Post Pandemic Pay Cuts For Software Engineers

Summary

Software engineers face post-pandemic pay stagnation, leading to a trend of job-hopping to secure market-rate salaries, despite employer attempts to retain staff with non-monetary benefits.

Abstract

The article "Post-Pandemic Pay Problems For Software Engineers" highlights a significant issue in the tech industry: loyal software engineers are finding themselves at a financial disadvantage. The traditional narrative of job-hopping to secure better pay is exacerbated in the post-pandemic era, as prolonged pay freezes, inflation, and improved company profits starkly contrast with the modest annual salary increases offered to long-term employees. The article suggests that despite expressions of gratitude and attempts to boost morale through wellness initiatives and office returns, software engineers are increasingly seeking new opportunities that offer both remote work flexibility and fair compensation, reflecting their true market value.

Opinions

Employers do not adequately adjust salaries for inflation, leading to a real-terms pay cut for loyal employees.
The software engineering industry norm is that changing jobs is necessary to achieve market-rate pay.
Post-pandemic, the disparity between company profits and employee pay increases has become more pronounced.
Non-monetary benefits like 'wellness' days are seen as insufficient compensation for the lack of salary growth.
The push for returning to the office is at odds with the desire for remote work flexibility, contributing to the exodus of talent.
There is a growing demand among software engineers for employers who recognize their worth with both competitive salaries and the option to work remotely.

Post-Pandemic Pay Problems For Software Engineers

If you’re a ‘loyal employee’, expect to be worse off.

It’s already widely known that the only way to get paid market rates for your skills as a permanent employee in the software engineering industry is to change jobs regularly.

Staying with an employer, no matter how much they thank you for your hard work and loyalty, will always erode your pay with respect to everyone else as they simply don’t increase your pay enough every year.

It’s even worse now.

As we emerge from the pandemic, pay likely frozen for years, inflation creeping higher, company profits have improved, but all we get are mandated company ‘wellness’ days and ‘back to the office’ emails.

Is it any wonder we’re leaving in droves to find employers who respect us enough not only to work remotely but also to pay us our proper worth?