According to CareerCast.com the best rated job in 2011 is Software Engineer, at least in the US. 200 professions across various industries, skill levels, and salaries have been surveyed to calculate the ranking which is determined by taking the work environment, physical demands, outlook, income and stress into account. Computer Systems Analysts ranked at 5th position, software programmers at 27th position.
Wikipedia.org defines a software engineer as
an engineer who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as computer chips, work.
Software engineers are employed in different industries such as creation of systems for medical, scientific, or industrial purposes. Thus, there is a high diversity of working environments and industries which require software engineering skills. In particular, the survey claims that there are two emerging industries which helped push the job of Software Engineers to the top of the rankings, cloud computing and web applications. CBSNews suggests that the application market of iPods, tablets, smartphones, and other devices might have also contributed to this development.
The 2011 Jobs Rated report determined that jobs in software engineering offer
a comfortable work environment, few intense physical demands, better than average income, strong hiring, and comparatively low stress.
For those who want to get rich as software engineers. Their average income in the US is about $ 87,400.00 much less than that of some other jobs. However, Tony Lee, publisher of the report said in a statement
If the worst job was ranked solely on salary, dishwasher would have been at the bottom of the list with a mid-level income of $18,053, while surgeon, which is the highest-paying job with a mid-level salary of $365,258, would have been the top job. But once you factor in stress, environmental factors, hiring outlook and other factors, income becomes just one piece of the puzzle.
