$

Learn More To Earn More

App Development
Salary & Skills Report
www.packtpub.com/skillup

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

What you need to know to earn more in Application Development

The most comprehensive global IT salary and skills survey ever.

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

Learn More To Earn More

Contents
What is Skill Up? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What are people building?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Which industries have the most experienced developers?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Where should you get your first job in app development?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What industry should you get into?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What sort of company should you work for?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
What job pays best in each industry?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
What technology are desktop developers using?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
What technology are mobile developers using? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
What technology are game developers using?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
What does the future look like?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
What are you using in the next six months?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Whats the biggest emerging trend in your field?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Hot Topic Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Do you think reactive programming is a paradigm shift, or just a fad? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
With the advent of Rust and Go, do you see a future for established programming languages such as Java and C++? . . . . . . . . 20
Do you plan on using Swift in production over the next 6 months?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Do you plan on generating content for the iWatch or Android wearable devices over the next 6 - 12 months?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Are you more likely to develop applications and games using cross-platform tools, or using native methods?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Now that .NET is an Open Source framework, are you more likely to use it in the future?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Whats Next?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

For companies and people all over the world,

application development has evolved and

What is Skill Up?

continues to do so. How you do you keep up

With our Skill Up survey we wanted to look

with current trends and ensure you have the

at the tech community as a whole to identify

latest skills to forge ahead in your career?

upcoming trends over the next few years and

share what you can do to ensure you get the

ll

Are desktop skills still required?

ll

Which is the most popular platform for

our survey into 4 segments, Web Development

application development?

& Design, Application Development, Security

Is functional programming the way of

& System Administration, and Data Science &

the future?

Business Intelligence, making this one of the

ll

ll

Which is the essential software choice

for professional game development?

The need to answer these questions led us to

look at the community as a whole, and so we
decided to launch our Skill Up campaign.

most out of your career and skills. We divided

most comprehensive surveys in recent years.

Specifically we asked:
ll

What skills lead to a higher salary?

ll

What skills/technologies are most

highly valued by different industries?

ll

What cutting edge technologies are

really worth you spending your
time learning?

To get a better idea of the communitys

thoughts we asked you all to fill in our survey,
the results of which you can find compiled
here in this report, giving you the facts, the
figures, and more importantly the knowledge
and skills you need to make the best career
decisions.
Lets look at the results in more detail.

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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What are people building?

The majority of application developers are building applications for desktop so this is still super
important in the age of mobile! After desktop developers, most application developers are either
involved in mobile development or game development.

Type of developer
1000

800

600

400

200

0
Desktop Developer

Mobile Developer

Game Developer

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

Which industries have the most experienced developers?

ll

ll

The Media and Entertainment sector

Our survey shows that many industries

has the highest proportion of less-

are mostly composed of developers with

experienced developers.

over ten years experience. Finance has

The Finance sector is dominated by

highly-experience developers with
many years of experience.

the most old-hands, with almost 80% of

finance developers having over a decade of
experience. At the other end of the scale,
the

Media/Advertising/Entertainment

and

If youre new to the world of application

Game Development industries were filled by

development and taking your first steps in the

less experienced individuals. Almost 25% of

industry whats the best place to start looking

respondents in these sectors had less than 3

in order to get your first job?

years development experience.

100%

80%

Industry by Experience
More than
20 years

Less than
1 year

5-10 years
60%
3-5 years
40%
10-20 years

20%

1-3 years

0%

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APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Where should you get your first job in app development?

The Government sector affords the best

Enterprise and SME-level companies pay the

salaries to less experienced developers,

best to less-experienced developers, over

though it is very competitive with only a few

Start Ups. Mobile developers working in the

jobs available for those with less experience.

Entertainment industry can earn high salaries.

What industry should you get into?

If youre getting started in the industry and want a decent first salary, the best place to look is in the
Government sector.

$70,000

Less Than 1 Year Experience

$60,000
$50,000
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
$0

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If you manage to bag a government job, you

three years experience. If you dont fancy all

wont regret it! That said, competition for

that competition, why not look to the Financial

positions is fierce with only 5% of developers

sector or developing for Science; both offer a

in the Government sector having less than

great starting salary.

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

What sort of company should you work for?

Now you have your industry in mind, what kind of company should you start applying to join?

$60,000

Less Than 1 Year Experience

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

$0
Enterprise

SME

Self employed

Start-up

Enterprise and Small-to-Medium Enterprises

Enterprise is great for personal development

pay by far the best salaries to developers with

and salary, but SMEs are the ultimate

less than a years experience. Working for a

combination of good salaries for inexperienced

Start-Up may be enticing and will certainly

staff,

offer lots of personal freedom, but is it worth

professionally. Looks like the best first job is

it financially?

with an SME!

with

freedom

afforded

to

grow

What job pays best in each industry?

ll

ll

Mobile Developers in the

ll

Embedded Applications are quite

Entertainment industry can be very

specialist, and thus fetch quite a high

high earners.

salary.

