Salaries in Finnish Tech Sector Are on the Rise in 2018

    Web developers are among the highest-paid workers in tech, thus salary expectations tend to run rather high than in other fields. Estonian startup MeetFrank analyzed thousands of data points about Finnish salaries to see who are the most in-demand professionals in the tech industry and how their salaries range depending on the field of expertise and work experience. Here is what they found out.

    Compared to Finnish salary data in 2017, this year’s showing a steady increase in salaries in the tech sector. The average salary increase in Q1 2018 in developer jobs was around 6% while the most in-demand job openings have increased their offers by up to 22%.


    The most sought-after experts in the tech sector are in the fields of software engineering, data science, marketing, and sales & business development.

    Data shows that tech companies are mostly hiring developers, the most sought-after skills being Javascript, full-stack development, backend development, and front-end development.

    Compared to 2017, there’s been an increasing interest to hire developers across all areas. MeetFrank’s data shows slightly slower growth in the demand for Java and React skillset.

    When it comes to non-technical skills, companies are looking for talented people to fill in design and sales positions. We see many startups looking for UX/UI designers and experienced sales representatives.

    It is natural that high demand creates higher-paying offers for top talents in respective fields.

    However, the potential salaries vary strongly, depending on the person’s field of expertise and experience.

    For example, software developers with 3+ years or practice are offered on average 16% higher salary than employees with a single year of experience. With some skillsets, developers with 3+ years of experience can even earn around 40% more.

    Looking at the current salary levels on the market, we see that companies prefer to hire people with higher work experience. However, the high demand has led some companies to also offer a surprisingly high salary to people with only 1–3 years of practice. We also see a big difference in potential salary numbers depending on the company.

    The current job market situation leaves most companies with two options: either they pay more and hire a skilled expert, or they hire beginner-level employees and coach them internally.

    We see more established companies using the former tactic, while new startups attract people with a lower job experience, and give them a chance to grow and learn.

    Another interesting fact is that there is sometimes a big gap between the salaries companies are offering and what people expect. There are job openings that provide a salary well over the expectations of talent. Data scientists and project managers are exceptionally well-positioned to earn a higher salary.

    There are also some positions where companies fail to match the expected salary levels of highly-skilled potential hires.

    The overall results of our analysis show that the underlying demand for top talent is not going anywhere in 2018. There’s a solid growth trend in tech sector’s salaries, also indicating greater volatility in different job positions.

    We believe that a more open job market will help to cure the lack of talent where they’re most needed. Also, we’d be happy to see not only developers, but also the rest of talented people in the tech sector earnings what they deserve.

    This post originally appeared on MeetFrank blog. Learn more about their recruitment tool by visiting their website.