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OfferZen’s Week in Review: 16 October

16 October 2023, by Josh Nel

In this week’s roundup from OfferZen, we give you a sneak peek at data from our latest Dev Nation Survey, explore how you can craft a remote policy that helps you attract South African developers, and what it costs to hire a Java developer in 2023.

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Exclusive Dev Nation sneak peek: Forcing a return to the office could cost you developers

This year we’ve seen multiple tech companies across the globe, including Meta, Microsoft, and Apple, trying to enforce a return-to-office movement. So far, South African companies have resisted this and appear to have embraced remote set-ups.

A sneak peek at data from the latest Dev Nation survey shows that the overwhelming majority of South African developers have the option to work from home at least some of the time. In fact, fewer than 1 in 10 developers are required to work from the office every day:

Developers' remote work policies

The same data also shows that the majority of developers prefer remote and hybrid work set-ups:

Developers' preferred remote work policies

So why are developers so keen on remote work? Well, it turns out developers love remote work because it saves time commuting, gives them more control over how they work, and leads to better productivity and work-life balance.

The main benefits of remote for developers

Many are even prepared to leave a role that doesn’t offer enough flexibility or remote opportunities. Over half of South African developers would consider leaving a role if their company required them to return to a fully in-office policy.

"Would you leave your job if your employer required you to return to the office?"

That makes your remote policy a key factor in retaining your current developers and attracting new ones. Let’s take a look at how you can create a remote policy that sets you up to scale and retain your team.

Want an easy way to hire top developers? Create a remote policy that works for your devs

The incoming data shows that your remote work policy plays a major role in retaining your best developers and hiring new ones. If you want to bring your team into the office, you’ll need to make a compelling offer to make it worth their while.

With the RTO vs WFH debate going strong, we’ve cut out the opinions and gone straight to the developer community.

In this free downloadable guide, you’ll get exclusive insights and data into:

  • Work policies and their impact on landing top developers.
  • How developers of different seniorities view remote work.
  • What developers are looking for to make the commute worth it.

Tweet of the week

Here’s what it costs to hire a Java developer in South Africa



Average Salary by Years Experience, showing 25th and 75th percentiles

Want to know what Java developers earn in South Africa? We gathered data from 2788 developers to better understand what developers can expect to earn over the course of their careers.

How to make critical developer hires under pressure

In addition to navigating remote work policies, companies are also facing a tough tech hiring climate that’s forcing hiring teams across the globe to do more with less when scaling their teams. But what’s the situation on the ground in South Africa?

For engineering managers under pressure to hire critical roles, it's critical that you find ways to create a great developer experience. But how do you do that when hiring isn’t your main job?.

Join us for an online conversation with Ruberto Paulo, Head of Engineering at Peach Payments, about tips and tricks that’ll help you scale your team fast in today’s tech climate.

In this session, we’ll look at:

  • What it’s like to hire developers in South Africa today
  • Ensuring a good developer experience in this context
  • Practical tips to structure your process and optimise for speed

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