Financial Developers score highly

across the board.

ll

Game Development salaries still

dont offer parity with other forms of
application development.

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Average Salary
Education/
Academic/
research

Enterprise Developer
Embedded App Developer
Game Developer
Teacher
Desktop Developer

FINANCE/
BANKING

Mobile Developer

Media/
Advertising/
Entertainment
& Gaming

Health/
Biotech/
Science

GOVERNMENT

Enterprise Developer
Desktop Developer
Mobile Developer
Enterprise Developer
Desktop Developer
Enterprise Developer
Embedded App Developer
Desktop Developer
Mobile Developer
Enterprise Developer
Mobile Developer
Embedded App Developer
Desktop Developer
Game Developer

Software
Products

Enterprise Developer
Embedded App Developer
Mobile Developer
Desktop Developer

WEB Services/
TelecomS
Internet

Game Developer
Enterprise Developer
Embedded App Developer
Desktop Developer
Enterprise Developer
Desktop Developer
Embedded App Developer
Mobile Developer
Game Developer

$30,000

$42,000

$54,000

$66,000

$78,000

$90,000

Its probably unsurprising that game development

skills you need with this great learning

doesnt pay that well; people in this industry do it

bundle?

for love, not money!

ll

Games

If youre looking to create something exciting and

fun, but dont want to sacrifice too much potential
salary then why not consider getting involved
with Entertainment application development,
which offers one of the highest salaries for its

ll

for Android, the most popular of the mobile

platforms, then why not develop the essential

Android Game Programming by

Example

ll

Creating Dynamic UI with Android

Fragments

speciality.
If you want to develop mobile applications

Learning Java by Building Android

ll

Android Studio Essentials

ll

Android NDK Beginners Guide

Second Edition

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

What technology are desktop developers using?

ll

JavaScript is third most popular

language for desktop developers,
beating Java.

ll

We see the usual suspects in C, C++

and Java, with 91% of respondents still
seeing a future in these languages.

Desktop Developers
sql
c#
javascript
java
c++
python
windows
php
.net
wpf
linux
html

The rise of JavaScript is very

css

interesting. Developing for Desktop

android

in 2015 places plenty of emphasis on

mysql

building web applications and web

based technologies.

oracle
visual studio
git

10

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Creating tools for the browser is the future,

ll

Getting Started with Meteor.js

so now is the time to get to grips with

JavaScript Framework - Second

JavaScript for application development:

Edition

ll

Node.js Blueprints

ll

NW.js Essentials

ll

Object Oriented JavaScript - Second

Edition

ll

Mastering GIT [Video]

Lets dig deeper into this data and see what technologies those earning the most are using. Weve
put all our word responses into a tag cloud, with frequency weighted by salary.

The rise of JavaScript is very interesting.

of choice for professional desktop developers,

Developing for Desktop in 2015 places plenty

but there is also a huge diversity of technology

of emphasis on building web applications and

and languages alongside it.

web based technologies. C is still the language

11

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

What technology are mobile developers using?

ll

ll

ll

Android stands out by a clear mile,

The appearance of web technologies

with almost double the number of

like JavaScript and HTML suggest

developers using it instead of iOS.

growing investment in the skills for

cross-platform mobile development.

Swift is quickly climbing the rankings,

the fifth most popular language for
mobile development, just a year after
its announcement.

Mobile Developers
android
java
javascript
c
c#
html
ios
css
swift
c++
unix
mac
python
php
sql
html5
unity
xcode

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

In the land of mobile development, Androids rule is absolute. Almost twice as many developers say
that they build for Android than those who build for iOS.

12

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Lets look at this data further and see what technologies those who are earning the most are using.
Weve put all our word responses into a tag cloud, with frequency weighted by salary.

Again, Android and Java are weighted far

AngularJS, JavaScript and HTML suggesting

above iOS and Swift, which gives us insight into

that cross-platform knowledge is important.

the shape of the mobile market.

Xamarin also features as a lucrative skill,

allowing C and .NET developers to push their

Theres a big use of web technologies such as

language knowledge cross-platform.

13

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

What technology are game developers using?

ll

From the data its clear that if you want

ll

For a third time, we see web-based

to make any serious money in game

tools appear as valuable skills;

development, you need to learn Unity

deployment to the web is a great way

and Unity-related tech such as C#.

to publicize your game to the world!

