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I am a software developer with one year of experience in total and it is in one technology (iPhone development). I am thinking about changing my technology as I found out that I am much more interested in working in another technology (embedded systems development).

If I change to a different technology would I be considered an entry-level worker, and thus given an entry-level salary, or would they count it as one year of experience?

There are two additional points to take into consideration:

  1. What if the new technology has no relation to my current technology like working in java or embedded systems?
  2. What if the new technology is slightly related to my current technology? (For example, as objective-C is a super set of C)
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    A single years of experience is still an entry level position. Your single years of experience is worth something, how much, would depend on you as a indivual and your skill level in the area your trying to get into. At the end of the day programming is programming.
    – Donald
    Jul 18, 2013 at 14:15
  • @Ramhound how many years of experience it usually takes to move forward of an entry level position?
    – jsedano
    Jul 22, 2013 at 14:45
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    @anakata - It really depends on several factors. You would have to transition to a non-entry position first before you longer are placed in entry positions throughout your career.
    – Donald
    Jul 22, 2013 at 14:58

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You have one year of experience. That experience isn't worthless, but it's specific value depends completely on the context of the potential new position.

Someone who graduates from college and works one year as a shoe salesman has one year of experience. That may have a lot of value when applying for a position as a clothing salesman, and may have less value when applying for a position as a chemist. Still, it is one year of work experience more than another candidate might bring.

Whether your one year of experience translates into an entry-level salary or more than an entry-level salary for your next job depends on

  • Your abilities in the new role
  • The new company's requirements and budget
  • Your ability to convince a potential new employer that you fit in their more-than-entry-level position

Essentially, the specifics of the situation will determine what you are worth. Nobody here can predict that.

If I change to a different technology would I be considered an entry-level worker, and thus given an entry-level salary, or would they count it as one year of experience?

Maybe. It's not automatic, but the new technology may be different enough from your current (1 year) experience, that you would be considered entry-level and only offered entry-level salary

What if the new technology has no relation to my current technology like working in java or embedded systems?

Maybe. Probably more of a chance that your prior experience isn't relevant enough to elevate you beyond entry-level status.

What if the new technology is slightly related to my current technology? (For example, as objective-C is a super set of C)

Maybe. All experience has some value. Perhaps the value will translate into more-than-entry-level pay.

Realistically, one year of experience isn't very much. And (assuming you started at an entry-level salary 1 year ago), you probably haven't progressed much salary-wise anyway in just one short year.

If you are really interested in a different technology or career path, you should feel overly burdened by the difference between entry-level salary and entry-level-plus-one-year salary. Consider the long-term instead.

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    Software engineers in my country get huge increments.A person with one year of experience stands to earn 25% more than an entry level worker.So there is a huge difference
    – zzzzz
    Jul 17, 2013 at 11:10
  • @workerBoy - if one year of experience is so important, I doubt the technology is the significant factor.
    – user8365
    Jul 17, 2013 at 12:33
  • @JEffo what do you mean?
    – zzzzz
    Jul 17, 2013 at 12:34
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    One year of experience is still entry level no matter what.
    – HLGEM
    Jul 17, 2013 at 17:32
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    @workerBoy - One year's worth of experience at a job shows you can: show up for work, get along with others, communicate, take direction, learn new things in general. It doesn't automatically make you an iPhone guru or whatever technology you're using.
    – user8365
    Jul 17, 2013 at 18:47
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With 1 year's experience as an Objective-C programmer, you also have one year's experience in the following:

  • Programming (a lot of the logic involved is the same across all languages; you know how to think in small enough steps that the computer can keep up)
  • Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (again, much of this carries across all O-O languages, but may not translate well to functional languages like Haskell/Erlang)
  • UX design (depends on how much actual GUI work you've done, but iPhone apps live and die on their user interface as much as their underlying feature set)
  • C-style languages (moving between C++, Objective-C, Java and C#, though there are still some BIG differences, is typically less of a jump in terms of the little habits you have to undo than moving to a language built on a different syntactical paradigm, like Python/Ruby, Visual Basic, Delphi/Oxygene, etc).

