What it pays
Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.
Half of all Software Developers in the U.S. earn more than $135,980 a year — the middle 80% land between $82,460 and $214,670. About 1.7 million people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Software Developers”. (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).
$135,980typical pay / year
1.7 millionpeople in this work
$214,670+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.
Keeping the record5
Maintain and update existing software
+Maintain the client portal workflows this week: update the user onboarding flow to handle tiered…
Maintain and update existing software
+Maintain the client portal workflows this week: update the user onboarding flow to handle tiered subscriptions, fix the broken webhook that’s dropping payments, run integration tests, and deploy the patch to production after verifying no regressions on staging by Friday.
The tools that do the workAJAXjob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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Document software development processes
+Write the developer playbook for our app: document the release checklist, branching and merge process, code…
Document software development processes
+Write the developer playbook for our app: document the release checklist, branching and merge process, code review criteria, and the troubleshooting steps for the two most common runtime errors; publish the living document to the team by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workAdobe AcrobatESCOjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Program all kinds of software systems
+Build the customer billing service: design the data model, assemble the integration flows for payment…
Program all kinds of software systems
+Build the customer billing service: design the data model, assemble the integration flows for payment provider and CRM, author the validation rules, and deliver a working prototype that handles retries and idempotency before the end of sprint two.
The tools that do the workAmazon DynamoDBESCOjob descriptions
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Develop software design specifications
+Produce the system design spec for the next quarter: define modules, interfaces, sequence diagrams for the…
Develop software design specifications
+Produce the system design spec for the next quarter: define modules, interfaces, sequence diagrams for the order pipeline, data contracts for external APIs, and acceptance criteria so the backend and integration team can estimate work on Monday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Build, test, and deploy software solutions
+Assemble a working prototype that validates the payment flow: wire the user sign-up, purchase and receipt…
Build, test, and deploy software solutions
+Assemble a working prototype that validates the payment flow: wire the user sign-up, purchase and receipt screens, create automated test scripts for the happy path and two failure cases, then deploy the build to the staging slot for QA.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationESCOjob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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Get approval1
Evaluate feasibility of software projects
+Run a quick feasibility review for the social-sharing feature: estimate backend storage and query costs for…
Evaluate feasibility of software projects
+Run a quick feasibility review for the social-sharing feature: estimate backend storage and query costs for projected 100k users, list three technical risks with mitigation, and recommend whether to prototype or drop this quarter based on cost thresholds.
The tools that do the workAmazon RedshiftAlteryxjob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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The daily work14
Plan and install new software systems
+Plan and install the new customer onboarding system for Account Services: map integrations with billing and…
Plan and install new software systems
+Plan and install the new customer onboarding system for Account Services: map integrations with billing and CRM, choose data flows, draft deployment steps, then provision the sandbox environment and schedule the production cutover for Friday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationjob descriptionsO*NET
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Debug and troubleshoot software errors
+Investigate the intermittent form submission failures on the marketing site: gather error logs, reproduce the…
Debug and troubleshoot software errors
+Investigate the intermittent form submission failures on the marketing site: gather error logs, reproduce the steps that fail, isolate the faulty workflow module, patch the logic and run the regression tests before noon tomorrow.
The tools that do the workAJAXjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Design user interfaces and improve UI/UX
+Redesign the client dashboard to reduce task time: create low-fidelity layouts for desktop and mobile, run…
Design user interfaces and improve UI/UX
+Redesign the client dashboard to reduce task time: create low-fidelity layouts for desktop and mobile, run quick usability tests with three account managers, capture feedback, and produce a prioritized list of UI changes to implement next sprint.
The tools that do the workAdobe IllustratorAdobe Photoshopjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Prepare reports or correspondence concerning project specifications, activities, or status.
+Compile the weekly project status memo for the executive sponsor: summarise completed user stories, blocked…
Prepare reports or correspondence concerning project specifications, activities, or status.
