The Manfred & CircularTech Career Report 2024
Tu vida profesional no es una carrera
Es una ironía. Hemos llamado a este informe “Career Report” como si realmente la vida laboral fuese una carrera, y nada más lejos de la realidad. La palabra carrera siempre nos recuerda a prisas, a correr, a avanzar y a que hay una meta al final. Pero la realidad es que no es así. O por lo menos no en muchos de los casos.
En nuestro sector en particular, siempre ha existido la percepción de que la única manera de mejorar salarialmente era pasándose a la gestión. Y aunque durante muchos años así ha sido, cada vez es más común que alguien pueda seguir mejorando su salario y responsabilidades en posiciones técnicas, sin tener que gestionar nada.
Esa manera de ver la vida laboral, como un avance constante, no la compartimos todos. Hay veces, que llegas a un punto de tu vida profesional donde simplemente quieres disfrutar de lo que haces en tu día a día y ayudar a la gente que tienes a tu alrededor. Sin más pretensiones. Sin buscar una mejor posición o un mejor salario. Y eso también está bien. Y eso no nos hace menos profesionales. Amamos construir software, pero la vida, lo que realmente importa, pasa siempre fuera del trabajo. No nos olvidemos.
Así que, aunque en principio íbamos a plantear el informe como una línea temporal, desde los inicios como junior hasta las posiciones de más responsabilidad, hemos decidido no hacerlo. Porque la vida profesional tampoco es lineal.
Hemos mejorado el informe de años anteriores, añadiendo más datos, mejor presentados y más claros. Estructurándolo como lo que es: una representación del ecosistema tech nacional: tanto de profesionales como de empresas. Una representación de cómo es la comunidad técnica, haciendo una radiografía de aquellas cosas más representativas. Y también de cómo es el sector, con aquellas cosas que demandan las compañías y cómo han cambiado durante estos años. Vamos a ir más allá de los datos. Con opiniones y testimonios de todas las partes implicadas en la comunidad, analizando algunos de los datos del informe.
Espero que sea útil para ti y para todo aquel con quien lo compartas, porque le hemos puesto mucho cariño y nada nos haría más ilusión que recibir tu feedback.
Algunos datos de los que hemos partido para el informe
Radiografía del talento técnico en España: cómo es la comunidad
Our attempt to shed a light on the State of the technical sector, its composition, propotions, demands and offerings, based on data instead of opinions.
Comunidad de talento por tecnología
Distribución de roles de la comunidad
Our mission is clear: to bring transparency on the tech job market. And our vision is unique: we know what professionals want and what companies need.
Otros: UX / UI (0.4%), Marketing (0.3%), Data Analyst (0.2%)
Tecnologías más usadas
Distribution of the 10 languages, frameworks and libraries, and other technologies by percentage of use based on years of professional experience.
Javascript is the language that takes the lead, followed by HTML and CSS. It makes sense because it is the main language in Frontend, but it is also gaining popularity in Back. As for frameworks, Frontend frameworks are leading the way: React is used twice as much as the second most-used (Angular 2+). The use of Git and AWS in "Other technologies" is noteworthy.
Most disliked technologies
Distribution of the 10 languages, frameworks and libraries, and other technologies that the tech community prefers not to work with. In Manfred, users can select the technologies they do not want to be contacted for.
What is most striking is that both Java and PHP appear in both the most used and the least desired languages. From this we can clearly see that these are the two languages that the tech community most commonly works with, although it would actually prefer to be working with others. Between them, they represent almost 50% of the languages that developers do not want to work with. In "Other technologies", WordPress and Windows are the ones that stand out.
Predominant languages and technologies according to years of professional experience
Heat map of languages, frameworks and libraries, and tools according to usage based on experience.
