Average Software Developer Salary Worldwide

Since IT is flourishing around the globe, skillful software developers are in great demand.

20:45 22 October 2020

Each of the rapidly growing sectors, such as IoT, VR, Big Data, blockchain, etc, requires an enormous number of well-qualified engineers to propel the business. Many companies are ready to invest in talented students, acquire mature professionals by offering them high salaries and generous bonus systems, and do their best to headhunt the top-performing employees from other companies. The competition for efficient minds is very tough! 

 

The staff shortage is so severe in some countries that local companies are willing to relocate software developers from anywhere, including other continents. It may happen both to successful individuals who are invited to join companies abroad and sometimes to whole teams including a few dozens of developers and other employees whose successful products are bought by well-established corporations.

 

Of course, not every company can afford to hire highly paid software developers from their local markets (because salaries in certain countries are much higher than in the rest of the world), however, moving a person or a whole team across the state borderlines will not work for them either. Before we consider affordable alternatives, let’s check the major factors affecting an average software developer salary:

 

• Skills and proficiency: It includes the programming languages a developer operates (e.g. C++, Java, Python, Ruby, etc) and his\her specific field of operation and experience: front-end, back-end, full-stack, game, mobile, etc. There are also lots of nuances, such as specific coding frameworks and instruments a developer has mastered. 
  
  

• Years in business: It defines whether a software developer can be considered a junior, middle, or a senior level specialist. While the entry-level developer salaries are usually pretty low, the senior programmers (10+ years of experience) are paid the highest salaries in the industry.
  
  

• Company: Each company has its own model of compensation and employee recognition depending on multiple factors, such as years of service, success of its products, prestige, personal performance, etc. Giants such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google, etc are known as the best software developer employers in the world. 
  
  

• Education: No wonders here -- If you have graduated from a respectful institution, such as the University of California, then your chances of getting a good job in a large company skyrocket.
  
  

• Location: One of the key factors affecting the rest. Average salaries of software developers in the USA and other Western countries are considered to be the highest in comparison to the same level professionals from Asia or Eastern Europe. Salaries tend to be unequal in different parts of the world, which is a sad truth, but it allows employers to save on their projects!
  
  

Different countries, different software developer salaries?

 

Salaries across the globe are pretty different, depending on the general income and price level in every standalone country or region. Also, it depends on the type of developers we are looking for. The global salary leader is the USA: the average software engineer salary in the United States reaches as high as $107K per year. At the same time, a Microsoft Azure developer’s salary hits the mark of $160K per year for most experienced workers. The average full-stack software engineer’s annual salary in the USA can be around $100K per year, while a back-end developer can make up to $120K (which is roughly $10K per month). 

 

At the same time, the average IT developer salary in Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Belarus, etc), Brazil, or Argentina is almost twice lower -- about $40-50K per year. For example, a senior back-end developer in Ukraine earns just around $45K per annum, while a senior full-stack software engineer makes $43-45K (which is about 3-4K per month). These numbers are nearly the same for Latin American countries. What does it mean for US-based employers? It means hiring specialists from abroad can help them save a fortune on their projects!

 

How can I hire software developers abroad without relocating them to my country? 

 

If you’re looking for a chance to involve some foreign developers in your projects in order to cut the costs, then full or partial project outsourcing can be your right saving trick. Developers from countries like Ukraine are a wonderful combination of good education and cost-efficiency, helping you get the job done and keep many thousand dollars to yourself. Moreover, you don’t have to move them to your country. The hiring professionals, such as BridgeTeams, can help you staff your projects without overpaying in salaries to software developers from Western countries. BridgeTeams will save your time for high-level and strategic tasks: you would not need to spend time and money on team staffing and onboarding new team members yourself. Instead, you’ll get a full-blooded R&D office that has all the needed potential to become an organic part of your business processes.