Comprehensive Overview of Average NodeJS Programmers’ Salaries

Key takeaways

• Is Node.js technology still in high demand? Explore facts & statistics regarding Node.js and find out why Node.js programmers are so popular nowadays.
• Lost in terms of a variety of Node.js developers‘ salaries? Read our article and figure out the average salary of Node js developers based on location, skills, and level of expertise.
• Keep reading, and you’ll learn how the process of hiring a Node.js developer at Aimprosoft goes.
• In-house specialist, freelancer, outstaffing, or maybe outsourcing? Find out what the options are for hiring a Node.js developer and figure out which one will work best for you.
• Outsource development to an offshore software company, conduct the discovery stage, and choose an efficient pricing model. Learn more tips on how to save on Node.js development.
• Learn how the salaries of Node.js developers differ depending on the region.
• Figure out how Aimprosoft can help you hire an experienced Node.js developer in 4 simple steps.

Netflix, Linkedin, Uber, Twitter, and PayPal, what do they have in common? Well, apart from their success and popularity, these giants use Node.js in their tech stack. The decision to use this technology was taken not only by these top companies but also by the creators of more than 30 million websites which can be explained by the ability of Node.js to increase time to market, offer scalability, and high performance for real-time web applications. So, we more than understand your decision to empower your project with this tool and hire skilled Node.js developers.

However, the questions are what destination to choose, what salaries such specialists have, what factors influence the cost to hire Nodejs developers, and most importantly, how to save on hiring them to work on your project? But aren’t we here to figure out all these aspects? By the way, the answer to the destination question is already in our in-depth guide to outsourcing your Node.js-based project to an offshore software company. Don’t hesitate to check it out as well. And now, back to business. Continue reading this article to learn about Node.js developers’ salaries and hourly rates and tips on how to save on hiring these specialists for your project.

Node.js developers’ salaries market overview

Since Node.js popularity has been increasing significantly over the past years, the number of developers who specialize in this technology has already exceeded; there are already 1.5 million of them only on the Linkedin platform. As you can imagine, there are many countries to hire such specialists from, so Node js jobs salary range is extremely wide. So, how to make the right decision if you want to hire an experienced specialist for a fair rate?

Let’s look at Node.js market overview infographics first. Then we will proceed to an actual analysis of the Node.js developers’ salaries worldwide.

As you can see from the infographics, Node.js is in high demand all over the world due to all the benefits that it brings to different types of businesses, from startups to enterprises, from those that are in IoT to e-commerce. And now, let’s move on to the salaries that Node.js developers earn.

Average salary of Node.js developers by location, skills, and experience levels

We finally reached the most interesting part of our Node.js developers’ salaries overview. Thus, let’s figure out how Node js dev salary differs depending on the location and the level of their expertise.

From the table above, you can see that the Node js developer salary range differs significantly, not only depending on the location but depending on the level of expertise as well. The location factor affects salary the most compared to all others that we examine in the article. Thus, even though hiring onshore developers can be convenient at first sight, the price that you will have to pay can be rather high. In this case, the ideal option for you will be hiring specialists from offshore countries, minding certain aspects, such as time zone, cultural difference, and language barrier.

What type of developer to choose? Let’s examine the roles and responsibilities of junior, mid-level, and senior Node.js developers to help you figure out which one you need to hire for your project.

Junior Node.js developer

Such developers don’t have much experience in practical coding; however, they have an understanding of how to develop products with Node.js. Normally, they require guidance and supervision by more experienced developers. If you need someone who will be able to cope with basic coding tasks and simple bug fixing, entry-level developers will come in handy.

Required knowledge: Node.js, JavaScript (ES6/7), SQL (MySQL/PostgreSQL)

Mid-level Node.js developer

This category of Node.js developers has 2—4 years of experience, and in comparison with junior specialists, they don’t require supervision. The range of technologies they know is also larger, which makes them capable of executing more complicated tasks, coming up with efficient solutions to possible problems, as well as, working both as a part of a team and alone.

Required knowledge: Node.js (Express/Hapi/Nest.js), knowledge of TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL (MySQL/PostgreSQL), NoSQL (MongoDB, Redis) Docker, AWS

Senior Node.js developer

Specialists with 4+ years of experience are considered senior specialists who can not only develop the solutions from scratch and successfully deploy them but also can take the role of a software architect and advise on the tech stack correspondently since their skillset usually comprises the knowledge of a wide range of technologies. Also, Node.js specialists with this level of expertise can lead a team of less experienced developers.

Required knowledge: TypeScript/JavaScript, Angular, React.js, and knowledge of other JS frameworks, REST skills, and experience in RESTful API development, OAuth

If you are looking for developers, we recommend reading our guide about how to Hire Angular Programmers

We’ve reviewed the average salaries of Node.js developers depending on location, their experience, and skills; let’s also review how much they earn, depending on their specialization. We’ll consider Node.js back-end developer salary and full-stack Node.js developer salary:

Now that you have explored three major factors, namely, location, level of expertise, and specialization that affect Node.js programmer salary, let’s review the fourth one — the engagement model that you choose when hiring such a specialist.