| <2y | 2-5y | 5-10y | >10y | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSS | 43.3% | 27.0% | 18.6% | 11.2% |
| HTML | 43.1% | 26.8% | 18.7% | 11.3% |
| JavaScript | 34.7% | 28.3% | 22.3% | 14.7% |
| Python | 32.8% | 29.6% | 21.5% | 16.2% |
| Java | 30.2% | 25.6% | 23.6% | 20.7% |
| C++ | 29.9% | 26.4% | 22.6% | 21.1% |
| SQL | 27.2% | 30.0% | 21.7% | 21.0% |
| PHP | 25.9% | 23.0% | 26.5% | 24.5% |
| TypeScript | 25.5% | 34.0% | 26.6% | 13.9% |
| C# | 24.7% | 25.5% | 25.7% | 24.1% |
| <2y | 2-5y | 5-10y | >10y | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Express | 45.7% | 29.0% | 16.3% | 8.9% |
| Bootstrap | 42.1% | 27.6% | 16.6% | 13.8% |
| React | 37.1% | 29.9% | 21.8% | 11.1% |
| Spring Boot | 26.3% | 27.4% | 26.1% | 20.2% |
| Angular2+ | 24.2% | 30.1% | 29.1% | 16.7% |
| Laravel | 24.1% | 28.3% | 29.8% | 17.8% |
| Vue | 21.5% | 32.7% | 30.2% | 15.6% |
| Spring | 19.7% | 25.4% | 28.4% | 26.4% |
| .NET | 17.3% | 24.1% | 28.9% | 29.7% |
| jQuery | 15.1% | 23.2% | 29.7% | 32.0% |
| <2y | 2-5y | 5-10y | >10y | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Github | 41.3% | 28.3% | 17.1% | 13.4% |
| NodeJS | 32.6% | 29.7% | 23.8% | 14.0% |
| MongoDB | 32.5% | 28.0% | 23.6% | 15.9% |
| MySQL | 32.0% | 25.0% | 24.1% | 18.8% |
| Git | 29.0% | 30.7% | 22.1% | 18.2% |
| PostgreSQL | 23.7% | 29.7% | 26.8% | 19.8% |
| Linux | 21.8% | 25.9% | 26.7% | 25.6% |
| Docker | 17.0% | 30.0% | 29.6% | 23.4% |
| Jira | 14.5% | 31.5% | 27.5% | 26.5% |
| AWS | 13.6% | 27.7% | 32.0% | 26.7% |
jQuery, .Net, Spring or C# are languages and frameworks that find their peak in professional profiles with 10+ years of experience. These can prove to lead to potential talent issues, due to their low level of use by profiles with fewer years of professional experience. AWS or Docker are technologies that are widely used, but which are not usually used by professionals who are in the early stages of their career within the sector.
Soft skills commonly found within the Tech Community vs. Soft skills companies are looking for
Comparison of soft skills within the tech community vs. soft skills companies are looking for.
Candidates and companies are not very aligned on which soft skills are deemed most important. There seems to be quite a gap between the types of skills that candidates highlight and those that companies are looking for within their teams. For example, continuous learning is a common feature in candidate profiles, but it is a skill that is sought after by practically less after than half the companies in the report. On the contrary, in soft skills such as Good verbal communication or Proactivity, it is the companies that demand it more than the number of candidates who put it forward as one of their soft skills.
What do professionals want?
Salary and job perks
Working remotely full time, salary, working conditions or other job perks offered can be triggers for someone to accept a new job offer. Or not.
Work location preference
Comparison of the three work set-ups that candidates registered with Manfred can choose from. Hybrid refers to the set-up that is partially remote.
The increase in demand for remote work can no longer be solely associated with COVIDgeddon. Candidates show a strong preference for teleworking.
Easier personal-professional reconciliation, time and money savings due to less travel or improved levels of concentration seem to be the main reasons for this preferred way of working.
Average salary by role
Heat map linking the main job roles with their percentage distribution based on salary.
