Having worked in many locales and many companies as a software developer for over 30 years this is what I have experienced.
There are companies that treat the IT staff as a necessary evil, these companies pay poorly and treat the IT staff poorly.
There are companies that view developers as plug and play. These companies rarely pay well and view developers as disposable.
There are companies that are very choosy about who they hire, they believe one great developer is better than 50 mediocre developers. These companies pay very well and treat developers well. They have small well run development teams. Interviews at these companies tend to be by invitation. The old saying of birds of a feather flock together is apropos.
I have worked at each of these types of companies. The last type is the optimal company. If not for needing to relocate to MI to take care of aging parents, I would still be there,
So yes, the cream of the crop software developers are pulling down 200-300k a year.
Ford is the second type of company. It treats its developers as disposable, plug and play pieces.
Ford is a very frustrating place to work. It takes six months to a year to develop and launch software that at my previous employer was accomplished in a week. You would think that something that takes six months to a year to deploy would be of high quality, but you would be wrong. The defect level at Ford is insane. There are so many silly processes that add no value, the software is ancient, there are many people standing around watching a few doing the work. Oh yes we are an agile team, NOT.
If you are a plug and play developer, Ford is your place. But don’t be bitter, when you are replaced.
Originally posted by @12Myjlsf-nct.