Cloud Developer Salary Trends in South Africa

16 October 2023, by Josh Nel

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1 in 3 South African developers list Cloud Techonlogy as their most promising industry for 2023, making it one of the most promising in the country . Here, we’ll look at the average cloud developer salary at each stage of their careers, and for their most used cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

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Junior cloud developer salary trends

Salaries for entry-level cloud developers start at an average of R34 307 per month, 58.8% more than 2022’s average for entry-level cloud developers. At this stage of their careers, they earn 31.6% more than entry-level FinTech developers, and a massive 51.9% more than their SaaS counterparts.

This increases by 21.7% after they’ve been in the profession fo at least two years. Which gives them an average salary of R41 764 which is 24.4% more than 2022’s and 36.8% more than the average SaaS developer with comparable experience. However, they’ve seen their advantage over junior FinTech developers narrow to 12.8%.

Once they pass the four years’ experience mark, they can expect a further 25% increase. This gives them an average monthly salary of R52 183, a modest 4.9% more their average in 2022. As a result, they’ve been overtaken by their FinTech counterparts, and now earn 3.6% less. At the same time, they’ve also seen their edge over mid-level SaaS developers narrow to 14.2%.

Cloud Developer Salaries by Experience

Average Salary by Years Experience, showing 25th and 75th percentiles

Years of Experience	25th Percentile	Average	75th Percentile
0-2	R12,500	R34,307	R42,500
2-4	R22,500	R41,764	R52,500
4-6	R37,500	R52,183	R67,500
6-10	R47,500	R70,734	R92,500
10+	R62,500	R91,292	R105,000

Senior cloud developer salary trends

Once they become seniors, cloud developers can expect the most significant increase of their careers. Cloud developer’s with six to ten years of experience can look forward to a 35.6% increase. This gives an average monthly salary R70 734. Which is on par with their average in 2022 but still 1% and 13.2% more than their FinTech and SaaS counterparts, respectively.

Once they’ve been in the profession for more than ten years, senior cloud developers see their salaries rise by an additional 29.1% to an average of R91 292; 6.5% more than they earned in 2022. They now earn 1.8% more than senior developers working in Fintech, but their lead over their SaaS counterparts has narrowed again to 4.9%.

Experience is not the only factor that determines a cloud developer’s average salary. Their most-used platform also impacts their earning potential.

Let’s take a look at what cloud developers working with each of the country’s most-used platforms earns across their careers and how that compares to the average cloud developer.

Cloud developer salary by cloud platform

AWS developer salary

AWS is South Africa’s most-used cloud platform and is also one of the best-paying at later career stages.

Average salaries for AWS developers start at R25 566 for those who are just starting out in their tech careers, 34.2% less than the average for entry-level cloud developers as a whole.

This increases by 41.5% to an average of R36 171 once they’ve been in the profession for at least two years, roughly 15.5 % less than the average for cloud developers as a whole.

AWS developers with four to six years of experience can look forward to a 48.3% increase. This gives them an average monthly salary of R53 635, 2.7% more than for cloud developers as a whole.

Senior AWS developers with more than six years of experience see their salaries increase by 32.5% to R61 431. By this stage of their careers, the gap between them and the average cloud developer has disappeared with less than 0.5% separating them.

Once they pass the ten year mark, this gap has closed despite senior AWS developers with more than ten years of experience seeing their salaries rise by an additional 29.2% to R91 848.

AWS Developer Salaries by Experience

Years of Experience	25th Percentile	Average	75th Percentile
0-2	R12,500	R25,566	R29,000
2-4	R22,500	R36,171	R42,500
4-6	R37,500	R53,635	R62,500
6-10	R47,500	R71,078	R82,500
10+	R67,500	R91,848	R105,000

Azure developer salary

Azure developer salaries start at an average of R23 964 per month for entry-level developers, 30.1% less than entry-level cloud developers as a whole.

This rises by 33.5% to an average of R31 998 for Azure developers with more than two years of experience. At this stage of their careers, the gap between them and the average cloud developer has narrowed to 23.4%.

Mid-level Azure developers can look forward to a 36.7% increase, giving them an average salary of 43 730.

Senior Azure developers with more than six years of experience see their average salaries rise by 40.5% to R61 431, which narrows the gap between them and cloud developers as a whole to 13.2%.

This narrows further to 7.5% once they pass the ten year mark, with Azure developers receiving an additional 37.5% increase for an average salary of R84 435.

Azure Developer Salaries by Experience

Years of Experience	25th Percentile	Average	75th Percentile
0-2	R11,875	R23,964	R29,500
2-4	R17,500	R31,998	R32,500
4-6	R32,500	R43,730	R47,500
6-10	R42,500	R61,431	R67,500
10+	R62,500	R84,435	R97,500

Google cloud developer salary

Google cloud developer salaries start an average of R20 301 for entry-level developers, 40.8% lower than the average for cloud developers as a whole. This makes it one of the lowest paid coud platforms for entry-level developers in South Africa.

Junior Google cloud developers see their salaries rise by 63.2% to R33 129 once they acquire at least two years of experience. This is the most significant increase of their careers but still sees them earn 20.7% less than the average for junior cloud developers as a whole.

Google cloud developers with more than four years of experience can expect a 28.4% increase which gives them an average monthly salary of R42 520.

Senior Google cloud developers see their salary growth pick up to 51.1% once they’ve been in the profession for at least six years. This gives them an average salary of R64 25, 9.2% less than senior cloud developers as a whole.

Google cloud developers with more than ten years of experience can look forward to an additional 39.7% salary increase for an average of R89 758, just 1.7% less than senior cloud developers with comparable experience.

Google Cloud Developer Salaries by Experience

Years of Experience	25th Percentile	Average	75th Percentile
0-2	R10,000	R20,301	R25,500
2-4	R17,500	R33,129	R37,500
4-6	R32,500	R42,520	R57,500
6-10	R42,500	R64,252	R72,500
10+	R62,500	R89,758	R97,500

Keep in mind

The data in this article is taken from OfferZen’s 2023 State of the Software Developer Nation Report. In this article, ‘salary’ refers to the gross monthly salary (before tax) provided by more than 4500 survey respondents.

Average salaries are single data points and only one part of a bigger story. It’s expected that many respondents may earn significantly more or less than these averages. However, we hope to provide a picture of underlying trends by mapping the average salaries for different experience levels.

Salaries depend on the industry, individual, perks and nature of work. These factors all influence the salary a company will offer to a prospective hire. In addition, most developers are “fluent” in several languages, which will affect the final figures.

It’s also important to remember that every individual’s context is different. Ultimately, salary is a personal conversation that should take place between employee and employer.

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