The only time I've seen where it wouldn't be exempt is if you paid them hourly.

It isn't that simple. For a software developer to be exempt their salary must be above 83K a year[1]. That is why EA ran a foul of it even though their devs were salaried.

[1]http://www.gotovertime.com/computer_pro.html

"Salary" jobs are exempt, but certain jobs are non-exempt by law, because the work is considered so hourly-like and non-independent that the "salary" is considered a sham.

(Example: You can't be a "exempt, salaried" clerk at a store if you are required to be at the store from 8am to 6pm and are required to do a specific set of tasks in a prescribed way.)

That doesn't say anything about the situation where programmers would ever be non-exempt unless you paid them hourly instead of a salary.