who he is and how much he earns. TypeScript - median $ 3000

Who is a front-end developer, in what language he writes, what frameworks he uses, where he lives and how much he earns. Ukrainian resource DOU.UA analyzed 1,440 Summer Salary Survey Front-end Developers and answered all of these questions.

The most interesting thing: almost half of the Front-end Developers in Kiev have the title Senior, the popularity of TypeScript is actively growing, and the salaries of those who have TypeScript as their main programming language are higher than those of JavaScript.

The article shows the median salaries, “net”, that is, after all taxes and duties, and calculated in US dollars.

Many beginners and the proportion of women is higher than among other developers

The average age of front-end developers is almost the same as the average age of other IT professionals: the median for a front-end developer is 28 years, for developers and IT professionals in general – 29 years.

Like the rest of the IT pros, the majority of front-end specialists have a college degree (86% of front-end developers and 87% of developers in general). Somewhat less often, compared to other developers, they studied in KPI (12% versus 14% among all developers) and somewhat more often in small or non-core universities (55% versus 49%).

Among front-end developers, the proportion of women is higher than among other developers – 12% versus 8% among developers in general. Although, there are noticeably fewer of them here than among other IT specialists (23% of all IT specialists we surveyed are women).

There are more beginners in the frontend: only 29% of these specialists have more than 5 years of experience in IT, while on average among developers, their share reaches 42%. As a result, there are fewer specialists of the Senior level and above (36% versus 47% among developers in general), and more specialists of the Middle level (42% versus 36%) and Junior (20% versus 15%).

Also, front-end developers know English somewhat worse than other developers: 58% rate their level as beginner or intermediate, while among developers there are only 52%.

The popularity of TypeScript is growing, the most popular library is React.js

Almost all front-end specialists use JavaScript at work (96% of respondents), and 70% use TypeScript. TypeScript is gradually gaining popularity among front-end developers: in 2021, this language is the main language for 28% of them (in December 2020 – for 25%). The share of those for whom JavaScript is the main one dropped in six months from 72 to 69%.

Main programming language

All languages used

64% of respondents use the React.js library, another 29% use Angular. Other libraries and frameworks are less popular: 18% of frontend professionals use Vue.js, 10% use jQuery, 9% use React Native, 3% use WordPress, and the rest use less than 1% per language. 49% of respondents choose one library or framework for work, 28% – two and another 23% – three.

What library and framework is used in work

Those for whom JavaScript is the main programming language prefer the React.js library (70%), followed by Angular (19%). They also use Vue.js (22%), jQuery (12%), React Native (10%), WordPress (3%) more often than those with the main programming language TypeScript.

Developers who use TypeScript more often use both Angular (53%) and React.js (51%) equally often, and they are hardly attracted to other frameworks.

Compared to other developers, front-end developers are more likely to write for the Web as well as for mobile platforms.

Target platforms

TypeScript front-end salaries over JavaScript

Front-end salaries are slightly lower compared to Back-end, Full Stack and Mobile specialists. The median salaries among front-end developers, according to our survey, in June 2021 were $ 2,500, while in the Back-end and Mobile – $ 3,000, and Full Stack – $ 2,800.

First of all, this can be explained by the fact that the Front-end employs fewer experienced specialists than among other specializations. If we compare developers with the same work experience, the salary gap disappears, and experienced front-end developers receive the same salaries as specialists in the Back-end, Full Stack and Mobile.

In addition, it should be noted that the survey was conducted in the summer. And, taking into account the overheating of the market, we assume that the median could have slightly increased so far. But we will see this already in the results of the winter survey.

Median developer salaries: experience and specialization

TypeScript specialists have a higher median salary. Among those who have it as the main programming language, it is $ 3000 versus $ 2300 for those who have the main language JavaScript.

Front-end users who primarily use TypeScript are slightly more experienced than those who choose JavaScript (36% of TypeScript specialists have over 5 years in IT, versus 25% of those with JavaScript as their main language).

However, TypeScript writers are willing to pay more despite their experience. The difference in salaries disappears only among the most experienced developers: the median salaries of those with more than 10 years of experience in IT are almost the same for both languages.

