Is a career in software or tech seen as prestigious in your country?
August 28, 2024
I was having this discussion today with my german counterpart who said working in tech is not as prestigious in Germany as it is in Romania.
This made me curious about how it's seen in each country in europe.
33 comments
More or less since people think it’s difficult and they know there is money in the industry. However I’d say it’s not near the recognition of career paths such as medicine, law or other engineering degrees like aeronautics, etc.
P.S.: lots of people will think that you can fix their washing machine, TV or hack their spouse’s Facebook.
Not really prestigious, no.
People mostly know IT guys often make good money, but a lot of other people in other jobs do that, too. I guess it‘s just seen as any other office job, but certainly not on the same level of prestige like doctors or lawyers or something like that.
This post is actually the first time I read someone refer to IT jobs as „prestigious“, at all.
Senior IT professionals are paid the same all throughout Europe, it makes sense it’s seen as less prestigious in places where the difference between them and average person is less.
UK. It’s just a job. I don’t mean to be trite, but I’m not even sure I understand the question. Outside of people who fawn over movies stars etc…, who’s impressed by someone else’s job? Maybe people like CEOs feel prestigious in themselves, but I don’t think anyone outside of their immediate circle would care would they?
Not really, it’s just like any other well-paid job. But honestly, apart for some snobs, I wouldn’t say any jobs are seen as particularly prestigious here in the Netherlands, perhaps with an exception for doctors and lawyers. But even then, nah, a job is just a job even if it’s an impressive achievement to get there.
In Catalonia is definitely not as “prestigious” as let’s say Law or Medicine or even something like International Relations but more so than most of the Humanities at a BA or even MA level. Software/tech careers are seen as profitable but not really “respectable” or “intellectual” so other academics may look down on you.
I hope things change in the future and this outdated mindset goes away. Machine Learning, Software developement etc are the future and becoming more and more important to everyone’s daily life.
I’d say not really, but it probably depends on what circles you run in and your age.
I’m a millennial, and growing up the fields that were seen as both prestigious and sensible were things like medicine, biotech, engineering, law and certain business programmes. High-demand social science and humanities programmes like film history, anthropology and media studies were considered prestigious but not sensible (you need a very high grade average to get in), as were “cool” medical-adjacent programmes like midwifery and veterianarian science, while at my particular high school at least, the very very selective art academies (music conservatory, film school, architecture school) were considered the peak of prestige.
Computer science and tech never really featured in any of this, and it wasn’t until I lived in Stockholm for a while that it even figured in my world as a prominent career option. It was honestly a major culture clash – I went from knowing no one who worked in tech to pretty much being the only person I knew who *didn’t.* My own field is not particularly prestigious or sensible, but while I was aware that I “should” have gone into medicine or biotech if I wanted prestige, going into computer science never crossed my mind before Stockhom. I’d chalk the diffence up to Stockholm having a ton of tech companies, while they are not nearly as prominent in Copenhagen, so I assume the kind of kids who in Copenhagen would go into biotech in the hope of working for Novo go into computer tech in Stockholm instead.
No. If you are looking for prestige, traditionally that’s doctors and lawyers. IT is usually just a corpo branch.
If you want to earn a lot of money and be your own boss, be an artisan/handworker who renovates and fixes houses, or better yet have your own company that employs handworkers who fix and renovate houses. Installing heat pumps is currently also good business.
Developer’s job pays 2-3 times more than an average office job, so there is some prestige to it. It is partially mitigated by the nerd stereotype (which is partially true). A system administrator on the other hand is basically an average office job, but usually nobody else in the office understands what they are doing, so there is some amount of additional leverage (the nerd stereotype still applies).
There is some additional level of respect for practical intellectual professions (science, medicine, etc.) but it is rather small and connected with the fact that they aren’t very profitable, so there is some stereotype of selfless weirdos working for the better life for everyone.
I don’t think most people need their job to carry prestige here. My husband works in tech, he’s good at it and it pays well, he doesn’t care what others think of the sector.
In Hungary I felt like people had mixed responses to learning I was a software engineer. Some people went like “ooooh you must be veeery smart then!!!”, while others thought I was gaming long enough to learn some Windows settings and now I’m getting rich for drinking coffee 3 hours a day. In Norway people are like “oh ja?” and move on to the next topic, lol
It is prestigious in Romania because the IT people are earning salaries close or identical to what they would have in the West. And cosindering for Bucharest the average rent is 500 euros, 100k euros is a brand new 1br apartment, average salary in the city being only 1200 euros net, an IT salary of around 2000 (junior) to 4500 (very senior) paid by a company will make the earner very proud of the comfortable life he’s having. Those working independently tend to earn much more. It’s probably the highest paid junior job in Romania, even though many other professions get to high salaries eventually (doctor, lawyer, plumber, electrician etc)
It is seen as prestigious. Partly because it pays relatively well, also I think STEM generally has a better reputation in Eastern Europe.
