How To, Web Development

How Much Does A Computer Coder Make? Programmers Salary

how much do coders make

Learn how much a computer coder makes an hour and programmer’s salary per month. If you are trying to make a change in your career and do something that will help you to earn more money, then coding is a good skill you need to have.

If you are a software engineer or web developer who has never made money before, then this guide is indeed right for you. I will show you how to make your first $999+ coding online from home without stepping an inch at the office.  

Computer programmers are peoples who write code to develop different kinds of software and web apps that make our lives easy. You have recently seen a new app in the market called “zoom app” and “TikTalk”. I’m sure you have been using it, these are all examples of coders’ work.

 They sit in front of the PC and write 1000+ lines of code each day to make’s our lives easy. Don’t you think these guys deserve a clap?

I personally call them PC and that’s because they can speak with the computer in a language that it understands. How wonderful is that?

It really amazing to be able to talk to computers in it native language. Computers do not understand English, they have their own language called “machine language” in a form of 0 and 1 (that’s, ON and OFF).

Every software engineer knows at least one programming language that he or she uses to develop desktop or mobile apps. They write their code in one particular programming language and then compiled it into a language that the computer will understand (machine language).

That’s all what these guys do, there is a lot into it though but let me show you how much do coders make?        

How much do computer coders make?

The average salary for a computer programmer or coder is $53,421 per year in 2021. But what you should know is that programming is of different categories and the pay in each category is different.

Sometimes you will hear them saying, being a full stack developer pays more than a front-end developer. And also how much coders make is based on their job location, specialized area, and years of experience.

With all these 1000+ lines of codes programmers write each day, that’s an overview of how they get paid. So the key here is that they don’t all earn the same money every year, it depends on the above-mentioned conditions.

Coders at Google will surely make more money than programmers working in an unpopular tech company. Also, U.S and Silicon Valley developers will surely make more money than Africa software engineers.

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And also based on years of experienced condition, a 10 years experienced programmer will sure earn much more than 2 years experienced developer. And the reason is that the longer you code, the more experience you will get which will increase your value.

This is the main reason why new developers with no job experience find it very difficult to get hired. All managers want a programmer who has some years of experience. And that’s where the headache is for “no years of experienced coders”.

For example, I personally struggled a lot during the first month after graduation. I sent out almost 15+ job applications to different companies but only 3 of them called me for an interview. I had no job experienced or a project that was hosted on a live server.

All my project was on gitHub, and tell me…

Which manager will waste his time and visit my GitHub repository, set up a local environment on his system, download and check some of my projects?

They don’t have that time, so if you are a programmer reading this is a lesson for you. Develop your own portfolio and host your project on a live server and include the links of some of your projects to your portfolio before applying for jobs.

I hope that answers the question – how much do coders make?

But coders aren’t paid per month only, they earn per hour too. Let me show you…

How much does coding pay an hour?

One thing I love about this career is that how much you can earn is countless. The reason is that it basically depends on every programmer and how much he or she wants to earn this day or week.  Because if you want to make more money this week, you can take 2 or more projects and finish it. And also if you are working for a company, you can still work on a side project to increase your earnings.

The national average money coders make an hour is $30 as of 2021. However, there are terms and conditions applied to the hourly rate. Where am working currently, 10% of my hourly rate is being used to provide coffee and lunch for me. So you can see, it depends on the terms of the company and its location.   

Coding is considered among the top careers that have a high hourly rate. But this might not be true in some areas where they don’t see the essence of technology. But the key hack is that programmers make a lot of money both yearly and monthly.

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They don’t all earn the same amount of money hourly, they do the same thing alright but their earnings mostly depend on the company their working for.

How much do coders make a month?

Coders make an average of $3,823 a month. That’s the national average salary, and that means a programmer working for a high-growth company will make more money than those who do not. Programmers have the potential to make more money and it all depends on the effort they put in every month.

That’s because most computer coders don’t depend only on a single source of income. Me for instance, I earn more by taking side projects as well as mentoring newbie developers. Other developers earn from their YouTube channel, software, blog, WordPress plugins, and themes.  

The truth is programmers have so many sources of income they can fall back on. That doesn’t make us billionaires my friend, you might think because we stare on the PC all day our bank account looks like phone numbers. No, we do go bloke sometimes but not always, note that. 

