What it pays
Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.
Half of all Computer Programmers in the U.S. earn more than $100,390 a year — the middle 80% land between $57,710 and $160,460. About 92,230 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Computer Programmers”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Professionals earn about ₹38,298 a month on average — around ₹4.6 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$100,390typical pay / year
92,230people in this work
$160,460+top 10% earn
₹4.6 lakha year in India (family avg)
Think you get this job?Six quick questions on how it really works — with a hint and the reason behind every answer.
Test yourself →The work, task by task
These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.
Move2
Lead a team of programmers
+Run today’s planning standup, assign module owners for the sampler engine and MIDI router, confirm release…
Lead a team of programmers
+Run today’s planning standup, assign module owners for the sampler engine and MIDI router, confirm release dates with Jose and Aisha, and lock the sprint board so we can start code-freeze preparations by Friday.
The tools that do the workAnsiblejob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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Mentor junior programmers
+Schedule a two-hour workshop with Priya and Marco to walk through concurrency pitfalls in our audio engine,…
Mentor junior programmers
+Schedule a two-hour workshop with Priya and Marco to walk through concurrency pitfalls in our audio engine, bring a small failing example, pair-program through fixes, and assign follow-up learning tasks by Friday.
The tools that do the workApache Cassandrajob descriptionsO*NET
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Fixing1
Fix bugs in software
+Take the crash logs from last night's build, reproduce the failure on my local dev rig, patch the timing bug…
Fix bugs in software
+Take the crash logs from last night's build, reproduce the failure on my local dev rig, patch the timing bug in the audio thread, run the unit suite, and push a hotfix branch so QA can verify before noon.
The tools that do the workAJAXjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Analysing1
Review code changes
+Review the three incoming pull requests for the synth module, focus on real-time locking, math optimizations,…
Review code changes
+Review the three incoming pull requests for the synth module, focus on real-time locking, math optimizations, and the PCB I/O mocks, leave inline comments for Tomas about the timing invariant, and approve the safe changelist by end of day.
The tools that do the workApache Hadoopjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Convincing1
Design software solutions
+Draft the architecture for a cross-platform audio pipeline that supports sample streaming, DMA-friendly…
Design software solutions
+Draft the architecture for a cross-platform audio pipeline that supports sample streaming, DMA-friendly buffers, and a plugin API, include block diagrams and latency budgets so hardware and firmware can sign off next Wednesday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationESCOjob descriptions
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Sending & sharing1
Develop Web sites.
+Design and hand off the studio web presence: create a responsive landing with audio demos, an events page for…
Develop Web sites.
+Design and hand off the studio web presence: create a responsive landing with audio demos, an events page for the tour dates, and a secure upload form for demos so marketing can review by Monday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2job descriptionsO*NET
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The daily work16
Assign, coordinate, and review work and activities of programming personnel.
+Assign tracks and daily shifts to the programming team, confirm who owns the Monday playlist build and the…
Assign, coordinate, and review work and activities of programming personnel.
+Assign tracks and daily shifts to the programming team, confirm who owns the Monday playlist build and the Friday live mix, schedule a midweek review with Maya and Jordan, and flag any coverage gaps before noon tomorrow.
The tools that do the workAnsibleO*NET
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Correct errors by making appropriate changes and rechecking the program to ensure that the desired results are produced.
+Find the corrupted cue in the evening set, apply the corrected tempo and key adjustments, rerun the render,…
Correct errors by making appropriate changes and rechecking the program to ensure that the desired results are produced.
+Find the corrupted cue in the evening set, apply the corrected tempo and key adjustments, rerun the render, and listen through the full segment to confirm the fixes before submitting the revision notes to Sam.
The tools that do the workApache HadoopO*NET
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Write or contribute to instructions or manuals to guide end users.
+Draft a concise user guide that explains how to load sample banks, set crossfades, and export show logs,…
Write or contribute to instructions or manuals to guide end users.
+Draft a concise user guide that explains how to load sample banks, set crossfades, and export show logs, include screenshots of the signal chain and a troubleshooting checklist, then send the draft to Leah for technical review.
The tools that do the workAdobe AcrobatO*NET
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Investigate whether networks, workstations, the central processing unit of the system, or peripheral equipment are responding to a program's instructions.
+Check whether the studio workstation, networked playout server, and the MIDI interface respond to the latest…
Investigate whether networks, workstations, the central processing unit of the system, or peripheral equipment are responding to a program's instructions.
+Check whether the studio workstation, networked playout server, and the MIDI interface respond to the latest scheduling commands by running the heartbeat diagnostics and noting any timeouts or dropped packets for the network team.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2O*NET
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Write code and scripts
+Write the automation script that reads the cue list, applies fades and EQ presets, and exports per-track…
Write code and scripts
+Write the automation script that reads the cue list, applies fades and EQ presets, and exports per-track stems; include comments for parameter ranges and a self-test that validates output lengths.
