Salary Forecast: Senior Server Developer

A server developer works with a team to design and create an organization’s product platform from the ground up. They help move the organization forward and to the top of new technologies like social gaming by utilizing the best of emerging technology on the server side. They are skilled in applying big data and AI technology, like high scalable cloud-based infrastructure, stream analysis, and machine learning.

Glassdoor offers some insight into the salaries of senior server developers. The average base pay is $100,271 per year, according to Glassdoor, and those in the tenth percentile earn $76,000 annually. Those in the 90th percentile earn $125,000 per year.

Indeed estimates the salary of a senior server developers to be about $85,000 (of 1,022 jobs in its database with that title). Eight hundred eighty jobs in the database had a salary of $95,000, while 646 paid $105,000 per year. Nearly 440 paid $115,000 per year, and 200 had salaries of $130,000.

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not have salary data for this particular job title, the work of a server developer is closest in their categorization to that of a software developer. Systems software developers (vs. applications software developers) earn an annual average salary of $111,780 per year, or $53.74 per hour, as of May 2017. The median annual salary is $107,600, and the median hourly wage is $51.73.  Those in the 10th percentile earn $31.57 per hour, or $65,670 per year, while those in the 90th percentile earn a salary of $164,150 annually, or $78.92 per hour. The 25th percentile earns $84,290 per year, or $40.53 per hour. The 75th percentile earns $135,740 per year, or $65.26 per hour.

To get the highest-paying job, you want to work in the right industry. The Radio and Television Broadcasting industry pays the highest salary for systems software developers at a mean hourly wage of $64.23, or $133,600 per year. Cable and Other Subscription Programming pays an average of $128,530, or $61.79 per hour. Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing pays an average of $60.98 per hour, or $126,840 per year.

Another important factor in the salary you earn is where you live. California pays the highest in the nation for systems software developers at an hourly average wage of $61.17, or $127,230 per year. New Hampshire is in second place at $59.04 per hour, or $122,810 per year. Colorado is next at $58.73 per hour, on average, or $122,170 per year. Delaware is in fourth place at $58.68 per hour, on average, or $122,050 per year. Fifth place belongs to Virginia at $58.44 per hour, or $121,560 per year, on average.

As a senior server developer, therefore, it seems safe to say that you can expect a salary of perhaps between about $85,000 and a bit over $100,000 per year. Depending on your specific skill set, years of experience, employer, industry, and region where you plan to work, you may earn up to around $130,000 per year.