Top 5 Paying Cities for Coder Jobs

Below is the list of top 5 cities in the world that pay computer coders high salary:

CityAnnual SalaryMonthly payWeekly payHourly pay
Berkeley, CA$57,933$4,828$1,114$27.85
Daly City, CA$56,067$4,672$1,078$26.96
Richmond, CA$54,243$4,520$1,043$26.08
Brooklyn, NY$52,685$4,390$1,013$25.33
San Francisco, CA$51,956$4,330$999$24.98
Top 5 paying cities for coding jobs

You can see that the annual, monthly, weekly and hourly pay of coders in all above cities differs right? The reason behind it is that the demand for programmers in one city is much higher than the other which definitely increases the rate of developers in one location over the other.

But if you look at the hourly pay above, you can see that the figures are almost identical.

Below comes what I have been waiting to show you…

How to become a coder?

Has it been your dream to become a coder?

Do you want a career that will allow you to work anywhere in the world?

Do you want a career that will allow you to have a full control of your finance?

If all your answers to the above question is yes, then a free honey is about to drop into your mouth. Coding is a very good career, and if you are dedicated enough you can earn more money coding online daily.

It will also give you the opportunity to expand your network and get to know more experienced developers you can learn from. Having a career in technology is very rewarding because currently almost 50% all human activities involve the use of computers.  And guess what will happen in the next 50 years? It will be very hard for peoples without any technical skills to acquire a job.

So if you really want to become a coder and increase your value, below is a proven list of how you can become a computer programmer fast…

1. Study computer science in school to become a coder

If you have a dream of becoming a coder and you are getting ready for college, then you probably need to choose computer science as your program. This is the best way to learn how to code because you will have experienced instructors that will teach you the basics to an advance level.

And also you will have the opportunity to learn and share ideas with your mate. This will also make you a better developer because there will be competition between you and your mates. Forcing you to learn and score high marks during exams.

I do strongly recommend this approach if you are getting ready for college. One advantage of learning how to code in college is that you will get a clear path of how to become a web or mobile app developer. This is very challenging for those who learn how to code on their own, they sometimes confuse themselves of which language or framework to learn to become a desktop or web developer. 

A real world example is this…

Imagine two guys are traveling to the same city, one has a map but the other does not. What will happen?

Eventually the one without a map will struggle a lot, he may even get lost if he don’t ask anyone for help. What of the guy with the map? He will follow the direction on the map and get to the city without wasting anytime on the road. So tell me, is it not essential to learn how to code in school?  

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You will also be given a certificate after graduation which will beautify your resume to stand out from the rest. There’s a good advantage in learning how to code with this approach if only you have the money to pay for the tuition.  

How much do coders make after taking a course in computer science? I will show you but first…

2. Attend a coding Bootcamp

Am sure you really know of what coding bootcamps are? If you don’t know, let me brief you of what it is.

Think of coding bootcamps as online classes where others meet to learn. Mostly these are classes that are being organized by one or more instructors, it just like how students are being thought in college. But here, instead of class room, it being done online simple.

Remember there are offline coding bootcamp though which is being thought one on one in personal.

You can become a coder by attending any online bootcamps of your choice. Currently there are dozens of bootcamps specializing in every career from graphic designing to software engineering. You can attend any of it and gain all the necessary skills that will help you to create more advance projects.

It really the quickest way to become a coder than spending 4+ years in college. But the truth is you can’t master everything in just one day bootcamp, you may need to attend more to become a good developer.

But it mostly depends on your state of life, bootcamps are good for those who already knows the fundamentals of coding. But if you are lucky enough, you can get an instructor who can teach you everything from data structures and algorithm to OOP concept and many more. I found it to be very useful especially for self-learning developers.

3. Join an online coding community

There is a saying that says “you will be in 5 years what you are today except the books you read and the people you meet.” This wise saying applies in every field of life, your network and the books you read will have a great impact in your life as you apply the lessons in it.

There are so many online coding communities where you can join and learn from other developers for free. Associating yourself with these group of developers will help you to improve in coding much quicker than you will ever think.

