The Datum Report

Occupation 2134 · Professional occupations

Programmers and software development professionals

Half of full-time programmers and software development professionals in the UK earn more than £56,914 a year, and half earn less.

Programmers and software development professionals design, develop, test, implement and maintain software systems on a range of platforms in order to meet the specifications and business objectives of the information system; they also design and develop specialist software e.g. for computer games.

How people enter it

Entrants usually possess a degree or equivalent qualification, although entry with other academic qualifications and/or significant relevant experience is possible. There is a variety of vocational, professional and postgraduate qualifications available.

What the work involves

• examines existing software and determines requirements for new/modified systems in the light of business needs
• undertakes feasibility study to design software solutions
• writes and codes individual programs according to specifications
• develops user interfaces
• tests and corrects software programs
• writes code for specialist programming for computer games, (for example, artificial intelligence, 3D engine development)
• implements and evaluates the software
• plans and maintains database structures
• writes operational documentation and provides subsequent support and training for users
• develops website and website interfaces and establishes methods to ensure appropriate website security and recovery

Also called

Analyst-programmer · Database developer · Games designer · Interactive designer · Mobile app developer · Programmer · Software engineer · Website builder

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for programmers and software development professionals, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 11 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Cyber security professionals · IT business analysts, architects and systems designers · IT managers · IT network professionals · IT project managers · IT quality and testing professionals · Information technology professionals n.e.c.