How much can I get paid after I finish college for programming?

I would suggest (when the time is right) exploring schools that offer co-op programs. They can help pay for college and give you valuable experience that will come in handy once you graduate. I went to school at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and like many schools, they offer a co-op program. This enables you to alternate between class work and real industry work. The nice thing about this is that it allows you to apply what you learned while making money for school or other activities. The other nice thing about it is that once you've completed your degree you already have a about a year and a half of real world job experience. That can give you the edge over others coming out a school when looking for a job. Many times the companies you worked for during your co-op will make you an offer right of of school. Lastly, the schools generally prepare you for the interview process and help you find jobs appropriate to your skill set and major.

The pay depends on the company that you end up working for, their location, and the position that you get. Most programming-based degrees in college lead to a computer engineering or software engineering positions. Salaries range from the 60k range to the 100k range on average according to glassdoor.com which is pretty accurate most of the time.

Some more stats from glassdoor:
The national median salary for software engineer positions is $73,100
The national median salary for computer engineer positions is $64,459

You can also look up specific companies/cities/positions through glassdoor to get a more specific answer.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of companies in the software industry (and other industries as well) include bonuses and stock equity as part of how they compensate their employees. In addition to your annual base salary, you may also be eligible for stock options or grants, as well as cash bonuses based on performance.

You don't want to do a job just for the money. You want to do it because you love to do it. Find something that you love to do, and do it.

I would recommend getting a computer science degree at a state school while working. You can absolutely devastate your life with student loans if you aren't careful. www.personalfinance.reddit.com is a great place to learn about things like that and get financial advice. Don't underestimate how important it is to be extremely thoughtful about student loans. I went through the miliraty so I don't have this problem, but many friends of mine do.

As far as how much you can make, it depends on experience and your specific flavor of programming. Ruby/Rails is a great choice, as is some of the newer Javascript frameworks like Node.js - Attend software development meetups from mettup.com and find a mentor that can help you decide.

Start now at places like CodeAcademy.com and see what you think about programming - Good luck!

Hi Indra!

I would have to agree with the previous answers. Without sounding redundant, if your passion lies with programming, I would say go for it. Money isn't usually a problem for programmers, unless they decide to go for the early stage startup route and get paid in equity. Even then, they'll usually still get monetary compensation that is enough to live off.

As for college, I actually got through college with only paying a few thousand dollars, and taking a few thousand dollars in subsidized loans (loans that don't have interest until a certain period after you graduate). I got most of my tuition paid for through financial aid through the state and through the school. I would highly recommend looking into financial aid through government programs and through the school when you are applying to school whether or not you decide to become a programmer.

I completely agree with Nicolas, you don't want to work in a job just for the money and not like what you do at work. Having said that, your salary will somewhat depend on how well you did in the interviews. Having good work experience during school/ college will help get interviews and help somewhat with compensation.

As Dave said, try and get work experience while studying. I firmly believe that there are things that you will learn in a job that you can never learn in college and from my experience, the people with more hands-on experience will be better engineers which is what companies are looking for.

I wouldn't choose a profession based on how many jobs there are and how much money you can make. I would rather make sure that you have the passion to do that kind of job for (probably) the rest of your life. Since if you are passionate about what your doing and wake up in the morning thinking "Finally awake again, I cannot wait to get back to work!", you I guarantee you that you are going to do a kick ass job and get paid lots of money.

If you do decide to go for a software career, it also very much depends on where you work. Certain areas (i.e. San Francisco/Silicon Valley) have a very high cost of living, so that even a $120k job might end up being 'worth less' that a $80k job in another city.

Also, no matter what you end up studying or not studying, basic programming skills will be extremely beneficial in any(!) career. You have to check out: http://code.org/ !

We need to focus on the skill and career in the initial days, then eventually you would get more opportunities with great offers so you can earn more.

If you are afraid of the high cost of student loans, I feel like programming will more than pay for itself within the first few years. As long as you are passionate about programming, I don't think you'll have to worry about finding a job since there are lots of job opportunities. Programming for money is a tough road since people always say money isn't a good motivator. Programming also opens up a lot of opportunities in other fields, so that's something else to keep in mind.