaustive and is primarily based on the offers I've received or seen. But to the best of my knowledge, the points above can be perceived as reasonably universal.

### Route To Prosperity Can Be Safer Than You Think

Being a software developer can offer a surprisingly high salary. Of course, it's not going to be exactly top 0.1%. Yet the sheer values will blow most people away.

[Just see for yourself the highest-paid jobs in IT.](https://www.levels.fyi/2021#top-pay-by-level)

Keep in mind that we're really talking about a fairly "normal job", with a proper work-life balance, not risking your own capital, etc.

After reviewing the data, you may wonder how California and New York jobs might apply to you? After all, this is the Olympus and the Holy Grail of IT! Fortunately, they absolutely do.

First, now you're aware that such godly salaries are possible. Second, you can always move out to the States. Third, you can simply work _there_ remotely.

To expand on the latter, I, for instance, have been coding for companies from both California and London. And it turned out for me rather great.

Pay attention that remote workers' pay is not substantially lower. I'd even dare to say that the effective purchasing power is considerably better given how costs in top places (Silicon Valley, London, New York, etc.) are ludicrously high.

Now to dream a little, think what a life it would be to earn a London salary while living in exotics 🌴

💡

You can thank COVID for acting as a top-salary enabler. The "globalness" of the pandemic literally forced the world to work from home. As a result, during the last two years, even the most office-oriented IT companies changed their minds to fully embrace remote workers.   
  
Now the gates have been breached. And it's going to be really tough to close them down again.

### A Slice of Tax Haven, Please

People tend to compare gross salaries. Jobs, however, differ equally much in gross as well as net income, which refers particularly strongly to IT. Personally, it can sometimes feel like a mini tax haven that's been hiding from in plain sight. But to the point!

The main tax blessing of working in software development is that, more often than not, you're able to render services as a sole trader. Should this happen, it usually means a relatively low tax rate. Additionally, you are granted the superpower to incur business expenses. This translates the ability to decrease taxed income and the possibility to deduct VAT. As an example of what this effectively means, you could purchase a new laptop or monitor for 20-50 % less vs. an average person. Pretty neat, I'd say!

Another thing is that lots of programmers directly create "Intellectual Property". In some lucky configurations, this could result in an even lower tax burden. Why? It quite often turns out that earnings related to intangible creations of the human intellect happen to be subsidized or taxed at an unbelievably low rate.

In the end, there might be many more tax optimizations that are applicable, though they very much depend on your tax residence. I encourage you to analyze your case thoroughly, preferably with the help of a professional advisor.

## Spectacular Progression (For Those Who Want It)

Each growth has its limit. Which, sadly, also applies to IT 😢 The good side is that in the programming world growth constraints are more often within you than in the work environment.

To prove that a bit, let's ponder on a couple of facts from my programmer's life:

- I was promoted to a junior position only after a few months of being an intern.
- I got a job as a mid developer when I still had less than a year of experience.
- After the first year in IT, it never took me more than four weeks to find a better job (better = higher salary + more prospective responsibilities).
- After two years of coding, I earned more than I optimistically assumed would make in four.
- After four years of coding, I earned more than I would make as a manager or director in my previous career.

I could go on, but my goal here is not to make you think that I'm some kind of a wunderkind. Instead, I want you to reckon that similarly fast career progressions are possible, and they are as easily observed for many other developers. And this, frankly speaking, is just stunning.

What's interesting, out of a habit, I regularly screen available job offers, and the golden opportunity to go even further constantly seems within reach of a hand. Meaning, even after years in IT, you can still circle with a red marker a new dream position, jot down what competencies you're missing, learn them pretty well, and in a couple of months (or years!), you should be right there 👏

Combining employee's market and merit-based work environment truly works wonders for the ambitious and brave.

### But You Gotta Pay With Blood

Regardless of the bright side, it's better to fully comprehend a critical aspect of those success stories. **Spectacular promotions do not come for free. They are only possible if you literally** _ **over-deliver** _ **.** Which, usually, is easier said than done! Particularly if you consider keeping your very best for months or even years to come. It's just extremely tiring 😩

Still, there's no better industry than IT that will consistently reward you for doing the extra push. So, if you're ready to do so, prepare to ride it to the Moon 🚀. Though if you're not...

### Progression Is Not Mandatory

In software development promotions are really "For Those Who Want It".  And truth be told, most of the programmers I know are simply happy with what they already have - both compensation and job responsibility-wise. Self-complacency is not something unusual even in IT, you see. In consequence, you're not going to find insane career progressions sprouting everywhere you look.

But the silver lining is that you don't have to push as hard you can all of the time. Once you settle in the industry, you could slow down, and nobody should have a problem with that. Just don't forget to keep your marketable skills up to date 😜

## Flexibility That Will Make You Awe

What happens when you combine employee's market, remote work, and merit-based environment? A totally awesome flexibility mix! Thus, as a programmer:

- You can work remotely, in a hybrid model, or entirely from an office (to play ping-pong all day long 😂).
- You can work mornings, nights, in four two-hour blocks, or straight from nine to five. It's often up to you, as programming jobs are mostly results-oriented.
- You can easily change the city or country you work in, as programming jobs are hot all around the globe.
- You can easily change the industry, e.g., from digital marketing to robotics.
- You can easily change the size of a company, e.g., from a large corporation to a freshly founded start-up.
- You can easily change the corporate culture, e.g., from hipster lumberjacks to suits and ties.
- You can easily change your area of expertise, e.g., from web development to data science, or from network engineering to crunching big data.
- You can easily change the intensity of your work, e.g., from having a job where you dick around with two hours of effective work to a consultant position that will squeeze you like a lemon.
- You can easily change frameworks, libraries, and other elements of your programming stack, e.g., from Django to FastAPI, or from React to Svelte.
- With some extra effort, you can change your programming language, e.g., from Python to Kotlin.

Mind that all of the above is what readily comes to my mind. So an ultimate list should be even bigger 🤯

Anyway, I just want you to notice that IT is probably the most flexible industry in the wild. And given that we live such different lives, it deserves some awe how a programming job can perfectly fit so many scenarios.

## Woah, We're Halfway There

This is the end of Part 1. I hope you learned something new. Or, at the very least, that I helped you to look at programming career from a different angle.

In Part 2 we'll cover:

- Why is programing a safe and future-proof career?
- Why is programming a fascinating profession for life?
- Why are programmers "Accidentally Business-Ready"?
- Why is IT probably the most inclusive industry in the world?

Thanks for reading 👌

And stay brilliant,

✨M.✨

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