The tools that do the workAJAXjob descriptions
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Debug and troubleshoot issues
+Reproduce the dropout on the Sunday show by replaying the exact cue sequence, capture logs from the audio…
Debug and troubleshoot issues
+Reproduce the dropout on the Sunday show by replaying the exact cue sequence, capture logs from the audio engine and MIDI bus, isolate the error source, and document the fix and rollback steps for the ops log.
The tools that do the workApache Cassandrajob descriptions
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Maintain and update programs
+Update the live show program file with today’s tempo changes, new cue times and corrected instrument channel…
Maintain and update programs
+Update the live show program file with today’s tempo changes, new cue times and corrected instrument channel assignments, run the timing calc across all scenes, then commit the revised program and email the stage manager for signoff by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWSjob descriptions
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Create prototypes and proof of concept
+Build a quick prototype patch that maps MIDI inputs to the new sample bank, sketch the signal flow, test…
Create prototypes and proof of concept
+Build a quick prototype patch that maps MIDI inputs to the new sample bank, sketch the signal flow, test latency under load with the drum kit and piano, and save the proof-of-concept audio clips for the composer by Friday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2job descriptions
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Follow industry standards and project plans
+Compare the current program specs to DDEX and AES67 guidelines, flag deviations in the project plan, update…
Follow industry standards and project plans
+Compare the current program specs to DDEX and AES67 guidelines, flag deviations in the project plan, update the spec sheet with required changes and notify the producer and tech lead before Monday’s planning meeting.
The tools that do the workAmazon Redshiftjob descriptions
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Stay updated with new technologies
+Survey the last six months’ industry releases and SDK notes for new audio engines and routing protocols,…
Stay updated with new technologies
+Survey the last six months’ industry releases and SDK notes for new audio engines and routing protocols, summarise three adoption options with risks and costs, and send the memo to the head of R&D by next Tuesday.
The tools that do the workAmazon DynamoDBjob descriptions
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Implement cybersecurity measures
+Harden the program deployment by adding encrypted credential storage, audit logging for every control…
Implement cybersecurity measures
+Harden the program deployment by adding encrypted credential storage, audit logging for every control message, run a penetration test on the networked audio nodes and deliver the vulnerability report to IT security by Friday noon.
The tools that do the workAnsiblejob descriptions
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Integrate third-party APIs
+Wire up the third-party scoring API to our cue engine, map authentication tokens, run full playback tests…
Integrate third-party APIs
+Wire up the third-party scoring API to our cue engine, map authentication tokens, run full playback tests with the orchestra patch and document the integration steps and failure modes for the integrator by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workAJAXjob descriptions
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Build and improve e-commerce platforms
+Prototype and improve the storefront checkout and catalog so digital album purchases, subscriptions, and…
Build and improve e-commerce platforms
+Prototype and improve the storefront checkout and catalog so digital album purchases, subscriptions, and merchandise scale to 50k daily users, list the changes, estimate engineering time, and push the ready deployment bundle to staging by next Wednesday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWSjob descriptions
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Test software
+Run the full regression on the playback and purchase flows, log every failure with steps to reproduce and…
Test software
+Run the full regression on the playback and purchase flows, log every failure with steps to reproduce and device details, prioritise fixes that break purchases, and deliver a verified build to QA by end of day tomorrow.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWSWikipedia
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Communicate with customers, managers, and engineers
+Draft a concise update for customers, the product manager, and the backend engineers explaining the outage…
Communicate with customers, managers, and engineers
+Draft a concise update for customers, the product manager, and the backend engineers explaining the outage impact, the mitigation steps taken, and the expected ETA for full service restoration by 4pm today.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWSWikipedia
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Diagram and design the construction of circuit boards
+Produce a layered schematic and placement plan for the new audio decoder board showing signal routing,…
Diagram and design the construction of circuit boards
+Produce a layered schematic and placement plan for the new audio decoder board showing signal routing, component footprints, and thermal constraints, review with the hardware lead, and export Gerber-ready files by Friday.
The tools that do the workApache HadoopESCO
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Says who?
These are the pages we read to build this. Open any of them and check us.
Activities this job lives in
The human activities behind the tasks — each with its honest AI ceiling.
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Shared with other careers — the same record means something different in each.
Related careers
Same family of work — each with its own tasks and prompts.
The LLOS Work Atlas is the world's largest evidenced task library — a map of human work, with a ready prompt behind every task. 1,774 careers · every task named by the sources that witnessed it — O*NET, ESCO, real job descriptions, Wikipedia — and the deepest tasks by several at once. And it is honest about limits: where AI cannot help, the map says so.
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Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses
Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses