Wow I can't believe the low pay some people have reported here. I think that should be the next code project question. How much money do you make. Salary depends on your talent/exprience and a little politics. You didn't mention how much you make so it's hard to guess if you deserve more. And from my experience 51k median is right on the spot. I knew someone that got 55k right out of college with no experience. That being said the market has been shot to hell because everyone in their mother thinks they can develop software so the market has been diluted. Just last year I pulled in a little over 6 figures as a Principal Arch. Now this is not straight development though it involed customer relations, leading other engineers, and designing a system others would build. It all depends on how much money you can make for your employer. If all you are doing is fixing bugs and doing some coding don't expect much as the company probably deems you as a commodity. You need to be able to improve process, speak to customers and make them feel good, fix architecthure problems, or even better architect a better solution from the beginning. Here's some tips that can really help you excel. 1) Design by committee is a great way to make enemies and waste time. Make sure to avoid Design By Committees. This one is in the Anti-Pattern's book that should be sitting on your shelf. :) 2) Always have test code for the code you write 3) Always source control what you do 4) Document code based on what it does and why. Don't repeat int x = 1; // Sets x to 1. Rather say we need this value to accomplish XYZ. 5) Never ask for a raise unless you already have another job lined up. Managers normally feel it's a threat and they are too arogent and stubbern to be threatened by a developer even if that developer brings a lot to the company. 6) Write white papers/design documents describing what you designed and built. This makes managers and the like go estatic. They love a paper trail. It also helps you flush out your designs and makes them easier to be accepted by management. 7) Be careful to make sure you are recognized as the person that comes up with an idea but don't be obvious. Email is a good way to prove you designed something. If someone claims they came up with something make sure you already emailed your design document to the team so they know who to ask questions to (you being this case) 8) When talking to management always include your co-workers when talking about what you did. Things like 'We did this', '
