Programmers are people who write codes, they use their technology prowess to make the world a better place. They use programming languages to create programs that solve problems or automate tasks.
Code can be written in any text editor, but most programmers use IDEs (integrated development environments) because they offer features like syntax highlighting and autocompletion that make writing code easier and faster.
There are many prolific programmers in the world, but some of the most notable ones include Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page. These individuals have made significant contributions to the advancement of technology, and their work has helped to shape the world as we know it today.
List of Richest Programmers
Below is a comprehensive list of the richest programmers in the world today.
Elon Musk | Net worth $158 Billion
Projects: Zip2 and X.com, Tesla, SpaceX
If you ask anyone this question Is Elon Musk a programmer? You get an answer like;
No, Elon Musk is not a programmer. He is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and several other startups. He has a degree in economics and physics from Stanford University.
While many people may know Elon Musk from his successful enterprises in industries such as technology and retail, it is important to not forget about the impact he had on startups.
In 1995, Zip2 was born which aimed at replacing Yellow Pages with an online directory service for cities across America; a project that was implemented using JAVA, however, this initiative failed when Google Maps came out during the 2000s decade (just after ZIPS sale).
Afterward, Elon formed X.com Holding Corporation along California Bank Teller Association becoming CEO where he invested $10M profits from the $22 million gained off of selling Zip2 the same year -you can see why I love tracking these guys!
They later sold X.com for $1.5 Billion and got a share profit of $165 million. Because of his success, he was able to fund several projects that interested him. These included Tesla and SpaceX which are both electric car companies as well as another one called SolarCity Corporation with neighbors Bradmoil Fluker(a famous American entrepreneur).
Bill Gates | Net worth $120 Billion
Projects: Microsoft Windows
Yes, Bill Gates is a programmer. He started programming when he was just 13 years old and has gone on to create some of the most successful software programs in history. In fact, Gates is often credited with helping to launch the personal computer revolution with his work on early Microsoft products.
Bill Gate is an entrepreneur and business magnate who co-founded Microsoft. He is the second richest person in the world, with a net worth of over $120 billion.
Gate has been involved in a number of philanthropic endeavors through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he founded with his wife in 2000. The foundation is the world’s largest philanthropic organization and has donated more than $40 billion to various causes around the world.
Gate has also been involved in politics, serving as an advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron on issues such as technology and innovation. In recent years he has become a vocal advocate for efforts to combat climate change and infectious diseases like malaria and Ebola.
Larry Page | Net worth $78.1 Billion
Project: Google Search, Alphabet
Larry Page is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who co-founded Google. He is the CEO of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company. As of January 2020, he has a net worth of $78.1 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world.
Page started programming at the age of 10, and by 12 he had created a software program called “Google”, which crawled the web pages on Stanford’s network and made a searchable database. After enrolling at Stanford University in 1995, Page teamed up with Sergey Brin to create “BackRub”, a search engine that used links between websites to rank their importance. In 1998, they renamed their project “Google” and launched it as a publicly available search engine that pulled pages from Stanford’s website.
Sergey Brin | Net worth $63.9 Billion
Project: Google Search, Alphabet
Sergey Mikhailovich Brin is an American computer scientist and internet business entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google. Together, they own about 16 percent of the company’s stock. As of February 2019, he was estimated to be the ninth-richest person in the world with a net worth of $63.9 billion.
Bin immigrated to the United States from Russia at the age of 6. He became interested in computers at an early age and started programming them when he was just 12 years old.
After graduating from high school, he attended Stanford University where he met Page. The two began working on a search engine called BackRub that used links between websites to rank their importance. Google was born out of this project and quickly grew into an Internet powerhouse. As of 2019, Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world.
Satoshi Nakamoto | Net worth $19.6 Billion
Project: Bitcoin
Satoshi Nakamoto is a name used by an unknown person who designed bitcoin and created its original reference implementation. As of February 2022, Nakamoto’s net worth was estimated to be US$19.6 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world.
Nakamoto is believed to be a pseudonym, and given that he has not been associated with any cryptocurrency-related activity since April 2011, his true identity remains a mystery. In May 2013, two journalists from The New Yorker unsuccessfully attempted to track down Nakamoto.
In March 2014, Wired magazine published a feature story attempting to identify Nakamoto with circumstantial evidence but ultimately failed to do so.
In July 2015, Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright claimed to be Nakamoto, but a number of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency developers immediately expressed their doubts about his claim.
Patrick Collison and John Collison | Net Worth: $3.2 Billion each
Project: Stripe
Patrick and John Collison are Irish brothers who founded Stripe, a company that allows businesses to easily accept payments over the internet. The company is now worth an estimated $9 billion, and the brothers themselves are each worth an estimated $3.2 billion.
Interestingly, both Patrick and John dropped out of college in order to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions. And while they could have easily pursued other high-paying jobs, they decided to take a risk and create their own company. The gamble has certainly paid off, as Stripe is now one of the most successful companies in the world.
Markus Persson | Net Worth: $2 Billion
Project: Minecraft and Mojang
Born on June 1, 1979, in Stockholm, Sweden to a Finnish mother and a Swedish father, he grew up with his sister. His name is Markus Alexej Persson but he shortened it to Markus Persson when he started working as a game developer.
His interest in video games began at a very young age and he created his first game – called “Cave Game” – when he was only 8. As a teenager, Persson became known as a wunderkind programmer who finished school to become a full-time developer. In later years, he moved from Sweden to the U.S. for a short while to work with various game developers before he eventually went back home to found Mojang.
Markus Persson, also known as “Notch”, is a Swedish video game developer and the creator of the popular indie game Minecraft. In late 2014, Microsoft purchased Mojang, the company that Persson founded with Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh in 2009, for $2.5 billion.
Persson has a net worth of $2 billion as of Feb. 2022. Much of his wealth comes from his stake in Mojang, which Microsoft purchased for $2.5 billion in late 2014. Prior to founding Mojang, he had worked on various video game projects including the canceled RTS game 0x10c and the mobile port of Quake III Arena.
Minecraft, which was released in 2009, was a huge success for Persson. He has sold more than 50 million copies of the game and it is still selling like hot cakes.
Persson’s impact on video games goes far beyond Minecraft though, as the Swedish developer also founded Mojang along with Jakob Porsér and Carl Manneh in 2009. Mojang was later purchased by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in late 2014.
Rasmus Lerdorf | Net worth $1.4 Billion
Project: Developed PHP
Rasmus Lerdorf is a Danish programmer who created the PHP scripting language, as well as the first two versions of the MySql database. He was born in 1971 and has a net worth of $1.4 billion.
Lerdorf’s project is widely used on the internet, and he has been credited with developing a large portion of the code that makes up the modern web. In addition to his work on PHP and MySql, Lerdorf also developed the Apache HTTP Server module for processing PHP code. He currently resides in Santa Clara, California.
Mark Zuckerberg | Net worth $85 Billion
Project: Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg is a programmer. He started programming in middle school and continued programming through his time at Harvard. In fact, he wrote the code for Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder and CEO of Facebook. He is one of the world’s youngest billionaires and he was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2010.
Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York, to a Jewish family. He began coding at a young age and built several games for his classmates while he was still in high school. After graduation, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he met Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes—the future founders of Facebook.
In 2004, Zuckerberg launched “Thefacebook” as a Harvard sophomore dormitory project. The website quickly spread to other colleges and within two years had over 1 million users.
Vitalik Buterin | Net Worth: $500 Million
Project: Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin is a Russian-Canadian programmer, best known as the creator of Ethereum. He was born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to Canada.
Buterin first learned about bitcoin in 2011 and began working on Ethereum in 2013. He held a fundraiser to develop the project, which raised over 18 million dollars worth of bitcoin. The Ethereum network launched in July 2015.
Since then, Buterin has continued to work on Ethereum and has also been involved in other cryptocurrency projects. As of January 2018, he is estimated to be worth $500 million.
Steve Wozniak | Net Worth: $100 Million
Project: Apple software stack
Steve Gary Wozniak is an American inventor, electronics engineer, and computer programmer who co-founded Apple Inc.
He is known as the “Wizard of Woz” – a nickname given to him by his fellow workers at Hewlett-Packard. Wozniak single-handedly designed both the Apple I and Apple II computers, which were critical in launching the personal computer revolution.
His contributions to technology have been recognized through numerous awards and honors, including induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011.
Today, Wozniak remains an active figure in Silicon Valley’s tech industry as an angel investor and adviser. He currently has a net worth of $100 million. In recent years, Wozniak has been seen in a slew of interviews, PBS documentaries, and international conferences.
He also continues to travel around the world demonstrating his latest technology inventions through various forums. “I just love to invent things that I believe will make an improvement in our lives,” he says.