For instance, I get the chance to work remotely with other developers all-around by participating in coding communities. This gives me the opportunity to learn how other developers organize their files and how they implement some coding patterns. It also helps me to request for answers and get immediate response when am facing errors I have no idea about.

That’s exactly how coding is, you will encounter a lot of bugs as you keep coding. You will sometimes need help from others before you can get your code compiled successfully.

So if you really want to become a software engineer or web developer, then join two or more online communities. Ask questions and help others too, by so doing you will be expanding your network and you will have the opportunity to work on project with others.

There are so many coding communities over the internet and am sure you already know of Stack overflow right? Well, you can search and join other Facebook and What’sapp coding groups too.

These kinds of online communities includes both newbie and top experienced programmers. So your goal is to be active and if someone post a project you have no idea how it was done, you can reach out to that person and learn from him or her.

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4. Hire a personal coding instructor

Who on earth doesn’t like having a personal mentor who has already achieved what you are aiming for? Having a personal coach is the best way to achieve great things in life because these guys have all the experience you need achieve your dreams.

Hire a personal coding instructor if you really want to become a highly paid software engineer. It the best way to learn how to code, you will be learning from someone who has been working in the coding niche for a long time.

You will also have the opportunity to learn technical tips that will help you to pass every technical interview. Because most of these instructors have been working as project managers and human resource managers, so they know almost 70% of all the requirement to consider an applicant the right person to be hired. So my friend, if you have the money and you want to invest in your career, then look for an experience developer who is working for a tech company and hire him as your

5. Network with other computer programmers

One advice that I keep giving to my YouTube subscriber who are in college is that “you network determines your net wealth.” So if you are reading this and you are already in college, build a network with your fellow mates. These are the only people who know that you are a developer, hence if any of them is overloaded and want a side partner, he or she may hand over some project to you.

Don’t get caught in this introverted life of seeing others as if they don’t matter in life. The people you surround yourself with play a very important role in your life. There are others who are like “I respect myself and I don’t want anyone close to me.” These kinds of people have already gotten what they want in life and they don’t need the support of others. Don’t copy them if you are just getting started on the road.

Surround yourself with people and let them recommend your good work to others who might need your service. The more you expand your network, the more projects you will get to work on. Programming is all about networking, sometimes you may encounter some bugs in your code and you may need help from others to get it fixed.

Your co-developers can also help you to acquire a coding job. The fact that I want you to know is that you can’t do it alone in programming. So if you are the type of person that doesn’t like learning from others but always depends on your own understanding, then coding is not for you. You better choose something different before you end up hurting yourself.

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Am saying this because I was very quiet in class and thought all the other students were fools. But I didn’t know I was rather the dumb guy playing smart. I couldn’t get close to any of my mates until the third year in college. I was depending on my own understanding and sometimes even end up challenging instructors badly in class. By so doing, I got an advice from our principal and that’s exactly what am telling you to expand your network to other developers.

How much do coders make exactly by networking with other programmers?

Don’t be a “Mr. know it all” or “madam know it all.” You may be fooling yourself blindly, so get close to others make friends. Just imagine how you will feel living in this world alone without any other creature, how will you feel?     

So start allowing other students and instructors into your circle whenever you attend seminars. Most of them are forever ready to give you whatever help you might need, is up to you to make allow them into your circle.

Computer Coders specializations

Coders are specialized in so many areas in the tech industry. All programmers do write code but they are not specialized in the same areas. These are some of the areas’ most programmers are into:

1. Web Designers

Programmers who are into this field are the ones responsible for designing the design of the website. These coders do not write any server side codes to perform any database operation. They use Scripting languages like JAVASCRIPT, HMTL, CSS and BOOSTRAP to design the Interface of the website.

Most of them are also responsible for creating user experience designs (UX DESIGN). Although this is an option because not all front designers possess this skill, UX design is another career on itself. And is mostly done by the graphic design team of every tech company.

Most web designers are experienced with UX/UI design as well.

2. Back End Developers

Back end software engineers are coders who are responsible for writing server side code to interact with databases. At this point I hope you have already seen the two different side of every application? There’s the front-end and the back-end.

These back-end coders are paid more than front-end developers. And the reason is that the server side of every application needs to be highly secured to prevent hackers from attacking the server.

