Today, software engineers are at-bat while companies are competing for talent with attractive compensation packages. If you are a programmer or a person looking to hire one and guesstimating the costs, this article will overview an average software engineer hourly rate by country.
What Does Influence Software Engineer Hourly Rate?
There are many aspects that influence coders’ hourly wages. You need to factor them all in to get a better understanding of future expenses. Let's have a look.
Tech stack
Countries thronged with developers well-versed in your specific tech stack unlock two benefits at once. You can recruit them quicker and for a reasonable price. For example, Python and NodeJS specialists charge less than developers with knowledge of lesser-known technologies like Scala or F#.
Experience
If a coder holds hands-on experience in a particular field and has quite an impressive number of working years under his or her belt, their chances of earning will be brighter. Thus, newly-minted software engineers can expect to make less compared to their senior-level colleagues.
Project complexity
Overall, project complexity comes down to three points: uncertainty, novelty, and security matters. So, if your product requires constant strategy alterations and adaptations, cutting-edge technologies, and advanced security measures, be prepared to shell out a higher remuneration to your developer.
Time pressure
If you want your solution to be up and running in short order, odds are high, you will be on expenses. Tight deadlines usually call for personnel reinforcement, which means you’ll have several software engineers sharing the workload. This, naturally, raises the bar as well.
Location
This is another contributing factor I focus on in this article. The salary patterns fluctuate considerably from country to country, which is good news for developers and companies. They can always find a salary that works best for them.
With that being said, let’s zoom in on some of the most popular software development destinations.
How Much Do Software Developers Make An Hour?
If you want to find out the best price for software development services, here is a small, yet comprehensive aide-mémoire on average coder earnings per hour.
UK
Not only does the digital tech sector lead the UK’s economy forward, but it also positions the nation as an innovative, networked, and pioneering leader. Naturally, software developers are well-compensated within the country. Thus, an average hourly salary varies from $19 to $27,5 for beginner developers to $39-$49 for senior-level specialists. Mid-level specialists charge around $29-$40 for their hourly work.
Germany
Germany also stays at the forefront of technological innovation. In 2020, the tech industry has brought an additional 88.2 billion euros into the budget. As for the software specialists’ incomes, senior coders with years of experience charge the highest of $40-$42,5 per hour. Newly-minted engineers make as much as $20,5-$22,5, whereas mid-level programmers charge around $30-$31,5 per hour.
Ukraine
With the country being home to multiple successful companies that have gone international, it’s no surprise that Ukraine has been recognized as a European tech powerhouse. What makes this location even more alluring is the affordable developer charges. A newly-minted software engineer prices his services at $5-$7,5 per hour, whereas specialists with 3+ years of experience raise their charges up to $16-$16,5. A senior-level coder makes as much as $23-$24.
India
As of 2020, India's IT workforce accounts for 4.36 million employees, which makes it an eminent sourcing destination. The range to hire developers starts from $3,5 for junior specialists and goes up to $9-$12,5 for senior programmers. Mid-level developers estimate their hourly work at $5,5-$8.
USA
The tech sector is an economic star of the USA and the world in general. American tech giants are at the heart of innovation accounting for almost 50% of the $5 trl IT market. The majority of junior software developer wages lie in the range of $29,5-$46, whereas developers have an hourly compensation of $38-$60,25. The payment for senior-level coders starts at $50,5 and reaches $75,25.
The Takeaway
With an increasing demand for software by global start-ups and enterprises, a developer drought has grown outside of Silicon Valley a long time ago. As you see from the article, the USA is the best-paying country, whereas India is at the bottom of our list.
Top comments (11)
Hi, nicely explained. Please do mention of living cost too, as you shared like salaries are low in India, so is living cost. But that's my opinion only, may be others agree.
The living cost might be low, but the price for the technical products/services they pay for are higher due to the exchange rate, tax, the import fees and the margin gain which companies wants.
For example, when you pay $9/m for a service and your salary is $2000/m its not a problem, but when your salary is around $500/m its problematic for you.
At the end, most of the service providers does not change the price per country, all users will pay the same (some will change the currency between Euro and USD), and they will add the local tax to the price.
The same for the cost of certifications, when they ask for $150 (like for example AWS certificates) you need to compare it also with the income.