Median Salaries: TypeScript vs JavaScript

Libraries and frameworks that a front-end specialist works with also affect the amount of remuneration.

Those who choose Angular have the highest salaries – $ 3000. And again, those who use TypeScript more often have slightly higher salaries ($ 3100), JavaScript – slightly lower ($ 2700).

The median salary of respondents using React.js strongly depends on the main programming language: for those with TypeScript, the median salary is $ 3,000, and for those with JavaScript, it is only $ 2,350.

Significantly lower salaries for specialists who prefer Vue.js, jQuery and Native: $ 2300 for those who use Vue.js, $ 2200 for React Native, $ 1700 for jQuery.

Median Salaries: Libraries and Frameworks

Front-end salary does not depend on the type of company, but depends on the level of English

English proficiency can also affect front-end salaries. The exception is beginners with work experience of up to a year, their salaries do not depend on the level of English.

However, already for those who have been working in IT for 1-2 years, the difference is noticeable: the median salary of specialists with an initial level of English is about $ 800, an intermediate level is $ 1200, and an advanced one is $ 1500. For those who have been working for 10 years or more, the difference is even more significant: the median salary of those who know English at the elementary level is $ 3000, on the average – $ 3650, advanced – $ 4600.

Median Salaries: English

In Kiev, the median salary of front-end specialists is slightly higher than in other cities: $ 3000 in Kiev, $ 2500 in Lvov and Odessa, about $ 2300 in Kharkov and Dnipro. In Kiev, it is higher because most of the experienced specialists are here: 42% of front-end developers in the capital have the title Senior or higher, while in other cities there are only 31% of them.

If we analyze salaries by level of specialists, the difference between cities practically disappears. In Kiev, Senior gets a little more: $ 4200 versus $ 4000 in other cities. Junior and Middle in Kiev and Odessa have the same median salaries ($ 900 and $ 2400, respectively). In other cities, salaries are slightly lower, but the difference is only $ 100-200.

Significantly lower salaries for Senior in Dnipro: $ 3500 versus $ 4000 in general. However, given the active increase in the salaries of IT specialists in Ukraine, we expect growth in this group of specialists as well.

Median Salaries: Cities

As in the case of cities, the difference in the salaries of front-end specialists working in different companies depends primarily on the level of the specialist, and not on the type of company.

The highest median salary for front-end employees in outstaffing companies – $ 3,000 – due to the large share of specialists at the Senior level and above (47%). This is followed by grocery companies, in which there are also many seniors + (40%) and middle (44%) – $ 2800. Slightly lower median salaries in startups and outsourcing companies ($ 2350 and $ 2200, respectively). In these companies, about a third of front-end developers are Junior or Intern.

If we analyze these companies in terms of the titles of specialists, then there is practically no difference. Slightly higher salaries for Senior and Middle in startups ($ 4550 vs. $ 4000 in total, $ 2350 vs. $ 2200 in general), and Junior in outstaff ($ 1000 vs. $ 750 in total). In outsourcing companies, senior salaries are slightly lower than other companies ($ 3800 versus $ 4000 in general).

Median Salaries: Company Type

Median salaries are slightly higher in large companies due to the fact that they hire more experienced specialists: $ 2,800 in companies with +200 employees, $ 2,400 in companies with 50 to 200 specialists, $ 2,000 in companies with 10 to 50 specialists, and $ 1,600 in up to 10 specialists.

For front-end developers at the same level, the difference in salaries in companies of different sizes is small. Large companies (more than 200 employees) pay slightly higher salaries for specialists at the Middle level ($ 2400 versus $ 2200 in general in all companies). Small companies with up to 10 employees usually pay a little more senior specialists ($ 4,400 versus $ 4,000 in total), but save on Junior positions ($ 600 versus $ 750).

Median Salaries: Company Size

The median salaries in the Front-end for women are slightly lower than for men. This is primarily due to the fact that among women there is a smaller proportion of experienced specialists: 16% of women who specialize in Front-end have more than 5 years of work experience, while among men there are 31%.

However, even with the same title and similar experience, according to our data, women in the front-end still get a little less than men. However, we cannot analyze the reasons in detail, since a small number of developers took part in our survey.

Median salaries: men and women