Which types of developer specializations pay the most? That’s a crucial question for anyone who writes code and wants to maximize their compensation.
According to Stack Overflow’s annual Developer Salary, which queried more than 65,000 software developers worldwide about everything from their education to their programming-tool preferences, developers in the United States who want to unlock the highest possible compensation should aim for management; if they want to continue focusing on technology instead of team dynamics and budgets, they should consider concentrating on mobile and backend development. Here’s the full breakdown:
(Side note: only 4,496 developers within the United States responded to this part of Stack Overflow’s survey, far fewer than the other sections.)
Also, pay attention to the compensation for developers involved in AI development (median salary: $160,000) and data science/machine learning (median salary: $159,000). Artificial intelligence and machine learning are enjoying an extraordinary amount of hype right now, but developer salaries for those specializations seem to trail others, including mobile and cloud. Whether that’s a quirk specific to this survey, or a sign that salaries aren’t quite living up to the AI buzz, is an open question.
Keep in mind that, according to the most recent Dice Tech Salary Report, the average technology salary stood at $111,193 in 2023, down slightly from $111,348 the year before. Dice’s report also pegged the average software developer salary at $123,067, with a year-over-year increase of 6.5 percent. It’s always critical to remember that your compensation can climb even higher depending on your location, experience, the size of the company you work for, and other factors; some employers offer benefits and perks such as stock options that can radically increase your annual bottom line.
Specializing in certain technologies can likewise boost your take-home pay, as Stack Overflow’s survey also demonstrated. If you know the programming languages and tools that allow you to build out and maintain complex tech stacks, you’ll likely open up opportunities for high-paying gigs.