Not really no. It can be paying well, so that might be a presumption you face, but that’s it. I’d say that to someone not in that field, even now, it feels more distant and fuzzy to what those jobs are than other mainstream jobs.
I think the career itself isn’t (especially since the lower rungs of it – your average software developer – doesn’t require a university degree in Switzerland) and has a bit of a “career for young men who dont know what to do” stereotype.
However, if you make it to a big well known company (often Google since they have offices in Zurich) I would say that does carry quite a bit of prestige and respect with it, but not necessarily more than any other well paying high profile job.
I’d say more pragmatic than prestigious. Besides those who made big bucks but it’s the money that’s “prestigious” in that case …
Just to confirm your counterpart: Lucrative yes, but not particularly prestigious. Unless you own the company ofc.
Italy not really, you are considered more or less liken an average employee/clerk. Some people sometimes idealise to be well paid, but usually pay is a bit above ( but comparable in most of the cases ) to many white-collar professions. It can have the stereotype of jobs just for nerds.
In Estonia, there’s definitely a good deal of prestige to working in the information technology sector. In some ways, even more so than medicine or law.
I guess it’s mainly due to having the highest salaries around and partly also because of the ‘national pride’ everyone takes in our IT products here.
It’s definitely seen as a sensible, solid career choice in Germany.
Everything else depends on your actual role, level and visibility of your field.
Unless you are doing something extraordinary, most office jobs look more or less the same to people outside of your own professional bubble.
You sit in meetings and in front of your computer. Doesn’t really matter if you write code, presentations, reports or proposals to potential customers.
Austria. Well, I am working in software for 25 years now and it is – a job. There is nothing very special or presitious about it. When I was in technical school in the 90ies, the situation was different, as computers just became a common thing, but knowledge was low. Now it is on job of many.
Only my parents and older siblings think, I am some kind of wonderboy, as I can fix their smartphones / computers in a few minutes – while I do what all IT-guys do – I restart the damn thing 😉
It’s super prestigious in Russia, since it’s the only job that is legal and well-paid at even junior levels.
Back when I finished high school, economy and law degrees were seen as the most desirable, but now it’s either IT or government job + nepotism.
I wouldn’t say so. The prestigious one in Greece is to be a doctor or a manager (“manager” just sounds cool)
only in as far as it’s high paid, but people also think it’s something you can learn in a few weeks online so not really lol
The reason why it’s more prestigious in Romania than in Germany is because salaries in tech are similar across the entire Europe, as opposed to salaries in nearly all other fields. This used to translate to e.g. 1.5x average national salary in Germany vs. 5x average national salary in Romania for the same software engineering position. Since earning 5x of average salary is very very rare, tech career path is considered prestigious in countries where it is possible (the multiplier started to decrease as general salaries were increasing while tech salaries were stagnant, but it’s still 3-4x which is extremely high). But it is only because of earning potential, not because of the nature of the job itself.
I’ve been to the West and to the North, and it’s absolutely not. It’s been a huge shock when I first moved from the East where being a software developer massively improved your love life.
UK
Not at all prestigious
Market oversaturation
Would imagine rest of Western Europe to be the same
there is a meme that girls want to marry IT guys because of enormous sallaries in the field. So, yeah
Not anymore – you can make similar money in other corporate jobs, and proffession itself has opinion of requiring constant updates of skills, being prone to burnout, ageism and being not really stable.
I’d say that only physician is still prestigous, even lawyers have a hard time due to oversupply of graduates.
People know you’ll get paid more than average but people see it more ‘nerdy’ than prestigious in Belgium
From Croatia: it’s not seen as prestigious. But it is seen as good career path where you can earn well and won’t have much trouble to land a job. Croatia is quite conservative socially and more traditional professions are seen as prestigious like doctors, lawyers, engineers (mechanic or electotechnic), university professors or architects. IT people are seen as socially ankward nerds and their job doesn’t hold that much social status.
Most probably don’t have any strong opinions one way or another. The problem is that the average person doesn’t really know what working in tech or software means.
I remember reading a study some years ago about what professions the general public viewed as prestigious. Ambassador was number one, followed by surgeons and physicians, and then different kinds of nurses. Then you had jobs such as midwives, firemen and veterinarians. Teacher was also pretty high up if I remember correctly.
Not really, because France is one of the countries that don’t pay that well in IT. You’re paid the same as any other engineer.
Prestigious careers are medicine, law, finance, research.