This experience applies in other programming jobs, even in different languages targeting different library frameworks and OSes, and you don't lose it just by walking away from one language. Moving between languages, and between runtimes and IDEs, can still be painful, but you still know how to write code.

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    Personally I would pay a person like this probably a little more than someone fresh out of school but not as much as someone with a years worth of experience in the technology I use.
    – HLGEM
    Jul 17, 2013 at 17:38
  • @keithS good answer +1
    – zzzzz
    Jul 18, 2013 at 4:34
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It depends on the company you apply to, but in my general experience, software development entry level jobs tended to be anywhere from 0-3 years experience regardless of technology.

Even though you have a year of experience in software development, iPhone apps are a very different domain than embedded systems. Also a year of experience makes you still very green when it comes to working in the industry in general.

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  • I agree that iPhone apps are a very different domain than embedded systems.But I don't agree with the fact that a person with 3 years of experience is green.Most software developers have a development life of 5 to 7 years
    – zzzzz
    Jul 17, 2013 at 11:14
  • How would that year of experience affect my pay grade? I am looking to change fields going into embedded systems development or C/C++ development.Like I said earlier,a person with one year of experience earns 25 to 30 percent more than an entry level worker.
    – zzzzz
    Jul 17, 2013 at 11:17
  • @maple_shaft you sound like you are from the IT industry.Would C/C++ position consider me experienced as I am an iphone developer and iphone developers work in objective-C which is a superset of C?
    – zzzzz
    Jul 17, 2013 at 11:20
  • Odd in my experience most decent software developers have a career of 40 or so years. Sure we lose people along the way but that is true isn all career feilds as you don;t alawys know if you can hack the day-to-day job uintil you do it. I certainly would not want to work with anyone who thought a career should only last 7 years.
    – HLGEM
    Jul 17, 2013 at 17:36
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    @HLGEM I did'nt mean his entire career would last seven years.I meant his programming career would last seven years.After that he would move to other things like management or leading his team or guiding new guys.So if a guy who is new to industry and thought that development life lasted seven years would be automatically rejected and worthless in your book.Thanks for your comment.
    – zzzzz
    Jul 18, 2013 at 4:29
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If I change to a different technology would I be considered an entry-level worker, and thus given an entry-level salary, or would they count it as one year of experience?

The one year isn't going to count as a year. It could count as a partial if there are aspects of your experience that would translate into a new position. For example, what source control, bug tracking, software development methodology, project management methodology, testing, and other tools did you use? Those you do have experience which may be worth something.

What if the new technology has no relation to my current technology like working in java or embedded systems?

The question is what other skills do you have that may translate.

What if the new technology is slightly related to my current technology? (For example, as objective-C is a super set of C)

Doesn't matter, the question is what skills do you have. I've had jobs where I had to learn new languages on the job and I didn't get demoted while learning VBScript for Classic ASP or C# for ASP.Net. Now, this was within a position rather than jumping from one job to another so it may be different than what you want to know though the key is what are the skills you have.

If you did the iPhone development without any tools, then you may be stuck. On the other hand, if you did have some basic development tools around you, then these may be useful in future positions.

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I think programming/developing is different from any other job. And a great developer is great no matter in what language he/she is writing code in.

Many people with one year of experience where I work have been promoted to project leader.

And of course, if you are looking for a job in a software oriented company, they know programmers, and they now how to value them.

Does accumulating experience through the years necessarily make programming easier?

Bill Gates: No. I think after the first three or four years, it's pretty cast in concrete whether you're a good programmer or not. After a few more years, you may know more about managing large projects and personalities, but after three or four years, it's clear what you're going to be. There's no one at Microsoft who was just kind of mediocre for a couple of years, and then just out of the blue started optimizing everything in sight. I can talk to somebody about a program that he's written and know right away whether he's really a good programmer.

How To Become a Better Programmer by Not Programming

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  • can't believe that Bill Gates ( who made non-responsive Windows) wrote that , or is eligible to make a statement like that.
    – AAI
    Sep 1, 2017 at 1:56

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