Software Engineer
Designs and maintains systems that run without you present. Output scales with no marginal cost, which is the whole leverage argument.
- Pay band (est.)
- $133k–$211k
- Time to competence
- 4 years
- Licence
- None
- Setting
- desk
- Leverage
- high
- Place constraint
- low
- Physical demand
- 8/100
- Hours burden
- 55/100
Factor percentiles
Percentile against the whole curated set. Higher is better on that factor only.
- Play68th
Absorbing rather than merely paid.
- Specific knowledge56th
A combination of skills that is hard to copy.
- Leverage86th
Output that scales through code, media, capital or crew.
- Demand80th
Durability and shortage, scored conservatively.
- Pay91th
Mid-career floor and the range above it.
- Body92th
Inverse of physical demand and hours.
- Autonomy93th
Control of methods and time.
- People fit89th
Distance from your preferred people level.
- Place flexibility96th
Remote fit and freedom from specific metros.
- Time to skill79th
Inverse of years to competence.
- Meaning load50th
Closeness to the families you marked as meaningful. Your mapping, not ours.
- Downside tolerance42th
Inverse of named risk to body, market or platform.
Downside
Tooling churn; hiring is cyclical and increasingly automated.
Examine this against your weights
The percentiles above use the default weights. Set your own on the ranking and this vocation moves with them.
- Place constraint is low. Where you live is analysed at locationistics.com.
- Hours burden is 55/100 and people intensity 50/100. Who you are with is analysed at relationistics.com.
Source note: BLS OEWS May 2024, Software Developers (15-1252): median $133,080, 90th percentile $211,450. Outlook from BLS 2025-35 projections, +10.2%. Other scores editorial. All figures are estimates for comparison.