+Compile the weekly project status memo for the executive sponsor: summarise completed user stories, blocked items with owners, risks and mitigation, budget burn to date, and attach the updated timeline before 3pm Wednesday.
The tools that do the workAdobe InDesignO*NET
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Store, retrieve, and manipulate data for analysis of system capabilities and requirements.
+Build the data model to analyse system capabilities: ingest the last six months of event data, normalise…
Store, retrieve, and manipulate data for analysis of system capabilities and requirements.
+Build the data model to analyse system capabilities: ingest the last six months of event data, normalise entities, create queryable views for performance metrics and provide sample queries for capacity planning by Friday.
The tools that do the workAmazon RedshiftO*NET
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Determine system performance standards.
+Define the performance standards for the new API: identify key endpoints, set target latency and error-rate…
Determine system performance standards.
+Define the performance standards for the new API: identify key endpoints, set target latency and error-rate thresholds under peak load, produce benchmark scenarios and an acceptance checklist for the QA gate.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2O*NET
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Support users in using software applications
+Help Emily and the support team resolve five live user issues in the customer portal today: reproduce each…
Support users in using software applications
+Help Emily and the support team resolve five live user issues in the customer portal today: reproduce each bug, document the steps and expected behaviour, apply the approved workaround or update the configuration, then notify the affected users with clear next steps before 5pm.
The tools that do the workAJAXWikipedia
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Utilise computer-aided software engineering tools
+Create a component library of reusable UI workflows for the product team: design patterns for form…
Utilise computer-aided software engineering tools
+Create a component library of reusable UI workflows for the product team: design patterns for form validation, data binding, and error states, include usage examples and implementation notes, then publish the library to the internal wiki by Friday.
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Train users to use new or modified equipment.
+Run a two-hour hands-on session for the support team on the new form builder and device connector, cover…
Train users to use new or modified equipment.
+Run a two-hour hands-on session for the support team on the new form builder and device connector, cover common setup errors, a checklist for first-run validation, and leave a one-page quick reference on the shared drive before Friday afternoon.
The tools that do the workAlteryxO*NET
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Review code for errors and improvements
+Do a line-by-line review of the automation flows and integrations, flag unreachable steps, propose…
Review code for errors and improvements
+Do a line-by-line review of the automation flows and integrations, flag unreachable steps, propose pattern-based refactors for maintainability, and return an annotated copy with priority fixes by Wednesday noon.
The tools that do the workAlteryxjob descriptions
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Collaborate with team members on development projects
+Run a one-hour workshop with Maya from product and Leo from QA to map feature dependencies, assign owners for…
Collaborate with team members on development projects
+Run a one-hour workshop with Maya from product and Leo from QA to map feature dependencies, assign owners for each task in the backlog, and export the agreed task list to the team board before the sprint planning meeting.
The tools that do the workAlteryxjob descriptions
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Ensure software security and data protection
+Audit the current access rules and data flows, produce a risk register showing where sensitive fields are…
Ensure software security and data protection
+Audit the current access rules and data flows, produce a risk register showing where sensitive fields are exposed, recommend encryption or tokenisation fixes, and circulate the report to Sam in security and to Legal by Friday.
The tools that do the workAmazon DynamoDBjob descriptions
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Monitor software performance post-deployment
+Set up a lightweight performance dashboard for the new workflows, capture error rates, throughput and…
Monitor software performance post-deployment
+Set up a lightweight performance dashboard for the new workflows, capture error rates, throughput and run-time percentiles for the past week, and send a weekly digest to the engineering lead and product manager every Monday.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2job descriptions
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Release software updates and versions
+Prepare and stage the patch bundle for the next release, update the versioned runbook and rollback plan,…
Release software updates and versions
+Prepare and stage the patch bundle for the next release, update the versioned runbook and rollback plan, schedule the rollout to the pilot group Tuesday night, and notify support and the account owner before deploy.
The tools that do the workAmazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationWikipedia
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Says who?
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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.
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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