Europe Report: State of the Software Developer Nation

The past twelve months have been tough for the global tech industry and Europe has not been immune to the ongoing cool-down and reduction in VC funding. Among widespread hiring slow-downs and hiring freezes, there’ve also been significant layoffs.

7.5% of European developers report having been retrenched in the past year. While mass layoffs in Europe haven't reached the same proportions as in the US, the data might be misleading: a significant number of lost developer jobs could not be showing up in these statistics.

This lack of data is due to European labour laws and companies response to these laws. The current laws make it difficult to lay off employees, especially in countries like Germany and France. As a result, some companies try the route of voluntary departures and individual settlements.

Developers are entering a very different job market in 2023 to what they experienced 12 months ago. While there remains great career opportunities for skilled software developers, there’s now more competition for job vacancies too.

While some companies have slowed down or even stopped hiring altogether, those remaining stable businesses who are able to hire now are facing less competition for the best tech talent. They can afford to be more selective in their hiring decisions, which means job search timelines may increase.

Despite a changing job market, 1 in 3 developers are still looking to change roles this year.

It’s become even more important for job seekers to do their due diligence when assessing a potential company. This includes questions about a company’s finances, speaking to past and present employees, and checking public datasets for funding information.

Developers leave for better compensation, or because of poor management and wellbeing prioritisation. Companies who don’t ensure their team members see clear avenues for progression, both financially and skills wise, will face an uphill battle to retain their team members.

In the new macroeconomic climate, developers need to benchmark their compensation to realistic standards. One of the effects of the changing job market are on job package expectations. During the tech boom in 2021, salaries and job packages skyrocketed. In 2022, this trend started equalising again and is now finding its way back to pre-pandemic levels.

What median salaries can developers in Europe expect at different career levels?

Data from job ads in 2023 show junior developers in Germany earn a median salary of €40 300, which rises to €55 100 at the mid level and again to €63 900 per year once they become seniors.

Junior developers in the Netherlands earn a median annual salary of €42 900, rising to €57 800 at the mid-career level and again to €70 300 for seniors.

Developers based in the United Kingdom earn some of the highest salaries in Europe starting at €48 500 for juniors and rising to €73 800 for seniors.

The majority of developers received salary increases of more than 10% when they made their last job change. 1 in 8 even received a massive bump of 50% on their previous salaries! By contrast, staying in the same job and going through its annual review cycle granted 61.8% of developers an increase below 10%.

That's not to say that changing jobs frequently will lead to a great career. While demand for skilled developers remains high, companies might be willing to overlook someone's job search behaviour. Eventually though, a track record of job hopping might make companies cautious about hiring.
Furthermore, as the tech hiring market returns to pre-tech-boom levels, developers may find negotiating the same large salary increases previously on offer harder.

The majority of developers in Europe can work internationally with 1 in 4 even having the opportunity to work in another time zone. Despite this, more than half of developers live in the same city that their company is based in.

There are a few possible reasons for developers staying local.

One might be that companies still prefer to hire developers based in the same city.

Another could be that developers want the option to work remotely but may prefer to stay rooted in one location due to family or other commitments.

Developers may also choose to stay local because it gives them the option to come to an office and interact with their team members. We can see this in their remote preferences.

The majority of European developers are working at companies with a hybrid work policy and also prefer this setup. Only 3.4% still work in fully-office based environments.

So what makes hybrid so popular? One reason may be that it gives developers the flexibility to work remotely some of the time, while still allowing them opportunities to collaborate with their team in person.

Remote work has many benefits ranging from no commute to better productivity, but coming to the office some of the time might address a few of remote work’s challenges. Developers’ top remote struggles include the lack of human interaction with co-workers, the challenge in keeping personal and professional life separate, and looming burnout.

It's important for both employers and teams to find strategies to deliberately stay connected, and champion work-life boundaries, which can help improve a remote work environment.

The headlines have been dominated by rapid advances in AI following the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT. AI has captured developers' attention and leaves all other industries far behind. Across the continent, it’s the most promising industry in 2023.

It's safe to assume that the remaining industries on this list will be affected and influenced by further AI developments in the year ahead. As we share more data with AI tools, the importance of keeping data safe will only increase and make Cybersecurity more relevant than ever.

AI also affects the Cloud Tech sector as businesses like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google continue to invest heavily in AI’s potential.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT and trial versions of Open AI tools like Codex and GPT-tools give developers a chance to explore the possibilities of AI. However, this may not immediately translate into using AI as part of their roles. Despite AI's overwhelming lead as the most promising industry for developers in Europe, the majority has not yet built with it. This includes APIs, machine learning models, and code-writing assistants.

German developers seem to be the exception to this rule: Nearly half of them have worked with AI in the past year.

Of the developers that have used AI, the majority has done so in their personal capacity rather than at work. This reflects a commitment to levelling up and honing their craft to stay on the cutting edge of their field – which is not uncommon among developers. Ourur 2021 Netherlands and South Africa reports showthat the majority of developers code as a hobby, beyond their 9-5.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are the three top competitors in the cloud wars, but AWS is the clear leader across the continent.

With Amazon establishing an unassailable lead, the battle is heating up for second place. Azure may hold second place overall, but Google Cloud Platform takes second among German developers.

Company size also matters: While Microsoft’s Azure Platform is the most used platform among Europe’s enterprise companies, Google Cloud Platform is the most used platform by European startups with fewer than 10 employees.