[quote=kev374]The Sr. Enterprise Architects I know in the Java EE space are making around $80/hr, nothing more. Sr. developers make around $60-65/hr but I have seen as low as $50/hr. which equates to around $100k/yr with no benefits, so equivalent “with benefits” pay is around $75k/yr. In Southern California that is a pretty low pay for someone with over a decade of experience.

In my view development work is going overseas and/or performed onsite by L1 resources shipped here by companies like Infosys. This is the trend.

Given the skyrocketing cost of obtaining a college degree it would be foolish for anyone to obtain a Computer Science degree with the hopes of getting a development job for any money that will be worth their time.

If a person with over a decade of experience would get $75k/yr a person just out of college would probably be paid $40k/yr, that is the current reality…and that is IF there are entry level jobs in the first place.[/quote]

J2EE is outdated.. Sr. Java Architect != Solutions Architect…. Sr. Java Architect only means someone that has some design work with J2EE… Most IT stuff these days doesn’t require J2EE anymore. Someone that says they have years of J2EE experience is equivalent of someone from the past that use to say they know cobol and do a lot of work on mainframe…Also, it doesn’t require a 4 years computer science degree to be doing anything related to J2EE or a lot of IT work. It is entirely possible to pick it up without any com-science…

Don’t stick with J2EE. It’s like folks holding onto cobol or mainframe. Technology changes, don’t be on the boat clinging to something that is going to be outdated. It’s not about a specific technology you want to hold on to..