Compared to Other Skilled Work - Engineers are Dramatically Underpaid
software-engineeringcompensationfinancetech-industrytalent-retention
Abstraction: Tech generates far more revenue per employee than it pays to engineers
Key points:
- Average software engineer salary ~$114K; UBS investment banking analyst starts at $132K–$216K straight out of college
- Revenue per employee: Facebook ~$1.93M, Google ~$1.46M vs Bank of America ~$418K, JPMorgan ~$403K — yet tech pays similar or less
- Software engineering turnover rate is 57.3% vs finance's 18.6%; hiring a new developer costs $28K–$36K
- Root cause identified: tech managers attribute revenue to the software product, not the engineer; bank managers attribute deals to the person
- Finance spends a far higher fraction of revenue on employee compensation than tech, despite generating less per employee
- Author argues tech could reduce 57.3% turnover by paying more, given replacement costs, but chooses not to
Connections: Google · Meta · Tech Compensation · Software Engineering · Talent Retention
Source: https://innovationnation.blog/p/compared-to-other-skilled-work-engineers