| €20-30K | €31-40K | €41-50K | €51-60K | €61-80K | >80K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backend Developer | 69.7% | 18.2% | 6.0% | 2.4% | 2.0% | 1.7% |
| Data Analyst & BI | 64.3% | 23.4% | 6.7% | 2.0% | 1.7% | 1.9% |
| Data Engineer | 46.2% | 33.3% | 9.8% | 4.0% | 3.4% | 3.4% |
| Data Scientist | 42.7% | 34.5% | 12.5% | 4.1% | 4.0% | 2.2% |
| DevOps & Infrastructure & SRE | 47.6% | 26.1% | 12.7% | 5.9% | 5.3% | 2.4% |
| Engineering Management | 22.3% | 28.6% | 18.3% | 10.9% | 6.3% | 13.7% |
| Frontend Developer | 71.0% | 17.0% | 5.5% | 2.9% | 2.0% | 1.7% |
| Full-Stack Developer | 69.3% | 18.4% | 6.3% | 2.7% | 1.7% | 1.6% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 60.1% | 26.8% | 6.2% | 3.0% | 1.2% | 2.7% |
| Mobile Developer | 66.7% | 17.6% | 6.8% | 3.4% | 2.6% | 2.9% |
| Product Design (UI/UX) | 74.9% | 17.2% | 4.4% | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.4% |
| Product Manager | 42.4% | 33.6% | 14.4% | 6.4% | 2.4% | 0.8% |
| Project Manager & Delivery Manager | 33.2% | 34.7% | 17.5% | 7.5% | 5.2% | 1.9% |
| QA & Testing | 60.3% | 21.1% | 8.3% | 4.1% | 2.7% | 3.5% |
| Scrum Master & Agile Coach | 59.4% | 25.0% | 9.4% | 3.1% | 1.0% | 2.1% |
| Software Architect | 43.6% | 28.6% | 10.6% | 6.5% | 4.9% | 5.7% |
| SysAdmin | 77.8% | 15.7% | 2.0% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Tech Lead | 32.0% | 29.3% | 12.0% | 14.7% | 5.3% | 6.7% |
| €20-30K | €31-40K | €41-50K | €51-60K | €61-80K | >80K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backend Developer | 21.6% | 32.8% | 22.8% | 9.9% | 9.0% | 3.9% |
| Data Analyst & BI | 18.9% | 30.7% | 28.6% | 12.0% | 6.7% | 3.2% |
| Data Engineer | 12.0% | 26.0% | 28.0% | 16.7% | 12.8% | 4.6% |
| Data Scientist | 10.8% | 28.4% | 28.0% | 15.8% | 12.3% | 4.6% |
| DevOps & Infrastructure & SRE | 10.9% | 23.4% | 26.8% | 17.6% | 14.9% | 6.4% |
| Engineering Management | 7.2% | 18.6% | 22.3% | 20.9% | 19.7% | 11.4% |
| Frontend Developer | 26.8% | 32.5% | 19.5% | 8.9% | 9.1% | 3.2% |
| Full-Stack Developer | 23.6% | 32.5% | 20.7% | 9.7% | 9.6% | 4.1% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 14.7% | 27.3% | 30.8% | 15.9% | 8.6% | 2.6% |
| Mobile Developer | 19.7% | 30.1% | 24.6% | 10.7% | 10.5% | 4.4% |
| Product Design (UI/UX) | 35.1% | 39.4% | 16.3% | 4.0% | 3.4% | 1.8% |
| Product Manager | 11.7% | 27.3% | 35.0% | 15.8% | 7.9% | 2.2% |
| Project Manager & Delivery Manager | 11.0% | 29.3% | 30.8% | 14.8% | 11.0% | 3.1% |
| QA & Testing | 21.1% | 34.7% | 22.6% | 12.4% | 6.5% | 2.8% |
| Scrum Master & Agile Coach | 19.7% | 34.2% | 27.0% | 13.8% | 3.9% | 1.3% |
| Software Architect | 9.3% | 23.0% | 27.1% | 18.1% | 14.7% | 7.8% |
| SysAdmin | 35.4% | 37.2% | 17.9% | 6.9% | 2.2% | 0.4% |
| Tech Lead | 7.7% | 24.9% | 28.4% | 22.6% | 11.0% | 5.4% |
| €20-30K | €31-40K | €41-50K | €51-60K | €61-80K | >80K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backend Developer | 5.1% | 18.3% | 25.1% | 19.0% | 21.3% | 11.2% |
| Data Analyst & BI | 7.7% | 19.6% | 29.3% | 21.8% | 16.1% | 5.5% |
| Data Engineer | 2.8% | 11.3% | 21.9% | 24.9% | 24.8% | 14.3% |
| Data Scientist | 4.4% | 12.3% | 22.3% | 23.6% | 23.7% | 13.7% |
| DevOps & Infrastructure & SRE | 4.0% | 11.2% | 17.9% | 21.0% | 29.6% | 16.2% |
| Engineering Management | 0.8% | 6.7% | 13.7% | 19.1% | 31.3% | 28.3% |
| Frontend Developer | 6.4% | 18.7% | 24.3% | 17.7% | 20.8% | 12.1% |
| Full-Stack Developer | 5.5% | 18.8% | 25.6% | 17.5% | 21.0% | 11.5% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 3.1% | 10.8% | 23.3% | 26.9% | 24.2% | 11.7% |
| Mobile Developer | 5.8% | 15.9% | 20.3% | 19.6% | 24.2% | 14.1% |
| Product Design (UI/UX) | 14.2% | 30.0% | 31.1% | 12.5% | 8.0% | 4.2% |
| Product Manager | 3.5% | 13.1% | 36.7% | 21.9% | 17.9% | 7.1% |
| Project Manager & Delivery Manager | 5.7% | 15.7% | 26.8% | 20.0% | 21.4% | 10.5% |