Node.js programmer hourly rates by engagement models

There are four major engagement models when it comes to employing developers: engagement of an in-house specialist or freelancer, outsourcing, and outstaffing. Let’s review the peculiarities of all models and their pros and cons.

Freelance

Specifics. Employment of freelance specialists has become a rather popular practice due to the flexibility of this option and the absence of the necessity to complete various recruiting, onboarding, and employee maintaining processes. It’s a perfect option for the completion of short-time and simple projects and small tasks.

Pros: relatively low rates in comparison with in-house specialists, large talent pool on various freelance platforms.

Cons: high chances of poor communication, possible misunderstandings, the mismatch between claimed skillset and the actual one resulting in doubled costs, and management of all development-related processes by yourself, which may result in the missed deadline, product quality issues, and overtime because of troubleshooting.

Hourly rates:

In-house employment

Specifics. The employment of in-house specialists is the most expensive model among these four options, and it works best for large-scale projects that are planned to be constantly modified and updated, and doesn’t work well for startups or small-sized projects that don’t require constant involvement of the developer.

Pros: direct and constant communication with the employee, full control over the development process, security isn’t at stake.

Cons: high expenditures related to recruiting and employee maintenance processes, extra costs related to equipment maintenance, long search for the necessary specialist, possibility of talent shortage in the local market.

Salary. Node.js engineer’s salary depends on the country and the developer’s expertise. Several most popular examples we have reviewed in the previous section.

Outsourcing

Specifics. Outsourcing is a great compromise for in-house specialists both in terms of quality and price. By choosing the outsourcing option, you just have to pay for the services you need and avoid any other expenditures related to the employment of the Node.js developers. Moreover, by outsourcing the implementation of your project to a software vendor, you can not only delegate the development activities but also hire a project manager, QA engineers, and other necessary specialists as a part of the dedicated team that for an adequate budget will deliver a high-quality product to you.

Pros: the quality of the product is the software vendor’s responsibility, cost-saving option (however, it’s more expensive than outstaffing), high level of technical and industry expertise, the delegation of all development-related processes, flexibility, and a large talent pool to choose from (usually outsourcing software vendors have a wide range of specialists).

Cons: less control over project management, time zone difference (in case it’s offshore outsourcing), cultural differences, and possible security issues.

Salary. Node js developer hourly rate depends on the country and the developer’s expertise. Let’s compare several popular markets:

Outstaffing

Specifics. Outstaffing presupposes the employment of Node.js developers to your in-house team. Similar to outsourcing, specialists are usually hired from nearshore/offshore companies where their rates are lower than on the local market. The hired Node.js developers can be fully managed by you, or you can additionally hire PM from the software vendor.

Pros: cost-saving option, all administrative activities regarding the employee are completed by the hired software vendor, high level of flexibility, full control over the development process, opportunity to find very rare types of developers at reasonable prices, solid industry expertise.

Cons: time zone difference (in case it’s an offshore outstaffing), time employee management is usually performed on the client side, time to integrate external developer to the in-house team.

Hourly rates. Nodejs engineer salary depends on the country and the developer’s expertise.

So, we’ve explored the fourth core factor that affects Nodejs salary — the engagement model. Now it’s time to examine additional aspects that may influence it as well.

Other factors affecting the cost of a Node.js programmer

1. Skillset (both hard and soft skills)

We’ve already stated before that the Node.js developer’s category (junior, middle, senior) can affect the salary. However, the skillset is an important element that differs for each category. It comprises the number of technologies the developer knows and uses and the depth of their knowledge. Skillset is also not limited only to hard skills. It can also include the type of roles the developer can take in the team, such as mentor, supervisor, software architect, team lead, etc., or have already taken previously, level of curiosity and problem-solving, etc.

2. Certification

Most likely, Node.js developers who have acquired certification in certain IT areas or have completed additional to higher education courses will cost you more than the one with the very same number of years in the field.

3. The size of the company

This factor is relevant if you are considering hiring a Node.js developer from a software development company. Accordingly, the bigger the company, the higher the rate for the developer may be. It’s usually due to the fact that such a company may have more bureaucracy, specialists involved in the process of finding you the best-fit developer, rewards, a high position in the local market, etc.

With all those factors that influence the salary of the Node.js software engineer in mind, let’s move on to the most interesting part of our guide that always comes up when it comes to expenditures, namely, the ways to save up.

Tips to saving up to 50% of Node.js development costs

Time and materials model VS. fixed price

There are two popular pricing models that can help you save on Node.js development and avoid the possibility of going beyond budget limitations if the one is chosen wisely: fixed price and time & materials model. Let’s review each of them so that you can decide which one will be perfect for your situation.

