This research document is being developed and is continuously updated as we gather more data about potential future pathways for our students.
https://www.payscale.com/research/KE/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/kenya-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,5_IN130_KO6,23.htm
In the first year, students are still learning and will be earning at most around 30,000 KES ($200) during year 1. After year 1, we assume that they will be able to get entry-level (0-1 years experience in Glassdoor data) positions. They have this for 2 years, and then they proceed to the next salary tier.
Total amount earned in first 10 years
Earnings (E) equals the sum over all years of active work (A) where monthly income (y) for a given year (t) is multiplied by 12 months to get the earnings for each year.
$$ E= sum_{A}(y_t*12) $$
We assume the following earnings
| Year | Earnings |
|---|---|
| 0 | 30,000 |
| 1 | 55,000 |
| 2 | 55,000 |
| 3 | 79,000 |
| 4 | 79,000 |
| 5 | 140,000 |
| 6 | 140,000 |
| 7 | 187,000 |
| 8 | 187,000 |
| 9 | 187,000 |
| 10-19 | 200,000 |
| 20-29 | 225,000 |
| 30+ | 250,000 |
With the above assumptions, this means that the total earnings of a student over this 10-year period would be 13 million KES, or equivalently $9,000 USD/year. To proceed, we will assume 200,000 KES /month ($16k/year) in the 10 years that follow, and then 225,000 KES/month ($18.5k/year), and lastly 250,000 KES/month ($20.5k/year) for the last 10 years. Overall, this leads to a lifetime average of $16k/year. Note that this doesn’t take into account the “additional pay” or the much higher upside potential that exists as a remote worker.