| QA & Testing | 8.4% | 19.0% | 22.2% | 23.3% | 20.1% | 7.0% |
| Scrum Master & Agile Coach | 6.9% | 21.5% | 34.8% | 22.7% | 11.2% | 3.0% |
| Software Architect | 1.2% | 6.1% | 16.5% | 21.4% | 31.0% | 23.8% |
| SysAdmin | 22.0% | 29.9% | 22.4% | 12.2% | 10.2% | 3.1% |
| Tech Lead | 1.8% | 7.9% | 23.2% | 26.3% | 28.8% | 12.1% |
| €20-30K | €31-40K | €41-50K | €51-60K | €61-80K | >80K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backend Developer | 3.7% | 12.0% | 23.3% | 20.8% | 24.4% | 15.8% |
| Data Analyst & BI | 5.9% | 14.2% | 24.9% | 20.1% | 24.7% | 10.2% |
| Data Engineer | 3.9% | 8.0% | 18.1% | 18.9% | 29.7% | 21.4% |
| Data Scientist | 5.3% | 9.0% | 18.3% | 18.8% | 28.5% | 20.1% |
| DevOps & Infrastructure & SRE | 3.6% | 6.7% | 15.8% | 19.8% | 30.6% | 23.6% |
| Engineering Management | 0.9% | 3.1% | 8.1% | 13.9% | 35.4% | 38.6% |
| Frontend Developer | 6.0% | 14.6% | 24.2% | 20.6% | 21.5% | 13.2% |
| Full-Stack Developer | 4.0% | 12.6% | 23.7% | 20.9% | 23.9% | 15.0% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 4.3% | 9.3% | 13.0% | 21.7% | 28.6% | 23.0% |
| Mobile Developer | 1.6% | 9.7% | 19.0% | 21.5% | 25.7% | 22.5% |
| Product Design (UI/UX) | 13.0% | 26.8% | 23.7% | 14.5% | 12.1% | 10.0% |
| Product Manager | 2.4% | 6.6% | 20.0% | 24.2% | 33.7% | 13.1% |
| Project Manager & Delivery Manager | 2.2% | 7.8% | 19.4% | 23.6% | 32.7% | 14.3% |
| QA & Testing | 4.3% | 14.3% | 22.6% | 21.6% | 26.3% | 10.9% |
| Scrum Master & Agile Coach | 4.2% | 8.3% | 28.8% | 25.7% | 27.2% | 5.8% |
| Software Architect | 1.3% | 3.6% | 12.4% | 18.3% | 33.0% | 31.5% |
| SysAdmin | 10.8% | 27.0% | 24.4% | 18.3% | 13.6% | 5.9% |
| Tech Lead | 1.4% | 4.1% | 15.6% | 24.9% | 33.6% | 20.5% |
Technical leadership roles have the highest salary expectations. It is striking that Infrastructure roles are above average, with the majority concentrated in the annual salary range of €50K and over, while QA and Product Design (UX/UI) roles are concentrated in the €20-40K range. There is a general trend in roles requiring more experience such as Product & Project Manager, Architecture or Leadership roles: the highest percentages (i.e. the most professionals) are concentrated in the €50K and above range.
Proficiency in English and its impact on salary
Heat map according to the tech community's English proficiency in relation to salary. Basic levels of English correspond to A2 standard, Intermediate to B1, Fluent to B2-C1 and Native to C2.
English proficiency is one of the key skills to be able to aspire to a higher salary. There is a clear correlation between having a higher level of English and being in a higher salary bracket. It seems that for those with a basic or intermediate level, the glass salary ceiling is between €40-50K per annum, while salaries above €60K correspond to fluent/native English levels.
What are companies looking for and offering?
The Tech Career Report is not only for candidates, but its also for companies: What are they offering? What professional profiles are most in demand? And what technologies?
Salary offered by employers vs. Salary wanted by candidates
Comparison between the salary offered by companies and the salary expected by candidates according to job roles.
This is one of the most revealing graphs in the report. It brings to light that the roles where there is the biggest gap between what candidates expect to be paid and what companies offer are the Technical Leadership roles. However, in Development positions, such as Backs, Fronts or Mobile, what is demanded and what is offered is pretty much in line. In fact, for Backend Developers, the salary offered often exceeds what is expected. Equally surprising are the Data roles: there is a gap of almost 13K between what Data Scientists expect to be paid and what companies are actually offering.
