Week in Review: Full stack skills are in demand but it still pays more to specialise on the backend

In this week’s roundup from OfferZen, we deep dive into our data to see how much it costs to hire full stack developers in 2024, how Kohde saved crucial time hiring 25 developers with OfferZen, and how to design your tech team to maximise productivity in 2024.

Exclusive Dev Nation sneak peek: Full stack skillsets offer the best of both worlds, but it pays to specialise

When scaling your team, one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make is whether specialised or general skills will make the biggest impact on your business. On top of that, you’ll also need to factor in what your company can afford. With that in mind, let’s look at what it costs to hire developers with each type of skill set.

Full stack skills are in demand

First, let’s start by looking at the distribution of roles developers currently occupy:

"Which of the following best describes your current role?"

Backend remains the highest-paying skill set

On average, full stack developers earn 12% less than backend developers and 9% more than frontend developers:

Average developer salary by role

A closer look at the data reveals that the gap between frontend and full stack developers has practically disappeared for large parts of their careers. Full stack developer salaries have remained relatively unchanged over the past 12 months, while frontend developer salaries have grown steadily from two years of experience all the way to the 6-10 year mark.

Generalists might become harder to find in the future

The increasing complexity of software development means that more developers will likely specialise in the next few years. In a recent webinar looking at CTO strategies for making critical developer hires under pressure, Ruberto Paulo, Head of Engineering at Peach Payments, highlighted that:

Full stack developers remain in demand. But the increasing depth and complexity of programming languages means that developers are now more focused on specialising in front-end or back-end development.

“People are now really specialising in those spaces, which is a very interesting change,” noted Ruberto. “So, when you’re looking for an engineer that can do it all, that’s becoming quite hard.”

If you’re looking for more salary data to help you benchmark for your open roles, we’ve put together a salary report where you’ll get exclusive insights and data into:

• Developer salaries in 2024
• The best-paying industries for South African developers
• Benchmarks for niche skills in 2024

How Kohde saved crucial time and hired 25 developers with OfferZen

Wasting too much time in the early stages of your hiring process can mean several months of delay in getting a great new developer on board.

The Kohde team saved significant time hiring on OfferZen compared to traditional hiring methods and quickly found the quality developers they needed.

In this case study, we unpack how they managed to hire 25 developers to date including:

• How they reduced the effort required to work through CVs
• Addressed delays in communication
• Minimised the cost of hiring with an unlimited subscription

Tweet of the week

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

Want to know what JavaScript developers earn in South Africa? We gathered data from 2479 developers to better understand what developers can expect to earn over the course of their careers.

Designing Your Tech Team to Maximise Productivity in 2024

2024 is around the corner, and it’s the perfect time to start thinking about how to structure and scale your tech team. But where do you even start?

With budget constraints, tight deadlines and little time － every developer on your team has a critical role to play.

When you have a well-designed team, efficiency and productivity skyrockets. This translates into shorter development times, a higher quality product and happier customers. So how do you do that?

Join us for an online conversation with Steve Bissett, Senior Engineering Manager at Zappi, as we take a look at the lessons from tech leaders in 2023 and dive into what you need to know about designing and scaling your team in the new year.

In this webinar, we’ll cover:

• Lessons from building tech teams in 2023.
• Exclusive data from OfferZen’s latest developer survey on hiring in 2024.
• Top insights for designing your tech team and scaling it in 2024.