I actually work in IT, and considering the cost of living, I would earn more in my country of origin (Romania) than in France.
33 comments
More or less since people think it’s difficult and they know there is money in the industry. However I’d say it’s not near the recognition of career paths such as medicine, law or other engineering degrees like aeronautics, etc.
P.S.: lots of people will think that you can fix their washing machine, TV or hack their spouse’s Facebook.
Not really prestigious, no.
People mostly know IT guys often make good money, but a lot of other people in other jobs do that, too. I guess it‘s just seen as any other office job, but certainly not on the same level of prestige like doctors or lawyers or something like that.
This post is actually the first time I read someone refer to IT jobs as „prestigious“, at all.
Senior IT professionals are paid the same all throughout Europe, it makes sense it’s seen as less prestigious in places where the difference between them and average person is less.
UK. It’s just a job. I don’t mean to be trite, but I’m not even sure I understand the question. Outside of people who fawn over movies stars etc…, who’s impressed by someone else’s job? Maybe people like CEOs feel prestigious in themselves, but I don’t think anyone outside of their immediate circle would care would they?
Not really, it’s just like any other well-paid job. But honestly, apart for some snobs, I wouldn’t say any jobs are seen as particularly prestigious here in the Netherlands, perhaps with an exception for doctors and lawyers. But even then, nah, a job is just a job even if it’s an impressive achievement to get there.
In Catalonia is definitely not as “prestigious” as let’s say Law or Medicine or even something like International Relations but more so than most of the Humanities at a BA or even MA level. Software/tech careers are seen as profitable but not really “respectable” or “intellectual” so other academics may look down on you.
I hope things change in the future and this outdated mindset goes away. Machine Learning, Software developement etc are the future and becoming more and more important to everyone’s daily life.
I’d say not really, but it probably depends on what circles you run in and your age.
I’m a millennial, and growing up the fields that were seen as both prestigious and sensible were things like medicine, biotech, engineering, law and certain business programmes. High-demand social science and humanities programmes like film history, anthropology and media studies were considered prestigious but not sensible (you need a very high grade average to get in), as were “cool” medical-adjacent programmes like midwifery and veterianarian science, while at my particular high school at least, the very very selective art academies (music conservatory, film school, architecture school) were considered the peak of prestige.
Computer science and tech never really featured in any of this, and it wasn’t until I lived in Stockholm for a while that it even figured in my world as a prominent career option. It was honestly a major culture clash – I went from knowing no one who worked in tech to pretty much being the only person I knew who *didn’t.* My own field is not particularly prestigious or sensible, but while I was aware that I “should” have gone into medicine or biotech if I wanted prestige, going into computer science never crossed my mind before Stockhom. I’d chalk the diffence up to Stockholm having a ton of tech companies, while they are not nearly as prominent in Copenhagen, so I assume the kind of kids who in Copenhagen would go into biotech in the hope of working for Novo go into computer tech in Stockholm instead.
No. If you are looking for prestige, traditionally that’s doctors and lawyers. IT is usually just a corpo branch.
If you want to earn a lot of money and be your own boss, be an artisan/handworker who renovates and fixes houses, or better yet have your own company that employs handworkers who fix and renovate houses. Installing heat pumps is currently also good business.
Developer’s job pays 2-3 times more than an average office job, so there is some prestige to it. It is partially mitigated by the nerd stereotype (which is partially true). A system administrator on the other hand is basically an average office job, but usually nobody else in the office understands what they are doing, so there is some amount of additional leverage (the nerd stereotype still applies).
There is some additional level of respect for practical intellectual professions (science, medicine, etc.) but it is rather small and connected with the fact that they aren’t very profitable, so there is some stereotype of selfless weirdos working for the better life for everyone.
I don’t think most people need their job to carry prestige here. My husband works in tech, he’s good at it and it pays well, he doesn’t care what others think of the sector.
In Hungary I felt like people had mixed responses to learning I was a software engineer. Some people went like “ooooh you must be veeery smart then!!!”, while others thought I was gaming long enough to learn some Windows settings and now I’m getting rich for drinking coffee 3 hours a day. In Norway people are like “oh ja?” and move on to the next topic, lol
It is prestigious in Romania because the IT people are earning salaries close or identical to what they would have in the West. And cosindering for Bucharest the average rent is 500 euros, 100k euros is a brand new 1br apartment, average salary in the city being only 1200 euros net, an IT salary of around 2000 (junior) to 4500 (very senior) paid by a company will make the earner very proud of the comfortable life he’s having. Those working independently tend to earn much more. It’s probably the highest paid junior job in Romania, even though many other professions get to high salaries eventually (doctor, lawyer, plumber, electrician etc)
It is seen as prestigious. Partly because it pays relatively well, also I think STEM generally has a better reputation in Eastern Europe.
