Scala Developer Salary: Plan Your IT Budget

Scala developers are one of the top earners in the tech industry. What’s more, their salaries, like the wages of other tech specialists, depend on multiple factors, which makes planning your development budget a little more challenging. 

That’s why in this article, we will take a detailed look at an average Scala developer’s salary so that you can get an idea of the cost to hire them worldwide. 

Why choose Scala for your next project

Scala isn’t the most popular programming language. According to StackOverflow, which surveyed more than 80,000 professional software developers worldwide, little more than 2% of them use Scala. Nevertheless, this programming language still has its benefits, despite being created almost 20 years ago.

• The code written in Scala is clear and concise. It takes less time to test it, meaning that using Scala allows for making fewer mistakes, faster checking, and achieving better time to market. 
• Scala is a great choice for data analytics projects. It is a powerful, general-purpose language that can be used to write anything, from web applications to big data applications and even video games.
• Scala is recognized by global companies. Such companies as Coursera, Airbnb, and Netflix use Scala as a part of their tech stack, and the feedback their in-house developers share is exceptionally positive. 

What factors affect Scala developers’ salary level? 

The developer’s seniority level, the engagement model the company follows when hiring them, company’s size and location are the factors that directly influence Scala developers’ salaries. Additional factors that can increase the wage of a Scala programmer are the cross-functional technologies they are skilled with and the level of the project’s complexity. 

Let’s review each of the factors in more detail and discover the related figures. 

Seniority level

Seniority level is one of the major factors affecting Scala developers’ salary expectations. It’s quite normal since any specialist would ask for higher pay the more profound their expertise is, the more experience they have, and the more related technologies they’re familiar with. However, the case of Scala is pretty specific – a Junior Scala developer in the US makes as much as a Mid-level JavaScript developer. The reason is that Scala is more difficult to master compared to JS, which makes competition for Scala development talent more fierce.

Average salaries of Scala developers in the USA depending on the seniority level

Engagement model

There are three main engagement models according to which you can hire Scala developers. Hiring them in-house is the most intuitive, yet the most expensive option. Hiring freelance Scala developers or assembling a remote full-time team, on the other hand, is a little more affordable. 

Average salaries of Scala developers in the USA depending on the engagement model

Scala is a costly technology so you have to be extra careful when deciding on an engagement model. If you aren’t ready to pay a fortune for running an in-house Scala project or have no experience with managing freelance contractors, consider gathering a remote Scala development team with Bridge’s help. Meet our experts now to get started with building a Scala team for your future project! 

How to Hire Top Remote Talent – The Ultimate Guide

Company size

Another factor that affects Scala developer salaries is the company where a programmer works and how big it is. If developers, for example, are employed by a large corporation with a high budget for technology and software development, then their salaries will be significantly higher than those of the developers working for a small startup with limited resources.

To compare, a Scala developer working in a US-based company with up to 10 employees, makes $25 per hour. A company with up to 50 tech workers may offer a programmer $50 per hour. A bigger organization with up to 250 employees can afford to hire a Scala developer for $100 per hour. 

Average salaries of Scala developers in the USA depending on company size

Source

Location of the company 

Scala developers’ salary also depends on where they live (if they work in-house) or the company’s location. The location has a significant impact on what Scala developers can ask for due to the different costs of living across the globe. Fortunately, there are a lot of promising destinations to choose from. 

Which Country Has The Best Developers in 2022

For instance, a programmer from India makes nearly $1000 per month, while a US-based developer earns $9000 per month on average. Below is the Scala developers’ salaries level comparison by countries.

Average salaries of Scala developers in different countries

3 main trends that affect Scala developers salaries

In addition to the factors we have discussed above, there are also some major trends that influence Scala developers’ salary as well. Let’s briefly analyze them to get a complete picture. 

• Remote work. Remote work is here to stay. It has its pros and cons, just like a traditional work model and hybrid schedule. However, when hiring Scala developers, remote work promises a significant benefit for the projects on a budget. Hiring software developers remotely allows for implementing a location-based pay structure, meaning that the level of a developer’s salary is determined by their location. According to Payscale’s 2022 Compensation Best Practices report, 40% of organizations switched to this approach in 2022, and in 2023, you are welcome to consider it as well. 
• The Great Resignation. Long story short, modern software developers are massively fleeing their workplaces in search of better job opportunities. Because of that, companies have to increase salaries for the workers who stay with them. For example, in 2022, the average salary in the ICT sector increased by 7%, according to the ADP Research Institute report. Speaking of Scala developer salary level, this trend only adds value to Scala programming talent, so companies have to compete for the best candidates by providing additional benefits, reconsidering their corporate cultures, and trying to meet other demands of modern software developers as accurately as possible. 
• Economic Recession. In our recent article, we discussed the impact the recession has on hiring technical talent. In a nutshell, big companies like Facebook and Netflix put their hiring campaigns on hold because of the growing salary levels, which, in turn, are inflation-triggered. However, according to research by Iza World of Labor, economic recessions usually don’t give companies extra wage-setting power. This is true for Scala developer salary levels – despite the recession, they are still one of the highest-paid specialists in the IT sector. 

Economic Recession: Why You Still Need to Hire Tech Talent

Find the best Scala programmers faster with Bridge

Hiring Scala developers is costly, especially in the US and Western Europe. Moreover, hiring them in Eastern Europe or the Far East isn’t a silver bullet either, since the competition for these programmers remains fierce. Since Scala isn’t the most popular programming language and a very difficult one, the Scala labor market isn’t too wide and Scala developers are much harder to find.

But let’s keep our chins up. If you struggle with hiring Scala developers for your project, consider Bridge’s sourcing-as-a-service. It is an automated sourcing solution that allows for finding the best-matched Scala developers across the globe, taking into account your monthly budget requirements. With the help of our data-driven talent-sourcing engine, we can suggest up to 30 candidates per month, so that you can proceed with interviewing them, hiring the most suitable ones, and making your project run. Hiring Scala developers with our help is also 60% cheaper than hiring them on your own – this is an opportunity to compensate for their high salaries. 

Get in touch with us now to hire Scala developers faster and at a better cost!