Most in-demand roles
Roles that companies sought out the most in 2023.
Programming roles are still the most in-demand: Backends, Frontends, Mobile or Full-Stack Devs. Systems/Infrastructure are the third most sought after. As for those working with Data, with the exception of Data Engineers, who account for 4.8% of the demand, they are not very well represented: Data Scientist and Analyst represent less than 2%.
Most commonly-found job perks
This graph shows the ten most popular benefits offered by companies and listed in our job offers.
These figures vary little over the years. The most offered job perks by companies are those related to team growth: teambuilding, training -both external and internal-. 7% of companies offer private health insurance. Although we do not currently have information on job perks most sought out by candidates, a few years ago we launched this study, with the arrival of COVIDgeddon, which can serve as a guideline.
Work set-ups on offer
Comparison between the three types of work set-ups companies who work with Manfred currently offer. Hybrid refers to the working partially remotely.
La brecha de género
In a sector where there is a clear under-representation of women, it is even more interesting to understand how gender influences roles and salaries.
Representación femenina total por roles
Comparison between male and female representation according to the different roles.
Unfortunately, the main conclusion that can be taken from this graph is that little or nothing has changed. In none of the roles in this graph does female representation reach 50%. The roles most closely linked to Development, Systems and Technical leadership have the least female presence. Design roles are where salaries are the most equal. And overall, Product roles have a higher female representation.
Representación femenina total por roles vs masculina
Comparison between male and female representation according to the different roles.
Unfortunately, the main conclusion that can be taken from this graph is that little or nothing has changed. In none of the roles in this graph does female representation reach 50%. The roles most closely linked to Development, Systems and Technical leadership have the least female presence. Design roles are where salaries are the most equal. And overall, Product roles have a higher female representation.
Representación femenina vs. masculina
Comparison between male and female representation according to the different roles.
Unfortunately, the main conclusion that can be taken from this graph is that little or nothing has changed. In none of the roles in this graph does female representation reach 50%. The roles most closely linked to Development, Systems and Technical leadership have the least female presence. Design roles are where salaries are the most equal. And overall, Product roles have a higher female representation.
Salary aspirations by gender and role
Comparison of average salary by gender according to roles.
There is no professional role where salaries are equal or where women earn more than men. In every single role we looked at, there is a gender pay gap. In particular Mobile, Devops, Engineering Manager and Product Manager roles are where the difference is most noticeable. A male Engineering Manager can earn up to €11K more than a woman in the same role per year.
Calculadora salarios + Salario promedio por género y experiencia
Get an accurate picture of the gender pay gap with this calculator. Choose a role and experience range and our calculator will return the average salary for men and women.
Calculadora
Average salary by gender and level of experience
Across all levels of professional experience, there is a gender pay gap. Having said that, it is not as obvious in more junior profiles, where the gap is less than €1K, while in professional profiles with over 10 years of experience, the gap can exceed €10K in some cases.
Insights
¿La vuelta del híbrido?
Female representation in the technical sector is yet a pending matter.
Seguir leyendo
Las soft skills olvidadas
Female representation in the technical sector is yet a pending matter.
Seguir leyendo
Methodology
This report was based on Manfred’s database, which currently counts over 37,000 professional profiles as of September 18th, 2023.
Years of experience
Most Manfredites are Senior professionals with very good professional experience to their names. The proportion decreases as professional experience decreases.
Type of role
Almost 50 professional roles were included in the analysis, which can all be found in Manfred’s taxonomy.
To the right, you can see the 10 roles with the greatest levels of representation.
Gender
Because we don't ask about gender in our registration form. The alternative to using an API would be to conduct an anonymous survey among our users or to ask about gender in the onboarding and store it in a separate database without relating it to the users. Both alternatives would have prevented us from shedding light on the issue of the gender pay gap, due to lack of data and lack of technical resources to carry it out.
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) discourages it as it is not strictly necessary in order to identify the best candidates for a given job. And although it is not part of the data considered sensitive according to Art.9 of the GDPR, some groups do want to include it as such.
We have evaluated several alternatives, and, although we understand that this is not the best way to obtain the most realistic result, we believe that it does serve the purpose of shedding light on an existing and real problem within the sector.
- Women
- Men
- Undefined
This report was made possible with the help of our usual suspects: illustrations by Hugo Tobío and Álex Orbe, design by La Personnalité and layout by Swwweet. Thank you ❤️