NewsBreezer
March 7, 2023
“The 2023 outlook for the tech talent and hiring market is expected to show continued demand for tech talent, albeit at a slower pace than in recent years,” wrote Nodeflair and Iterative’s 2023 Tech Salary Report.
Tech salaries in Singapore rose in 2022 despite a spate of tech layoffs and a slowdown in hiring, according to a new report.
“The 2023 outlook in the tech talent and hiring market is expected to show continued demand for tech talent, albeit at a slower pace than in recent years,” said the report from tech salary aggregator Nodeflair and venture capital firm Iterative.
The positions with the highest year-over-year salary increases are Blockchain Engineers (+15.62%), Mobile Engineers (+11.73%), and Site Reliability Engineers (+10.63%), according to the 2023 Tech Salary Report.
Software developer salaries in Singapore also hit a record high after increasing an average of 7.6% in 2022.
But not all tech positions saw improved salaries.
Systems engineering saw salary declines of 2.01% year-over-year, while salary for cybersecurity engineering positions declined 1.67% year-over-year. Quality Assurance salaries also fell by 0.95% year-on-year.
“Salary growth is unlikely to reach double digits, reflecting a more stable and balanced market,” the report said.
Across Asia, Singapore-based software developers earned the highest wages, ranging from an average of $3,703 for junior positions to $10,183 for senior positions. Taiwan and Malaysia were the second and third highest paying countries, respectively.
The report considered over 169,000 data points collected from companies of all sizes and industries in NodeFlair’s proprietary database.
These data points include user payslips and offer letters, as well as job postings from job portals in 2022.
Most companies pay more – 10% or more – than average salaries, with 40% of companies paying 20% more than average.
Big tech companies are paying 35% to 50% more than the median, according to the report, which references companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.
According to the report, employers are increasingly looking for talent who can fill different roles.
“Instead of focusing solely on specialists, companies are now looking for people who are able to wear multiple hats, such as: a full-stack developer who can handle both front-end and back-end development,” the report said.
With the exploding popularity of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and the growing adoption of this technology in the industry, there is also a need for artificial intelligence experts.
Stability in companies is likely to be a key factor in retaining tech talent.
“Companies with strong cash flow, profitability, and sustainable business models with good unit economies will have an advantage when it comes to attracting and retaining tech talent,” the report said. “On the other hand, less stable companies might face challenges when it comes to retaining tech talent.”
“Tech talent will value cash compensation more than equity. This is because cash is more liquid and market sentiment for company valuation is expected to be more volatile.”
Tech talent in the top 10% of the cohort can expect to earn up to three times more than those in the bottom 10%, the report says.
For example, a software development manager in the bottom 10% made S$7,000 (US$5,200) per month, while those in the top 10% made SG$20,802.
Similarly, in India, the pay gap between the top 10% and bottom 10% of software developers can be as much as 3.8 times.
India’s software engineers working in top tech companies earn up to five times more than the average and 10 times more than the bottom 10%, data from the report shows.
