The demand for software engineers has gone up over the past few years – and there are no signs that this demand will die out anytime soon. Software engineering as an occupation is expected to grow by over 20% in the next eight years. There are high chances that your business will require a software engineer to join the team (if there are none yet).
There is a put-together detailed guide on how to hire a software engineer to help you find out what pitfalls might occur when developing your business or project. In this post, you will learn more about the factors that influence the pricing and average cost of hiring software engineers.
The Costs Behind The Employment
Lack of experienced talents representing relevant skillset is the main reason behind bugs, failed deadlines, going over the budget, not meeting the stakeholders’ needs, and bad practices during design and development processes.
If an employer is a prosperous business with fixed processes and an advanced HR department, it is most likely to focus on full-time, in-house recruitment. Although, no matter how successful the company or its product is, there are numerous obstacles to overcome in the process of a perfect talent search:
- Lack of talents
- Taxes, benefits, medical insurance
- Hardware and office costs
- Vacations, sick leaves, maternal leaves.
In general, 70% of the total developer cost includes the net salary, and 30% goes for taxes and benefits.
Main Factors Influencing The Cost
Choosing the right partners to build your business along with is crucial. As a business owner, you must have already considered the budget for your website or application’s scale, main features, and design. However, those unfamiliar with the digital landscape might find it challenging to define the relevant pricing to their requirements. The remaining question is how to calculate the final cost of the development?
There are a few key variables to keep in mind as the rate of a software engineer mainly comes down to three main factors. The project scope, location, and experience of the developer will determine the final cost.
Project Scope & Complexity
The type and the complexity of the software you aim to develop play a decisive role and dictate your development cost. We will not surprise you as we claim the more sophisticated the solution, the larger the budget. For instance, an AI-integrated software solution will demand taking into employment a developer with specialized skills and would raise the general project cost.
Major scope categories that affect the cost of hiring a developer are APIs, hosting environment, application size, databases, and time-frames. Building a software product demands taking care of three significant scopes of work that influence the budgets depending on the complexity of each of the phases:
- Product design
- Front-end development
- Back-end development
Experience Level
It is not surprising that the higher experience one has got, the higher compensation he or she requests. Considering the rise of software development and coding, the salary expectations are growing exponentially.
On A Budget? Young Developers Are A Solution
When in need of completing a project on time and with a small budget, you should opt for freelance software engineers who recently dropped out of college and are striving for challenging projects. Keep in mind that they may not have enough experience, and you may need to put more effort into adapting them.
Budget More For Developers With 10+ Years of Experience
Senior tech leads with remarkable project management experience will cost much more than devs with less experience or experience in non-lead positions.
The experience of the engineering team may vary
No matter what the project is, mixing the team of senior developers and those with technical skills but less experience is a great strategy. Lack the raw time overseeing projects from start to finish. You will benefit by keeping costs manageable while ensuring that you don’t end up with a product that doesn’t work as intended. Such a team composition will help less experienced developers grow quickly.
Location
The location of the project team is one of the most decisive factors that influence your budget. Software developers are paid pretty well everywhere. In other words, it doesn’t matter where your company is because software engineers can be hired from any point of the globe. We are lucky to live in a world where all aspects of project creation and management can be done wide away. Although, it is essential to count on the prices that are common in certain countries. For example, a software engineer from Silicon Valley will cost you much more than an engineer from Eastern Europe.
Hiring a remote team will enable you to make your vision a reality. No matter where your developers operate, you should concentrate on creating a remarkable software product that does what you want.
Final Verdict
Understanding the factors that contribute to the cost of hiring developers will help you make the right choice for you and your business. Overall, the “hiring a software engineer” equation is simple: cost = project requirements + location + experience. In Ukraine, the average salaries of software engineers are the following:
- Trainee: up to $600 or free learning courses
- Junior: $600-$2000
- Middle: $2000-$5500
- Senior: $4000-$7000+
Software engineers will help you manage the development of your digital product with current strategies so you can spend more time running the business and marketing aspects of your enterprise.