Not really no. It can be paying well, so that might be a presumption you face, but that’s it. I’d say that to someone not in that field, even now, it feels more distant and fuzzy to what those jobs are than other mainstream jobs.
I think the career itself isn’t (especially since the lower rungs of it – your average software developer – doesn’t require a university degree in Switzerland) and has a bit of a “career for young men who dont know what to do” stereotype.
However, if you make it to a big well known company (often Google since they have offices in Zurich) I would say that does carry quite a bit of prestige and respect with it, but not necessarily more than any other well paying high profile job.
I’d say more pragmatic than prestigious. Besides those who made big bucks but it’s the money that’s “prestigious” in that case …
Just to confirm your counterpart: Lucrative yes, but not particularly prestigious. Unless you own the company ofc.
Italy not really, you are considered more or less liken an average employee/clerk. Some people sometimes idealise to be well paid, but usually pay is a bit above ( but comparable in most of the cases ) to many white-collar professions. It can have the stereotype of jobs just for nerds.
In Estonia, there’s definitely a good deal of prestige to working in the information technology sector. In some ways, even more so than medicine or law.
I guess it’s mainly due to having the highest salaries around and partly also because of the ‘national pride’ everyone takes in our IT products here.
It’s definitely seen as a sensible, solid career choice in Germany.
Everything else depends on your actual role, level and visibility of your field.
Unless you are doing something extraordinary, most office jobs look more or less the same to people outside of your own professional bubble.
You sit in meetings and in front of your computer. Doesn’t really matter if you write code, presentations, reports or proposals to potential customers.
Austria. Well, I am working in software for 25 years now and it is – a job. There is nothing very special or presitious about it. When I was in technical school in the 90ies, the situation was different, as computers just became a common thing, but knowledge was low. Now it is on job of many.
Only my parents and older siblings think, I am some kind of wonderboy, as I can fix their smartphones / computers in a few minutes – while I do what all IT-guys do – I restart the damn thing 😉
It’s super prestigious in Russia, since it’s the only job that is legal and well-paid at even junior levels.
Back when I finished high school, economy and law degrees were seen as the most desirable, but now it’s either IT or government job + nepotism.
I wouldn’t say so. The prestigious one in Greece is to be a doctor or a manager (“manager” just sounds cool)
only in as far as it’s high paid, but people also think it’s something you can learn in a few weeks online so not really lol
The reason why it’s more prestigious in Romania than in Germany is because salaries in tech are similar across the entire Europe, as opposed to salaries in nearly all other fields. This used to translate to e.g. 1.5x average national salary in Germany vs. 5x average national salary in Romania for the same software engineering position. Since earning 5x of average salary is very very rare, tech career path is considered prestigious in countries where it is possible (the multiplier started to decrease as general salaries were increasing while tech salaries were stagnant, but it’s still 3-4x which is extremely high). But it is only because of earning potential, not because of the nature of the job itself.
I’ve been to the West and to the North, and it’s absolutely not. It’s been a huge shock when I first moved from the East where being a software developer massively improved your love life.
UK
Not at all prestigious
Market oversaturation
Would imagine rest of Western Europe to be the same
there is a meme that girls want to marry IT guys because of enormous sallaries in the field. So, yeah
Not anymore – you can make similar money in other corporate jobs, and proffession itself has opinion of requiring constant updates of skills, being prone to burnout, ageism and being not really stable.
I’d say that only physician is still prestigous, even lawyers have a hard time due to oversupply of graduates.
People know you’ll get paid more than average but people see it more ‘nerdy’ than prestigious in Belgium
From Croatia: it’s not seen as prestigious. But it is seen as good career path where you can earn well and won’t have much trouble to land a job. Croatia is quite conservative socially and more traditional professions are seen as prestigious like doctors, lawyers, engineers (mechanic or electotechnic), university professors or architects. IT people are seen as socially ankward nerds and their job doesn’t hold that much social status.
Most probably don’t have any strong opinions one way or another. The problem is that the average person doesn’t really know what working in tech or software means.
I remember reading a study some years ago about what professions the general public viewed as prestigious. Ambassador was number one, followed by surgeons and physicians, and then different kinds of nurses. Then you had jobs such as midwives, firemen and veterinarians. Teacher was also pretty high up if I remember correctly.
Not really, because France is one of the countries that don’t pay that well in IT. You’re paid the same as any other engineer.
Prestigious careers are medicine, law, finance, research.
I actually work in IT, and considering the cost of living, I would earn more in my country of origin (Romania) than in France.