11
kurtr
6y

TLDR;
How much do you earn for your skill set in your country vs your cost of living?
BONUS;
See how much I & others earn.

Recently I became aware of just how massive the gap in developers earnings are between countries. I'd love to calculate a fixed score for income vs cost of living.

I know this stuff is sensitive to some so if you prefer just post your score (avg income p/m after tax / cost of living).

I'm not shy so I'll go first:

MY RATES
Normal Rate (Long term): $23
Consulting / Short term: $30-$74
Pen Test: $1500 once off.
Pen Test Fixes: consulting rate.
Simple work/websites: min $400+
Family & Friends: Dev friends are usually free (when mutually beneficial). Family and others can fuck off, even if they can pay (I pass their info to dev friends with fair warning).

GENERAL INFO
Experience: 9 years
Country: South Africa
Developer rareness in country: Very Rare (+-90 job openings per job seeker).
Middle class wage in country: $1550 p/m (can afford a new car, decent apartment & some luxuries like beer/eating out).
Employment type: Permanent though I can and do freelance occasionally.
Client Locality: Mostly local.
Developer Type: Web Developer (True web dev - I do anything web related from custom HTTP servers to sockets, services, advanced browser api's, apps & more).

STACKS / SKILLSETS

I'M PROFICIENT IN:
python, JavaScript, ASP classic, bash, php, html, css, sql, msql, elastic search, REST, SOAP, DOM, IIS, apache

I DABBLE WITH:
ASP.net, C++, ruby, GO, nginx, tesseract

MY SPECIALTIES:
application architecture, automation, integrations, db's, real time data, advanced browser apps/extensions (webRTC, canvas etc).

SUMMARY
Avg income p/m after tax: $2250
Cost of living (car+rent+food): $1200
Score: 1.85

*Note: For integrity when calculating my cost of living I excluded debt repayments and only kept my necessities which are transport, food & shelter.

I really hope you guy's post your results, it would be great to get an idea of which is really the worst / best country to be a developer in.

Comments
  • 1
    Tldr but heres an estimation

    country: Hungary
    cost: ~150k huf if not in capital, ~200k otherwise
    pay: ~250k, ~400k
    job: java/android (android pays a bit less)
    open positions: 2 fucking trillion open jobs
  • 1
    I'll be quite brief :)
    Score in Toronto (estimate, as will move in a few weeks, but have some calculations)
    1.67

    But that's just me, with wife's income score should be around 2.27

    .net / SharePoint dev / admin
  • 0
    @BindView So is it safe to say, using averages your score is 1.85 (325k / 175k)?
  • 1
    Where I live:
    Single Person: 400 to 600$ Rent
    Personal expenses: 400$/mth (assuming you go out only during weekend, or at least no more than 3 times a week)

    Earning: 5$/hr * 200hr/wk = 1000$/mnth

    Usually if you don't live in your parents home you'll end your month with 0$ left
    I'm lucky I live with my parents
  • 0
    and a promotion or Salary increase is not something easily earned, I know people that worked for 15 years same company, no promotion and no salary increase, they entered at 1500$ and remained at 1500$
    Of course these days, you start at 700$ and after 5years you reach 1500$ and after 10 years you reach 1800 to 2000$
    then continue until end of life :)
  • 0
    @gitpush that's why I relocated out of my country...
  • 1
    @gitpush 200hrs/week, at $5/hr??? :o

    Surely you mean 200hrs/month?
  • 1
    @gitpush So your on a break-even score of 1. Just survivable.

    This is exactly why I wanted to do this exercise, in my country you would find a job in an hour and have a 1.8+ score. It's also very useful data for outsourcing work based on country.
  • 2
    @Ezard shit yes sorry per month 😅
  • 1
    @kurtr if you put those data online plz tag me I want to know where do I start hunting after I graduate in summer
  • 0
    @kurtr yeah, but it varies based on language a lot
  • 0
    @BindView Yeah, it also varies drastically on how rare devs are in the country. That's why I included my skills and dev rareness, in hind site I shoulda cut the crap out & asked for score, skills, country and dev rareness.

    Guess I'm too used paying attention to small details :P
  • 1
    @gitpush That's the general idea, if I get enough feedback I intend on putting up a collab and site for both developers personal use & to help find the best country to seek remote work / outsource to based on bang for your buck, cultural differences & demand
  • 0
    @kurtr great thanks man 😀
  • 2
    It's hard to determine with debt and widely-varying bills (e.g. a/c in the desert), but I'd estimate 1.85~2.25

    Then again, we're pretty frugal.
  • 1
    Ag nee fok. Iemand vir my 'n job as kar wag dalk?
  • 1
    @penderis Nee fokkit, hoekom will jy as 'n car wag werk as jy 40 miljoen kan verkoop om 'n Wordpress-tema aan die ANC te verkoop?
  • 1
    @kurtr That is genius should look into developing for government. get paid 40mil buy theme for 50 bucks. Maybe just fix my skintone first. ya know
  • 1
    @penderis A friend in need is a friend in deed, but a friend with a tender is better. 😂
  • 2
    Switzerland:
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