How Much Does It Cost to Hire Front-end Developers?

The front-end developer salary cannot simply be expressed in a number. There are big differences in the monthly salary due to the professional experience, the industry, the negotiating skills and the level of knowledge. The most important factor, however, is the location of the programmer.

• Salaries due to the location

The highest salaries are paid to employees in Switzerland, the USA and Israel. When you hire front-end developers from these countries, be ready to empty your purse. With an average salary of $ 84,000 per month in Switzerland, $ 68,000 in the US and $ 60,000 in Israel, companies have a lot of money to spend on good programmers. But front-end developers in Germany, Austria and Great Britain also earn up to 73,000 USD a month. In Switzerland some salaries are even as high as 124,000 US dollars.

Thus, a front-end developer in Berlin can rarely earn more than a front-end developer in Zurich. Even front-end designers in other countries cannot negotiate a higher salary than in Central Europe despite their higher level of knowledge and better work results. However, the cost of living also plays a major role.

For example, a web front-end developer in Ukraine only earns 1,000 to 1,500 euros. This salary is still very high compared to the cost of living. This means that employees can have a comfortable life there despite lower prices for entrepreneurs.

Companies from Central Europe can now derive great advantages from these differences. The price savings for the frontend developer salary can now be spent on meaningful things. This makes the end product significantly more attractive for customers and can be monetized more easily.

• How can the salary of a front-end developer grow?

Your salary as a front-end developer depends on many different factors. On the one hand, professional experience plays a decisive role, on the other hand, the size of the company or the region in which you want to work. Last but not least, your negotiating skills also affect your salary.

Your salary also starts increasing with your professional experience: If you have been working for less than 5 years, your salary is on average $ 2,810 per month, while with 5-10 years of practical experience you can expect a starting salary of $ 3,080 per month.

After more than 10 years in the job, your average salary can be $ 3,830 per month.

• How can you hire front-end developers?

There are many different ways to hire front-end developers with good skills in the globalized world. Each option has advantages and disadvantages in terms of price, availability and effort.

1. Hire local front-end programmers

A frequently used option for expanding one’s own team is to hire a front-end developer on site. For example, front-end developers in Germany or US can be very well trained, have good ratings from previous employers and know the special features for local customers.

It is relatively easy to hire an employee at the company’s location. Local newspapers, advertisements or searches on job platforms help create the job advertisement. The only difficulty is that the local experts do not always have the time, do not have the necessary experience or are inflexible. Furthermore, the hourly rate is relatively high. In addition, companies still have to consider the costs of advertising and time-consuming job interviews.

• Find freelance front end software developers

Freelancers and self-employed programmers can be hired easily and flexibly on the basis of a project. This means that entrepreneurs do not have to hire full-time front-end developers. After a successful collaboration, the employee issues an invoice, with no additional costs than the agreed hourly rate. The hourly rate might be slightly higher than for a permanent employee, but there are no social security and professional association fees.

However, it is very difficult to find good and reliable freelancers as there are many “experts” around the world. Most of the time, the ratings or work experience are not real, which means that the developers’ knowledge is insufficient. It is important that the freelancer has a solid base of skills, can provide evidence of past projects with good feedback and has a complete resume. The advantage is that there are young and at the same time talented talents for 67 $ per hour, because they need good feedback.

The disadvantage is that the search is very time-consuming. There are many platforms for the search for freelancers, but clients can never be entirely sure of the profiles. The use of agencies is therefore more suitable for many projects. At least in Europe, these have the disadvantage of high costs.

Agencies from abroad are therefore better. In times of high prices in Central Europe, the outsourcing of front-end developers is a good idea. There are differences, however.

• Hire front-end developers through outstaffing and outsourcing

Outsourcing is very popular right now as it reduces employee costs, increases flexibility, and gives companies access to the world’s best experts. With this concept, the programmers are employed by an agency. This receives the orders from clients and distributes the work to its own employees. The disadvantage is that the customers do not have direct access to the people. These usually work on several projects and are not under the direct management of clients.

The Outstaffing model is better. The employees are still employed by the agency and clients receive the same benefits. The difference is that the employees are under the direct management of the customers. In addition, they only work for one client. In this way, the programmers can be perfectly integrated into the existing team. This means that the work processes can be carried out with good results. In this way, clients receive a perfect application or another software solution.

Many entrepreneurs are currently relying on nearshoring in Ukraine. This combines the advantages of local experts and low hourly rates. The programmers are often even better trained. When using such service providers, there are also no high costs for search, personal administration and taxes.

The most important thing about an outstaffing service provider is communication. On the one hand, this applies to contact with the client and communication within the team. With some providers, customers have to wait a long time for an answer. When you use outstaffing services, you can get help by email, contact form or phone. Plus, they only work for you and are not distracted from other projects.

Conclusion

As you can see, your salary as a frontend developer depends on various factors. Here are the facts again:

As a front-end developer, you earn an average of $ 2,930 per month. Depending on the size of the company, work experience and region, you can earn up to $ 56,000 per year. As a beginner, you can earn an average of $ 2,500 a month.

It is important that you make a job not only dependent on the salary. The working atmosphere, the team and company-specific benefits should also be included in your decision.

Thanks for reading and I will be glad to hear your feedback!