3 Ways To Improve Your Python Developer Salary

Python developers are quite popular at several technology companies. In this article, I’ll show you what the average salary is, and if you’re a Python developer, how you can improve it.

First of all, let’s have a look at the salary figures.

The average software developer with Python skills salary in the US is $132,358.

https://www.computercareers.org/python-developer-salary/

There is one main difference between this salary and the other salaries that I have covered. The “python developer” is actually represented in ComputerCareers.org as a “software engineer with Python skills”. It isn’t a job title on its own.

Let’s see how this compares to other roles.

As you can see, there are various other software developer roles, which have quite a range in salary.

• Application Developer: a general role for application development
• IT Consultant: this role can involve development, but it is done as a consulting role.
• Junior/Lead Software Engineer: there is a large difference in these roles, as a lead software engineer has more responsibility than other developers
• Java Developer & Senior Java Developer: an alternative language which is used a lot in companies, and has a comparable salary
• Web Developer & Senior Web Developer: these roles are related to web technologies, and their salary is a bit lower than the Python developer salary.
• Senior .NET Developer: This is a more experienced .NET developer and has a higher salary to match, almost the same as a Python developer.
• Database Developer & Senior Database Developer: these are database-related development jobs, and come with quite a high salary.

What can we do to improve our own python developer salary?

1. Get a Job at Google, VMWare or Yelp

An interesting set of information that Payscale provides is how the salaries are given for this role for each company. The company needs to be specified by the respondent, of course, but the statistics are still interesting.

It shows that there are several companies that stand out and pay the highest salary for Python developers:

• Google: 60 survey responses, salary between $111,000 and $140,000
• VMWare: 7 survey responses, salary between $113,000 and $130,000
• Yelp: 7 survey responses, salary between $90,000 and $150,000

So, there are three technology or Internet companies that pay the most here. This might not be surprising, but they pay more than other companies such as Cisco, HP and IBM for Python developers.

If you’re looking to improve your Python developer salary, you can look to get a job at these companies.

2. Move to New York

This can be seen as an extreme move to make, as moving to another city or state isn’t possible for a lot of people.

However, I’ve mentioned it because it can help improve your salary.

Payscale reports that the Python developer salary for New York is 17% higher than those in other states. This is quite an increase in pay. You would be getting paid almost a fifth more if you were based in New York. A $80,000 salary somewhere else could be increased to a $93,600 salary in New York.

However, the cost of living in New York is also higher, so you would need to factor that in. Moving states and cities is a big change, especially if you have a family, so you might not see this as a possibility.

3. Ask for a Pay Rise After Your Yearly Review

One of the best ways of improving your salary is just to ask. Many people don’t ask for fear of rejection, lack of confidence, and lack of knowledge about comparable salaries.

Asking for a salary increase right after your annual review, or part of your annual review, is probably the best time. You have an extra year of experience that is recognised, and pay in most roles goes up after each year.

The breakdown of salaries for Python developers at each stage of their career is:

• Entry-Level (0-5 years): $80,000 (from 1751 responses)
• Mid-Career (5-10 years): $94,000 (from 615 responses)
• Experienced (10-20 years): $108,000 (from 249 responses)
• Late career (>20 years): $117,000 (from 55 responses)

There is a lot more entry and mid-level developers than other stages of the career, but it still shows that salaries go up.

When you have your annual review, present the achievements you made in the last year, show how they benefit the company, and ask for a figure that reflects that. You should be able to get a pay rise with a little bit of negotiation.

So, there’s some analysis on the Python developer salary, and some tips on how to improve it. Readers, what has your experience been like as a Python developer? Share your comments in the section below.