And the IRS will never ask you to make a payment by credit card, debit card or prepaid card. If you receive one of these calls, the attorney general recommends that you should hang up immediately and report the scam to the IRS. The number to report a possible scam to the IRS is 800-829-1040.
To move this back from games, here in New York, an average senior C++ programmer in finance gets anywhere between 150 and 250k/yr, and companies that aren't doing finance have to match the salaries or lose the people. it's no picnic, though, long hours doesn't even begin to describe it.
Harsh Vardhan, Resident of Silicon Valley for more than a decade. Salary is not the only thing programmers are compensated by. Then there is the question of the core skills of what you consider to be an average programmer. If you are doing mundane tasks based on clear and explicit directions then your average salary is likely to be low and can range from $80-$120k or so. These are also jobs your employer can easily outsource to one of the manpower firms with cheap labor within the valley or a remote development center in a cheaper country.