Thread by @nikolaposa

1/. Very unpopular opinion: developers (IT workers) market in Serbia is becoming increasingly fragmented with people motivated solely by high salaries because of poverty in any other profession.

2/. It is because Information Technology is the only profession in Serbia from which one can live a comfortable and in most cases luxurious life from legally earned money.

It’s not a secret that in some cases developers earn over 6x more than the average citizen.

3/. Actually, because of the extremely low standard of living, it’s only worth to be employed by foreign companies.

What's even more bizarre, for foreign IT companies, developers in countries such as Serbia, Ukraine and India are much cheaper than those in their home countries.

4/. I believe that such a gap between the IT and non-IT profession is unthinkable in any other country in EU for example, where there is more or less a balance between professions.

Are programmers in those countries paid so much more than teachers, doctors or even surgeons?

5/. Being a programmer in Serbia has become an association for someone who makes a lot of money, and not someone whose engineering profession is appreciated.

You'll often get mocked for doing a "fun and easy job" for big money.

6/. Our reputation is further ruined by casual IT courses/schools, attended and completed by people with basic computer skills, expecting to get a job immediately after completion, with the salary of an intermediate or sometimes a senior developer.

7/7. My advice to all who want to step into the IT industry:

It is never too late to start programming, but have:
- passion for programming
- diligence
- desire to learn
- patience
- realistic expectations, especially around initial salary