Why Zig programmers are making so much money
2 min readOct 12, 2024
Zig programmers are making a significant amount of money due to a combination of factors. One major reason is the high demand for systems programming expertise, which Zig is well-suited to provide. Additionally, companies that use Zig tend to pay well, and the language’s niche status means that developers with Zig skills are in short supply.
What makes Zig special?
- Zig is an open-source general-purpose programming language and toolchain that focuses on debugging applications.
- It is a minimal, fully-featured systems programming language that addresses common issues C developers encounter.
- Its entire syntax is specified with a 500-line PEG grammar file.
- There’s no hidden control flow, no hidden memory allocations, no preprocessor, and no macros.
- Zig has four build modes, and they can all be mixed and matched all the way down to scope granularity.
- It introduced a fresh approach to metaprogramming based on compile-time code execution and lazy evaluation called “comptime” which lets you manipulate types as values without runtime overhead.
- One of Zig’s toolchain’s advantages is its ability to cross-compile code for different platforms and architectures.
Theories behind high salaries
- High demand for Zig means higher pay: There seems to be a demand for Zig that is higher than the number of devs using it. That pull-and-push dynamic could have landed Zig in the sweet spot which allows developers to negotiate higher salaries.
- Companies using Zig happen to pay well: It could be that the companies using Zig pay well, and Zig just happens to be happily caught in between. One of the highest-profile companies using Zig is Uber, which pays software engineers more than €10,000 a month, according to Glassdoor.
How to get started with Zig?
- Developers can rely on Zig for embedded systems. Arduino projects (its IDE uses C++) could provide a platform to blend in Zig, especially if you can tweak C libraries and experiment with its features.
- If you’re on the front end side of things, an open-source project slyly christened Zigar allows you to use Zig with JavaScript.
- You can always check the Zig-on-LLMs project and try to deploy your Large Language Model at home.
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