University graduates earn less than digital whizz kids

Emma Finamore
28 Oct 2018

Upon completion of a 12-week programme, software developers are earning an average of £32,000 a year, higher than most university arts and science graduates.

Placeholder — Software developers are earning an average of £32,000 a year, higher than most university arts and science graduates.

Software developers earn more than their university graduate peers, it has been revealed.

Makers, Europe’s premier software engineering training provider, has reported the average salary of the engineers they train: upon completion of a 12-week programme, software developers are earning an average of £32,000 a year, higher than most university arts and science graduates.

The data was gathered from over 500 former Makers students, many of whom have found work after completing the three month programme in some of the biggest companies in the world, including BBC, HSBC, Deloitte, the Financial Times and the Telegraph Group.

According to the latest High Fliers report, The Graduate Market in 2018, the median starting salary for UK graduates in 2018 was £30,000. However, employment sites such graduate-jobs.com estimate the average starting salary for graduates is £19,000 - £22,000 – significantly lower than someone boasting digital skills from coding bootcamps like Makers.

“The time has come for the UK to put its prejudices aside when assessing the value of vocational training,” said Evgeny Shadchnev, CEO of Makers. “In a digital economy, businesses require a skill set that universities are failing to provide their students, who don’t get the salaries they want and are also burdened by massive debts at the end of their programmes.”

According to the latest High Fliers report, The Graduate Market in 2018, the median starting salary for UK graduates in 2018 was £30,000. However, employment sites estimate the average starting salary for graduates is £19,000 - £22,000 – significantly lower than someone boasting digital skills from coding bootcamps.

Shadchnev added. “What our data proves is that graduates with coding professional software skills create real value for employers and they are willing to pay good salaries for their qualifications. We hope that in future many other students will look beyond university training when thinking about their future careers – and take a closer look at the limitless possibilities that software development can offer to any generation of workers.”

Makers recently launched the UK’s first high-intensity and immersive software developer apprenticeship programme, which offers the best coding training for students wishing to accelerate their careers as technology professionals. Makers work with employers to use their government Apprenticeship Levy to plug their tech skills gap by using the funds to pay for the apprentice’s software engineering education at Makers.

The programme is open to everyone and to all age groups, including career changers and those from diverse social economic and ethnic backgrounds. Applicants do not need to hold a university qualification. Statistically, Makers has trained over 35% women as software engineers - more than double the industry average.

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