google published its Africa Developer Ecosystem Report for 2021, and it revealed that while the average salary of software developers is increasing, junior developers are seeing their salaries go down.
According to the report, the average annual income of junior developers fell from $13,000 (R197,000) in 2020 to $11,800 (R179,000) in 2021, a drop of around 9%.
Google attributed the decline to an “oversupply of junior developers and perceived lower skill levels”.
Google’s Africa Developer Ecosystem Report analyzes the populations, salaries, and demographics of software developers in 16 African countries.
Along with changes in salary trends, the report also revealed that the population of developers in South Africa increased by almost 2% in 2021, from 119,000 in 2020 to 121,000 in 2021.
Over the same period, the continent as a whole saw its population of developers grow by 3.8%, from 690,000 to 716,000.
Google’s report also showed that demand from local and international organizations for African developers has increased.
He attributed this to the emergence of more African tech startups and the shift to remote working caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The continent’s tech startups raised $4.3 billion (R65 billion) in 2021, 2.5 times more than in 2020.
Google results corroborate those recently published by OfferZen State of the Nation of Software Developers Report.
It showed that the average salary of developers with four years of experience or less had fallen in South Africa.
According to OfferZen, software developers with less than two years of experience earned an average of R20,000 per month in 2022, compared to around R21,000 in 2021.
Those with between two and four years of experience have seen their salaries stagnate.
In contrast, senior developers experienced a significant increase in average salaries. According to the report, senior developers earned an average of R83,000 per month in 2022, up 11% from R75,000 in 2021.
OfferZen also noted that inexperienced backend developers earned 27% more than their front-end peers.
The gap for developers with more than ten years of experience is wider. Senior backend developers earn on average 33% more than their frontend counterparts.
The industries that pay developers the most are financial technology and cloud, followed by data and analytics, e-commerce and consulting.
Developers working in e-commerce or telecommunications saw the largest year-over-year salary growth, averaging 9%.
