Software development is represented by everyday life and recognized as an “engine of the economy”. Based on our internal data from Techloop, we have created important overviews of salaries, positions, programming languages and other information that are an integral part of the hiring process in order fill open positions. These are the valuable insights that might help you to better understand the current situation on the market and set up your strategy for successful recruitment. In this post we focus on the Czech Software development market. More countries coming soon…
Basic information
- Around 250.000 employees and freelancers are working in Software development & ICT industry in Czech republic
- This amount increases in absolute numbers every year
- The number of developers has doubled in the last 5 years
- The biggest pool of candidates is in Prague, Brno, Ostrava and Plzeň
- The ratio of men and women is 9:1
- 54% have received a university degree, 40% have received a high school degree and 6% lower education
- Age ranges are 20-29 = 20%, 30-39 = 36%, 40-49 = 26%, 50+ = 18%
- 79% of companies struggle to find new colleagues
- Over 20,000 students in the Czech Republic and 5,000 graduates every year, the number of foreign students is raising at Czech universities
- Freelance work is preferred by 60% of developers. Approximately 20% is interested in part-time work.
- An average developer stays with one employer approximately 3 years
Salaries
Companies publish salaries upfront on Techloop. The average salary for an employment contract is 68,000 CZK. Open positions for junior developers are usually around 40,000 CZK, for mid level 60,000 CZK and for senior open positions 80,000 CZK per month.
When it comes to self-employed candidates, an average range starts from 450-800 CZK/hour according to seniority. The final amount depends on experience and skill level in IT environment, desired programming language skills, the number of programming languages, experience with team leading, soft skills, location. Another factor is the employer itself and its budget options (e.g. a startup company getting the first investment vs international corporation in banking industry).
Relocation/Remote work
Based on our experience only a fraction of developers are willing to fully relocate. Overall, the tendency of developers working remotely for a foreign company and stay in the Czech Republic is increasing. Many of the international companies are building up their central development offices in the Czech Republic which is a win-win situation for both companies and the developers. This is a great option for companies from abroad to find first-class developers. Compared to the market in the US, or Western Europe, it is also an economically advantageous option. In the Czech Republic, developer’s salaries are much above the market average and living costs are pretty acceptable compared to Western markets. We are seeing many foreigners relocating to the Czech Republic in order to benefit from high income/low living cost ratio.
Programming languages
The most in demand are still software developers (backend, frontend ), followed by IT administrators, architects, testers, managers and of course consultants and analysts.
The most popular programming languages are JavaScript, PHP, Java, SQL, Python, C#, languages for Android and iOS.
In spite of the fact that the number of available developers is rising, companies are still facing the issue to find the right match for their IT position. In the Czech Republic only, there is a shortage of several thousands of developers. There are two main characteristics that the most successful IT hiring companies have in common:
- Strong brand and company culture
- Effective recruitment process
Key factors candidates consider before taking a job
What is important for hiring companies to understand is that there is no single or magical factor for a candidate to accept a new job. It’s a combination of several key factors where if one is missing or weak, the other factors should compensate for it. In Techloop, we approached 1000 candidates to identify 5 key factors that affect that decision. Here they are:
- High-quality product and when they have a line of sight on the value they have created
- Specific project that has to make sense for their business goals and technical background
- Financial compensation and company reputation. More than 50% of developers are willing to go lower with their salary expectations in exchange for a meaningful job offer. Another 30% would consider it as an option.
- More than 80% of developers claim that the recruitment process itself affects their final decision.
- Last but not the least significant factors are company culture, working from home and informal working environment.
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