This reason require developers of this filed to be well experienced, hackers are everywhere and if a company doesn’t secure it database or server, they will be hacked easily.

3. Full Stack Developers

These are the coding sharks, if you get two of them in your company, you will save a lot of money. Full stack developers are responsible for everything, just hand over your project idea to one of them and he or she will code it in a week for you.

They do all the coding jobs and they are well respected. But they are the ones who are killing the coding business. They are one reason why coding jobs are scarce to be found now a days.  Instead of a company to hire both front-end and back-end developers to work on it project, they will hire a full stack developer.

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And I hope you see the catch here? A single full stack developer is doing a work that needs to be done by two developers.

4. Software Architectures

These are the guys who are experienced in coding but they don’t code. Although they play a very important role in a development of an application but they guys don’t write much code as real coders.

They work closely with project managers and they are responsible for designing the architecture of every application.

5. App Developers

App developers are everywhere on all freelancing platforms.  These developers are special into development of desktop and mobile apps. Most of them are experienced in web development but they mainly focus on app development. They get paid to code online based on the growth of mobile apps, especially after the release of android operating system.  

How much do medical coders make?

Do you want to become a doctor or nurse in the future? Congratulations! We really respect all health care workers for placing their life at risk to save others. Do you know that there are some doctors and nurses who the sight of blood is too much for them?

These guys have considered a career as medical coders. They are part of all growing fields and they work remotely in a variety of healthcare centers flexibly or remotely.

So how much do coders make in medical firms?

Medical coders are well paid and it mostly depends on where they work. In 2020, the median salary for medical coders was between $35,520 and $43,470 a month.

Just look at the amount above, that’s how much they get paid every month not a year.

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Their salary looks very attractive but becoming a medical coder is not as easy as a front-end or back-end developer. It requires long years of studies and research.

Who is a medical coder and what do they do?

Medical coders are sometimes called file translators for short. Whenever a patient receives treatment from any healthcare center, the medical coders in that firm are the ones responsible for reviewing the patient file convert everything into a universal code required by insurance companies.

They make sure that insurance companies are billed correctly according to details in a patient file. The difference between a medical coder and a software engineer is that medical coders do not write code for computer programming.

6 top-paying computer coding jobs

So with all these above different list of areas where different coders are involved, what are some top paying fields?

Below represent the order of specialized fields that receives the highest earnings.

  1. Full-stack developers
  2. Back end developers
  3. Software architectures
  4. Medical coders
  5. App developers
  6. Front end developers

3 Ways to increase your salary as a Computer coder

Have you been coding for so many years with a stable paycheck? Are you interested in knowing various ways you can increase your earnings as a computer coder?

Below are three proven guides that will boost your earnings…

  • Ask your boss for more responsibilities – As soon as you realize that you need to do something to increase your earnings, go to your boss and tell him or her that you would like to have more responsibilities. This will prove to him that you have an interest in the growth of the company, and it also one thing that will make you different from all other employees.

Be the guy in the company that your boss will look upon whenever he or she thinks about the growth of the company.

  • Complete your assigned task – As soon as you have been given more responsibilities by your boss, make sure to complete that task and submit it at the expected time. The more you do this, the more task you will be assigned and the more money you will make. Your boss will see you to be the “go-to guy” from the other employees who show up late and leave 30 minutes early.  Do these above two things are you will be amazed at the reward, it will open a door for you to be promoted.
  • Take on a side project – this is one of the easiest ways all computer coders increase their earnings. While working 9-5 for a tech company, you can also take on side jobs and invest 2 to 3 hours of your time daily into it. There is so much to earn in this but make sure you don’t go against your boss’s rules. Don’t use his or her time to work on your personal side projects.

FAQ

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Conclusion: Computer Programmers Salary

You have seen the salary of computer programmer, web developer and how much experienced coders earn.

If you want to pursue a career in coding then it a good skill to have. You can learn to code yourself and become a professional computer programmer. You can also join various coding boot camps and have the opportunity to see other developer’s project source code.

Learning to code can be a little bit difficult if you have no fundamentals in computer science. I recommend you join this great coding channel that teaches the concept behind everything. Have a look at one of their videos below and see how they explain things easily.

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About Justice Ankomah

computer science certified technical instructor. Who is interested in sharing (Expert Advice Only)
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