Now, lets talk about the price of the hardware, and I am going to take apple laptops as an example, in the US they will pay for example $900 with a tax based on the city they are living at, but in other countries the price will bump up to $1200 for the same device plus the local tax.
So when your salary is $4000 and you have to pay $900 its okay and you can pay it in one month, but when your salary is $500 or even $1000 you will have to save multiple months and make sure that what you are saving does not affect your life, and eventually you can buy a device, or you will always try to find a second hand device.
Back to the US, the article didn't mention the new actions from Twitter and Facebook, or how Gitlab pay for remote employees, where they will depend on where the employee is living even if he is living within the US. Which add a new level of unfairness to our tech industry.
The bottom line point is that, its not acceptable to always take the cost of living as a measure to determine how much the developer should be paid.
The developer should be paid based on his quality of work and the work he is doing for the company, not get less because he is living in another country.
Hi Zaher,
I agree with you, but the cost of living is just one metric for comparison, because most new devs only see the salaries, leaving other factors behind.
Agree with your thought, on developers should be paid enough, based on his/her performance and work quality, along with experience.
But the issue is compared salaries across for work and previous work. For example, if you getting 1000$ previously, you may get an increment in a new job for like, 1200$ maybe.
But for the same job, if a person before was having 500-600$ as a salary, he may get an increment around 700-800.
but this should not be the case, which is currently happening.
Being related to the placement industry working remotely, I can say there are very unfair practices of providing salaries to people. Persons having the same experience, but from different locations, different colleges get different salaries.
Hi Balvinder ,
Now from last few years in india also prices going very high , because of worthless leaders , not able to control prices and to favour only some business families.
Hi Balvinder ,
I agree with you there are a lot of unfairness in the work and the business in general, for example, when you work remotely for a US company while you are in India, this does not make you an employee instead you are a contractor which means you don't have the same benefits nor protection as the employee for the same company, and for sure an employee who do the same work as you will get way much better than you.
Now comparing the previous salaries does not make any sense, as you are not required by law to expose your last work salary to the new employer (at least this is what I know), and some countries make it illegal for companies to ask you about your previous salary. and lets be honest, the salary depends on how good you are in negotiation, in the same company you can find more than 3 different employees who have the same job title but they are paid differently, why because of how they negotiate their way in the company.
Companies will try hard to reduce the expenses, while make sure the revenue is high, one way to do that is to hire people with law salaries (and benefits too), and the lies they always say:
I can understand that everyone of us have his own special situation, and you can't force all people to do what you think is correct and not accept such unfair jobs.
so unless we stand out for such unfairness and make sure everyone understand how companies and HR departments manipulate the industry, we can't change that.
We all deserve to be treated equally, when we pay for the same technologies equally.
hi Zaher, yeah I agree there are laws but in some countries only.
Countries like India or neighboring countries like Pakistan, Nepal don't have these laws. Still, we need to have payslips from previous companies as proof of what we were getting and some may ask for bank statements in case no payslips.
Negotiations can be made, but only if companies mention the salary or salary range in job post details but no one does.
Speaking of the US working as a contract directly or indirectly, like, we don't get insurance, allowances, or other benefits. But still, salaries and bonuses work well, at some.
But the again same issue here like, because of the competition of people from different countries, instead of giving a fixed salary, they will like to look for hiring someone with less pay.
Situations, policies are different everywhere.
Like they do not depend only on the salary we get.
HI Hotcoder,
yeah, there has been a hike in almost all things in India, because of corrupt practices. But working here is about staying in your own country with your families, where you can manage.
But in other countries, you are on your own, until you get a good job to support yourself
I am not arguing that what you have said is wrong, I am just voicing my own opinion on the topic.
Everyone has his own situation, like for example, when I forced to leave Syria, it was not something I did by choice, and there for I had to face so many challenges, some I was able to overcome by working remotely. And for sure each country has its own rule which we can't generalize (like saying all software developers are getting $200k/y because this is what someone is taking in the US or EU .. etc).
Lets be honest, Its a corrupted industry supported by corrupted systems.
Hi Zaher,
at first i said its just my opinion. I am also not arguing, just mentioned what I feel.
yeah,same i am trying to say every system in each country, works differently, whether corrupt or not.
no worries we are all here sharing our own opinions 👍
cheers
yeah thats what a community is about...
cheers