Elixir Developer Salary Worldwide and Tips on Cutting Down Developer Costs

Finding an Elixir developer is not easy. Considering that, in a lot of cases, the language isn’t treated as a standalone technology, a perfect candidate to fill in the job opening often needs to know Ruby and Erlang as well.

Since the tech world is highly competitive, a lot of coders find the yield of learning Elixir too low and choose a mainstream programming language instead. So, as a business owner, what should you do if you need an Elixir developer for the next project?

The most common and efficient strategy is to lure candidates in with high paychecks. Before you do that, however, let’s understand what “high” and “low” Elixir developer salaries are in numbers.

This post is a detailed review of Elixir software developer salaries worldwide. At the end of it, we’ll share a few helpful talent acquisition tips for business managers who don’t have a way to offer an impressive salary. Be sure to keep reading.

Average Elixir Software Developer Salary in the US

According to statistics, the average salary of an Elixir developer in the US is $112,800. The comparison of developers’ yearly paychecks based on the level of skill is brought in the table below:

The breakdown of Elixir developer salaries in the US-based on the level of experience

Naturally, the salaries of American Elixir developers vary by state as well. Here’s a detailed location-based breakdown:

Elixir developer salaries in top US states (data provided by ZipRecruiter)

Average Elixir Developer Salary in Western Europe

Elixir is not popular among European developers. According to O’Reilly, there are way more developers who plan on learning the language compared to those using the technology. As a result, the lack of a distinct labor market makes it harder to find affordable developers.

Let’s take a look at hard data to see what salaries average EU-based Elixir developers typically expect:

Average Elixir Software Developer Salary in Western Europe

As you can see, salary expectations vary by country. Those with higher living standards expect $70,000+ yearly paychecks. On the other hand, the Polish or Czech workforce is considerably more affordable.

Average Elixir Developer Salaries in Eastern Europe

Then, there are Eastern European tech hubs – Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Although these aren’t that far from the EU, developer salaries between the two regions differ drastically.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at elixir developer salaries in top Eastern Europen tech hubs.

Average Elixir developer salary in Eastern Europe (data provided by local media outlets)

Factors Influencing Elixir Developer Salary

Skills and location are important factors influencing Elixir developer salaries. However, they are not the only things employers should take into consideration when writing job opening descriptions.

At times, a smart benefits strategy is worth as much as a five-figure check. Let’s take a look at some factors that can make developers consider choosing a less lucrative job offer.

1. Constant growth

Elixir-developers are growth-oriented by nature. They typically know a lot of programming languages and are eager to dive into as many technologies as possible.

Here are the programming languages an average Elixir developer has mastered:

• Erlang
• Ruby
• C
• Java and JS.

If you are a business owner, looking for a developer, consider making an offer that corresponds to this constant-growth-mindset. Here’s how a user on an Elixir forum put it:

“I know for myself and my partner, we’ve not only learned (the bare basics) of Elixir, HTML, CSS, JS, Python in past few months but are diving into Spark, Hadoop, GIS, Swift (possibly Clojure) and it’s been very fun to learn new paradigms and ways of thinking to see how they can all connect to each other and solve real-life problems.”

2. Project nature

The hard reality is this – if you are hiring in the US (especially in densely populated states like California), looking for office employees will set you back. Since the traffic on American roads is insane, not having to spend 1-2 hours of an employee’s productive time behind the wheel makes a lot of difference.

That’s why a growing number of developers would prefer a less lucrative remote job over a higher-paying office spot. On top of that, the market for remote Elixir job openings is scarce. Before the pandemic started and made business owners embrace telecommuting, these were the stats on remote Elixir developer job openings on top job-hunting platforms:

• Remote.co – no jobs
• RemoteOK – 16 Elixir jobs, most of which outdated.
• Working Nomads – no Elixir developer openings.
• Indeed – 62 jobs marked with the tag “remote”. Once you read through them, it’s not even half of them are fully remote positions.
• NoDesk – no job openings.

Far from exhaustive, isn’t it? Taken this into account, business owners should realize that, if they want to hire in the US, office-based openings might no longer be an option. Since the traffic is not as big of a problem in Eastern Europe and regions with the lower population, the situation there isn’t quite as dire.

Thus, if you want to open an office-based HQ, moving it outside the US and EU is a worthwhile option.

3. Workplace freedom

Closely related but not synonymous with constant growth, the concept of freedom at work is important to software developers. As a business owner, you want to make sure the entire team is fully dedicated to the project.

However, if asked to work in such an intense environment for months, a lot of developers will get bored and unmotivated.

After exploring Elixir development communities, I was surprised to discover how important free time and room for self-expression are to them. Here’s what Netizens have to say:

“As mentioned above, if there was a better Google-like system where coders could work on their passion projects so long as their main job was done, would that be more appealing and count under the “Opportunities for professional development” item mentioned in StackOverflow survey? If there was more freedom to work on whatever project AND it simultaneously tied into what the company was doing, would that be acceptable?”

4. Contributing to meaningful projects

Another thing that surprised me was the astonishing number of developers saying that they value the impact of their work more than the paycheck. The growing desire to create meaning by coding should be reflected in the way developers present jobs as well. Here are some things Elixir developers marked as important:

• Having an opportunity to mentor others in the workplace.
• Contributing to non-profit and open source projects (ideally, these should be the cornerstone of the company’s line of work).
• Opportunities to see how the product developers build impacts the entire organization, a higher level of engagement in business development, management, and other fields.

5. Stability

Last but not least, in these trying times, people have come to value stability over a paycheck. Rather than chasing phantom numbers, developers with families, loans, or other commitments prefer to have secure employment.

Thus, if you have no way to appeal to Elixir developers with a lucrative paycheck, proving that you are not a one-shot company and are here to stay is the next best thing. Here are a few ways to prove reliability:

• Offer employee benefits – sick days and vacation.
• Provide employees with basic hardware to prove that you are in it for the long run.
• Give developers a glimpse of the company’s long-term objectives so that they can see that you have a lasting vision.

How to Save Money When Hiring Elixir Developers: Invest in an Office Abroad

As you can see, a developer’s location plays a huge part in what salary is appropriate for a skilled professional. Hiring in the US or EU if you are bootstrapped can be a pain in the neck. However, if you shift your focus and start exploring other markets – Eastern Europe or Latin America – it’s much easier to make do with a limited budget.

If a business owner plans to run a long-term project and needs day-to-day assistance on behalf of the tech team, outsourcing development isn’t the wisest cost-cutting strategy. On the other hand, opening a new office abroad seems like a more reasonable strategy.

Who will manage an office in a different country?

You might wonder “If I am opening an office in a new country, does this mean I should pack up and leave myself?” The good news is, there’s absolutely no need to put your comfort at stakes.

At Bridge Teams, for one, we help business owners who have global headquarters run their teams, keep track of employee productivity, and monitor expenses. Here’s how we assist distributed teams:

• Help find an affordable office, buy hardware in local stores, and reduce operating costs.
• Offer an online platform for employee monitoring – a business owner has full control over new hires, as well as the activity at the workplace.
• Make sure the business has no financial or legal issues. Our lawyers carefully study the regulations of the local labor markets and make sure not a single detail is unnoticed.
• Keep employees engaged. Bridge Teams professionals happily accept the responsibility of making your team’s daily life exciting. If employees want to go on a retreat to keep up their spirits or feel like they are missing out on office perks, we are on it.

Other than that, running a global team is considerably cheaper than looking for local talent – evaluate the difference using our calculator. To hire Bridge Teams and create a high-performing team of Elixir developers, leave us a message.