Developers are the authors of the digital age because if you want anything done these days you need one or a team to execute whatever ideas you have. One thing I have been curious about is developer salaries in Zim as well as in Africa and where we rank on the continent. Luckily that question was sort of answered by an organisation called Tunga.
Who/What is Tunga?
Tunga is a collective that connects African developers to international projects and teams. The organisation says its mission is to create jobs for African Tech Talent by finding experienced developers in our pool of vetted professionals. Tunga takes applications from all over Africa and they put those candidates through an extensive evaluation process which includes tests for software languages and frameworks.
Additionally, developers are tested for abstract thinking, situational awareness, written and spoken communication and English proficiency. Individuals or companies who are looking for African developers can then sift through the more than 650 vetted candidates for their projects.
Introductions now out of the way
Well, now we arrive at what you have been all waiting for, Zim Developer salaries and those across the continent according to Tunga’s findings. Well, as the title says Zim developers on average make the 4th highest at €778 which is about US$880 per month.
Well, it won’t come as a surprise that South Africa takes the cake with an average salary of €1,911/month. This amount is almost double that of our #2 and reflects the relatively advanced economy of SA. As shown in Figure 1, Moroccan coders are the second highest earners (€1,018), followed by the Kenyans (€788). Nigeria (€586) and Uganda (€568) – home to quite a few Tunga devs – are halfway down the table, with Ethiopia all the way at the bottom (€194)
Swipe Left for High Earners
These figures are for the average salaries, as for the high earners, Zim developers came in third to South Africa and Morocco when it came to the high earners at €1,742 (US$1,970).
The most obvious explanation is that the spread is simply a reflection of the different general salary levels in big cities and less urbanized areas.
A high spread score can also point towards a fast-growing demand for coders in that country, where new hires earn higher salaries much quicker than developers that stay in their job. This seems a likely explanation: in a growing, dynamic tech environment, there is more call for developers, which results in upward pressure on the salaries.
Tunga
Factoring cost of living
The only way to really see the impact of these figures is to put them against the standard of living in each of the countries. To do this Tunga used a benchmark that was arrived at by Numbeo.
“We found data on the cost of living in the various countries on Numbeo. This site uses a ‘basket’ of expenses (consumer goods prices for things like groceries, restaurants, transportation, rent and utilities) to compare costs in various locations.”
Tunga
When the numbers were crunched Zimbabwe fell from 4th to 9th for average earners and from 3rd to 6th for high earners.
Swipe Left for High Earners
Eye-opening information
As we always say with studies, a grain of salt is usually what’s needed because some local devs might be earning local currency (in part or full) and there is some financial gymnastics that come with that. But the information that Tunga was able to gather is really interesting. I encourage you to read their full findings with the link here.
I’d very much like to hear from the local developers if the findings are in the ball part of what you are making locally or internationally if you are remote workers.
You should also check out
A few weeks ago we had the pleasure to talk to Takudzwa Shamu, a Zim developer who is working in Denmark about the trails of the industry locally and how he found his opportunity in Europe.
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