Fixed price. Fixed price is a perfect pricing model for small and medium-sized projects that have clear requirements, a fixed deadline, and strict money limitations and for one-time tasks that don’t presuppose ongoing development. If you want to avoid unpredictable extra spending and an extended period of product development, this model will work great for you. This model is a rather popular way of cooperation with a software vendor, since it gives the feeling of security that all the resources will be allocated properly and the product will be delivered within the guaranteed by the vendor timeframe and budget.

In turn, this engagement model won’t help you save on Node.js development if you suppose that your requirements may change, you will have multiple minor adjustments, etc.

Time and materials. Unlike the fixed-price model, time & materials can provide you with a high level of flexibility in terms of adjustments and product enhancements. It’s more suitable for medium-sized and large projects without clear requirements.

The name says for itself — you pay for the hours the developers spent on implementing your product. This model allows you to save in a different compared to the fixed price model way. For instance, you have more control over the development processes; hence, you can monitor precisely resources allocation and control the time the developers spend on completing their tasks.

Node.js offshore development

Offshoring is one of the most efficient options when it comes to cost-saving. The most popular destinations that business owners choose to hire developers from are Eastern Europe (i.e., Poland, Ukraine), countries of Latin America (i.e., Argentina, Brazil) that are currently gaining popularity, India, and China.

The employment of Node.js developers from offshore countries can help you significantly save your budget since specialists in these markets are cheaper in comparison to the ones that are from the USA, the UK, Norway, etc., and the talent pool is very large due to rapid growth of IT market in those areas, so you will be able to choose those developers that satisfy you in terms of prices and quality.

How to profit the hourly rates without overtime and over budget

These are two major nightmares for all business owners: how to ensure that the developers don’t overwork to avoid extra expenditures. The challenges often occur if the pricing model is an hourly rate. The answer is simple — make sure you conduct the discovery stage and hire an experienced project manager. The first action will give you all the necessary answers regarding the number of team members you need, the scope of work that should be completed, the milestones of the project, and much more. With a clear image of your project and proper allocation of resources, you will be able to avoid missing the deadline and going over the budget.

In turn, the experienced project manager will keep track of all development-related processes, assign tasks according to their priority and urgency, ensure that the developers don’t overwork, and once again will monitor the allocation of resources.

How to hire Node.js developers at a reasonable hourly rate at Aimprosoft in 4 simple steps?

Before answering the question “how to hire Aimprosoft Node.js developers,” it would be fair enough to answer “why to choose Aimprosoft” first. Let’s leave all the big words behind and stick to good old numbers that are always more convincing:

• Our portfolio comprises more than 600 completed projects, and we cover 20+ domains.
• We have 50 Node.js developers, which gives you significant flexibility and scalability since you can scale up the development team if necessary. It also allows you to choose the specialist that meets your requirements precisely. Most of our Node.js specialists are senior-level developers.
• We’ve been 17+ years in the IT industry which makes us a reliable and experienced software vendor that knows all the pitfalls of digital product development and can help you avoid them.
• There are more than 350 specialists working at Aimprosoft. It means that apart from Node.js developers, you can assemble an entire development team that will consist of BA, PM, QA engineers, and DevOps specialists who will bring up the project from scratch and help you launch it successfully.

Step one: provide all your requirements

You turn to us with a clear request regarding the hiring of Node.js developers (or team in case you need to assemble a dedicated team of specialists) and a description of your project. The request is processed by our pre-sales team, which discusses all the gathered information, checks the availability of the developers, and offers the best-fit candidates for the review.

Step two: explore the developers’ CVs

This stage presupposes your review of our Node.js developers’ CVs. The CVs contain all the necessary information regarding the developers’ background, skillset, and portfolio with a short description of completed projects. The more details you provide on the previous stage, the more suitable developers we will be able to select.

Very often, business owners have two major fears at this stage: the fear that the chosen IT vendor won’t provide the right developer due to incorrect interpretation of the requirements, and the second one is the result of the described scenario, namely time loss. To dispel these fears, we recommend conducting a discovery stage which will help document all your requirements precisely, assemble the best-fit team for your project, and ensure proper resource allocation.

Step three: conduct an interview

The interview with the chosen candidates will allow you to evaluate both the hard and soft skills of the specialists, check their English proficiency, and determine whether you are comfortable working with them.

Step four: sign the contract with the vendor

At this final stage, we offer you to sign the contract where all conditions regarding our cooperation, including payment conditions, deadline, failure consequences, risks, project specification, and other aspects. If we agree on everything, we sign the contract. That’s it. Our Node.js developers can start breathing life into your project.

Conclusion

Node.js developers have been in very high demand for the past years. And no wonder, the technology allows you to create robust real-time web applications, ensures accelerated time-to-market, enables high performance and speed of the apps, and much more. Thus, your decision to hire these specialists is justified more than enough. However, you may struggle to find the right Node.js developers at a reasonable rate for a high quality of work. Luckily, we know how to help you out in this situation. Contact us, and our specialists will evaluate your request and find the best-fit Node.js software engineers for your project.

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