Well, as a result of this recession, I have had to go and do some research - because some of us are interested in migrating to other professions especially as this recession period is really tough on programmers.

So here we go in no particular order mind you:

1. CEO/BUSINESS MOGUL: Some CEOS earn like N40 million / annum
2. PASTOR: A powerful beginner in this circle would take as much a N5 million, while some make 9 times as much.
3. PETROLEUM ENGINEER: An average salary will be N12 million / annum
4. AERONAUTIC ENGINEER: Some get up to N11 million / annum
5. Surgeon: Some get up to N11 million / annum too
6. PILOT: they get paid about N9 million / annum
7. TELECOMS ENGINEER: The pay here too is very high
8. Investment bankers: their reward is based on their work.
9. Musician: some of them get paid N2 for their presence in an event
10. Politicians: i dont need to say anything about this

The above figures are not too reliable, but they at least give us a bit of an insight.

Programmers are problem solvers. They figure out how to make computers solve problems. They are among the top 5 best paid professions in developed worlds but in naija they are probably the least appreciated financially.
Some may get about N5 million yearly (while some may not even get a quarter of that annually)

Nice one.

all those professions have high entry cost.
ceo - mba, years of work experience etc. N40m -- some earn in upto N100m+ . Stock options and the rest blows the total package outta d water. talking Billions
Track to ceo/executive position requires some expensive education:
mba , msc , certs. mba at cheapest tuition is about $20k = ~N10m.
expensive ones can be 10 times that.
The ceo of microsoft had been in the industry for around 20+ years b4 clinching that position.


pastor - takes years to grow a ministry , establish a presence and reputation, build an ultra-modern worship place (milking house) etc before the money comes in. If your reputation is large enough,
"the lord can bless you beyond your imagination" - how much does oyedepo , chris okotie , etc rake in?
many pastors never make it far.

musician - dicey profession. like robert kiyosaki says, only 1% of people here make the big bucks.
for every1 making N2m, there are 9999, slaving away on peanuts you've never heard off. And will never amount to anything!!
Two, for musicians, time in the spot light is limited. Just a few years.
who's still hearing of timaya, akon, tu face, p square?

what of chartered accountants? arent they hot? going by the way people tout ican/acca like its a golden wand.
economist nko? financial analysts?


petroleum engineer - that is if you get a job in an oil company. if you no get the job. nothing for you.
telecom engineer - ditto with petroleum engineer
investment banker - high sounding name. what do these people even do? Nigerian economy is still mono product based.

pilot - yeah. good. I think a job is more likely gauranteed on graduation. But it aint a walk in profession.
like programming/web designing is.

surgeon - that amount you quoted comes from 10+ years of studious investment.
not a cake walk.

To become a medical consultant can take 13yrs or more after passing JAMB.

One thing i wanted to point out though, is that to make good money, even average money, you need a platform bigger than you to deliver it to you. This is often always beyond the reach of any single person to create.
the ceo - rakes in a salary delivered thru the network of companies he's overseeing.
the pilot- airlines companies
the investment banker - banks etc
the pet engineer - oil companies

google engineers earn $200k+ but google created the platform to deliver this amount (via salary to them)
the platform itself cost $billions to build.
This is why most self employed people cant compete with well paid people at all. They just dont have the platform (and attendant army of workers to generate the money they need).
In nigeria, we have not many platforms for programmers. Bankers have. Programmers? no.
So programming will be bottom line here for a long time. Infact for all 3rd world countries the situation is the same.
America has google,facebook,twitter,apple,microsoft,amazon - all platforms. Nigeria nko? konga? jumia?

It is so bad that when you are getting married, if you tell your prospective inlaws that you are a programmer, mehn, yawa fit gas.

dhtml18:
It is so bad that when you are getting married, if you tell your prospective inlaws that you are a programmer, mehn, yawa fit gas.

Say you a problem solver, you in safe hands

Mama noticed my recent prolonged stay with my pc paying rapt attention and asked me whats the reason behind it and i told her i wanted to be a web developer and she probed further asking for intricate details about the term. I said we are the dudes that solve problems with a computer and it involves we thinking through a prevailing problem and come up with a digital product that would solve the problem hence improving the lives of those who have being plagued by that problem. She couldn't still get it then i told her i want to be like Mark Zuckerberg and was like oooooo that Facebook guy and i nodded in affirmation.

Mark is the keyword, that is the one they can understand, not all those jargons you are saying.