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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   12526 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026

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In the 90s software dev was probably a more rarefied and in-demand skillset than in 2026 where we pump out over 100,000 CS degrees a year.

Early '90s, no. Software was just an ordinary white-collar profession; you could do well but not like today. When the dot-com boom hit in the mid-90s, that's when salaries started exploding, so a developer catching the early edge of that could do very well indeed.

Dot com millionaires were not a thing in the early 90s, but as far back as the 80s, computer programming was considered a very well-paying profession.

Nybbler is correct in this; I was there also -- it was a good job, but kind of how being an accountant is a good job. You had to like it; people weren't really getting into it for the money until the mid-to-late 90s.

I was IN the profession in the early 90s. It was well-paying (like many white-collar professions), but not very well-paying. You weren't even breaking 6 figures as a very experienced software developer (individual contributor) in the DC area, for instance. Nowadays (or at least just before the current slump) you could make the equivalent right out of school.

not very well-paying

What do you consider very well paying?

I started programming for money in the 90s and I could make more in a day programming than I could in a week delivering pizzas. Maybe my calibration for very well paying is fucked, but that seems pretty good to me.

At the time, "6 figures" ($100K) was the popular line for very well paying (about $240K now). You weren't going to get that as a programmer. Of course it paid much better than pizza delivery.

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