tech
Tier 2 · mid · representative cell
Software Engineer — AI labor economics
Designs, builds, and maintains software systems. Combines coding with system design, code review, and operational responsibility.
What follows is the matrix-derived read for this role at a representative cell. Your numbers will differ — compute your own Wagecard for the precise read on your geo, experience, salary, and task mix.
Operational AI cost
$5,051/mo
Tokens · oversight · retries · integration · orchestration.
Market rate (Tier 2 mid)
$135,300/yr
p25 $112,299 · p75 $159,654 · p90 $189,420
Economic substitution exposure
41 / 100
Lower = more human-leveraged. Mixed / Low confidence.
Substitution distribution
By hours-weighted share across this role's tasks
Replaceable0%
AI-augmented38%
Human-led + AI-assisted13%
Human-critical50%
Per-task read
The capability and human-advantage scores driving the role-level numbers.
Task
Capability
Reliability
Error cost
Human-advantage
Debug production incidents
50
45
5/5
60/100
On-call response
30
30
5/5
80/100
Code review
55
55
3/5
50/100
Write production code
78
70
3/5
25/100
Write documentation
80
75
2/5
25/100
Write tests
82
75
2/5
20/100
Design system architecture
45
40
5/5
75/100
Mentor junior engineers
20
20
5/5
90/100
Compute your own Software Engineer Wagecard
Pick your geo, experience, salary, and the task mix that fits your actual week. Anonymous preview before sign-in; full result + share link with a free account.
Computed against capability matrix v1 · model v1-mvp · representative cell (Tier 2 / mid). Refreshed when the matrix refreshes. Open methodology at /methodology.