There is no denying that software engineers are some of the highest-paid professionals on the face of the planet. It’s due to the fact that they are in demand.

Needless to say, software engineers make almost five times of what others make on average per hour, with a rate of $52.95 hourly. But if you think that software engineers are the highest-paid people in the field and related ones, too, better think again.

Let’s take a quick look at the top 15 highest-paid software-related jobs that tend to make the most money (on average) per year:

• Chief technology officer – $157,000+
• Technical program manager – $146,000+
• Software engineering manager – $145,000+
• Enterprise architect – $140,000+
• Software architect – $139,000+
• Data warehouse architect – $135,000+
• Site reliability engineer – $130,000+
• Development operations engineer – $128,000+
• Mobile developer – $125,000+
• Data scientist – $122,000+
• Cloud engineer – $120,000+
• Full-stack developer – $113,000+
• Software engineer – $110,000+
• IT security specialist – $105,000+
• System engineer – $100,000+

The average software engineer salary in the USA is $122,630 per year or $58.96 per hour. Entry level positions start at $97,842 per year while most experienced workers make up to $164,864 per year.

Software engineers are paid so much as their expertise is indispensable to various organizations and businesses. This is especially true in the digital age where systems and software are vital for operations. It’s also necessary for them to be well-compensated for their stressful and exhausting tasks.

The best time to turn someone’s dream of becoming a software engineer into a reality is now. That’s because the demand for one isn’t showing any signs of dropping anytime soon.

As a matter of fact, the employment rate for software engineers is projected to inflate to a little more than 20% by the year 2028.

To put this into context so that you can have a better idea of just how in demand software engineers are, the projected growth rate for other occupations is at 5% only.

If that still failed to paint a clear picture, consider this: Experts predict that the available jobs for software engineers will grow from 1,365,500 in 2018 to 1,649,600 when 2028 strikes.