Knowing the exact price of our work is a complex process that depends on many factors... or at least that is the general belief. Some people seem to have a special gift for calculating the value of their time and knowledge, but competition is increasing, and financial expectations tend to give way a bit. However, that does not stop us from determining what the average salary of a colleague in another country is, which brings us to the new Stack Overflow salary calculator.
How much is work worth? How much is 'your' work worth? We all want to earn more... and all employers want to pay less. The cost of living and consumer price indices vary greatly. The equivalent of a middle-class salary in one country can throw us into poverty in another, and obviously we cannot ignore the natural differences between professions. What brings us together here today is that group of developers, designers, data scientists, DevOps experts, game programmers, and frontend creators who pour their effort and sacrifice into a keyboard. If you feel identified, then you might want to know how much you should be earning...
... and that is the role of the new calculator just published by the people at Stack Overflow. Its data comes from the latest large survey conducted this year, in which more than 64,000 developers participated. Before performing the calculation, we must fill in five fields: job, location, education level, years of experience, and any additional specialization. For now, location is limited to five options (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Canada), but the plan for the future is to add new geographic statistics, since it's the most important factor.
In summary, a designer living in Germany with five years of experience earns between 33,000 and 47,000 euros, while in the United Kingdom they receive 43,000 to 62,000 pounds. That's what the calculator says... but the truth is it needs help. Anyone can participate in the calibration by sharing their salary, but first you'll need to create a Stack Overflow account.