Game Developers
c#
unity
c++
java
photoshop
javascript
3d
unity3d
python
c
html
maya
blender
css
html5
design
android
adobe
visual studio

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

C# and C++ are the big languages for game development and no wonder. Knowing C++ is essential
for building the nuts and bolts of a game, from audio programming to networking.

14

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Lets drill down and see what technologies people earning the most are using. Weve put all our
word responses into a tag cloud, with frequency weighted by salary.

Thats pretty clear! Unity is the standout

ll

Development by Example

need-to-know tool for professional game

development, dwarfing its biggest rival,
Unreal Engine. With its new tech for 2D game
development, Unity is a double threat and

Learning Unity 2D Game

ll

Mastering Unity 2D game

development

looks like a mandatory skill for anyone who is

After Unity, we see a great variety of smaller

serious about making games.

tools, from graphic creation software such

ll

Getting Started with Unity 5

ll

Unity Game Development Blueprints

ll

Unity 3D UI Essentials

as Photoshop and Blender, to interesting

occurrences such as OpenCV. Does the rise of
AR applications mean that computer vision is a
skill to learn?

15

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

What does the future look like?

ll

Functional Programming is the single

ll

Big data and data science are breaking

biggest area that our respondents

into the field, with big data being

are planning to use over the next six

heralded as the future.

months.

What are you using in the next six months?

We asked developers what technology they were planning on using in the next six months. All the
responses were placed in the tag cloud below.

16

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Functional

the

Scala is also looking very popular, tied in to the

reactive

interest in functional programming. The top

programming following quickly behind it). If

scoring language, Scala, looks to be next to

you want to stay on top of your game, learning

take programming by storm.

technology

programming
of

tomorrow

looks
(with

like

functional programming might soon become a

necessity!

Plenty of terms for mobile development

feature too - iOS, Android, Objective C, Swift

ll

Clojure Reactive Programming

ll

Functional Python Programming

ll

Functional Programming in

Alongside mobile development, we can see

JavaScript

evidence of application developers looking to

Learning Reactive Programming

expand their skillset into data science, as terms

with Java 8

such as deep learning and data science come

ll

ll

Clojure Reactive Programming

- suggesting that application developers are

dipping their toes into mobile!

to the fore.

17

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

Whats the biggest emerging trend in your field?

ll

Big data is the paradigm everyone still

ll

has on their mind.

Alongside functional programming

we can see the rise of reactive
programming.

ll

Cloud computing is maturing

and coming of age in application
development.

ll

We can soon expect our net-connected

kettle the Internet of Things is on the
rise!

18

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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This map shows a very cohesive picture of

where the world of technology stands right
now. Lets take a closer look at some of the
break out trends:
ll

Big data continues to be the new

paradigm that everyone is thinking
about. Data is an incredibly powerful
tool. If used correctly, you can
generate real time insights on a
macroscopic and microscopic level.
The entire world is awash with data,
and this trend is only going to continue
as more and more devices become
connected.

ll

The Internet of Things is the vehicle

that is going to be connecting those
devices, allowing data to flow from
every corner of the world. The vast
tidal wave of new information that
this is going to produce is the next big
challenge facing the tech world.

ll

Reactive Programming is one of the

new ways that application developers
are equipping themselves to deal
with the mountains of data the
future promises. Its no wonder to
see reactive programming alongside
functional programming as one of
the Next Big Things for creating
applications.

ll

Cloud Computing is maturing as a

technology, with more powerful and
stable platforms.

19

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

Hot Topic Analysis

Do you think reactive programming is a paradigm shift, or just a fad?

Fad

Paradigm
shift

Overwhelmingly, real-world developers think that reactive programming is going to change the way
that we think about data flows. This really is the Next Big Thing for programming.

With the advent of Rust and Go, do you see a future for established
programming languages such as Java and C++?

No

Yes

None of the respondents seem to think that

evolution too. Whos to say what the response

Java and C++ are going to disappear overnight

will be once Rust and Go have really started to

and why should they? Disruption doesnt

get a hold in the industry?

always mean revolution; sometimes it can be

20

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Do you plan on using Swift in production over the next 6 months?

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

ed
p

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ve

De

pe

pe

lo

lo

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pe

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Yes

No

Amazingly, over 60% of mobile developers, and

among desktop developers, perhaps building

over a third of game developers are planning

for OSX, or perhaps interested in seeing what

on taking up Swift, so you probably should too!

Swift can do, now that Apple have declared it

In other spheres we see a 20% planned pick-up

Open Source.

Do you plan on generating content for the iWatch or Android wearable

devices over the next 6 - 12 months?
Amazingly, our mobile developers were split

who has something in mind for the iWatch or

exactly 50/50 on whether they were going

an Android wearable. This is virgin territory for

to build for wearables. Whilst that might not

developers, with lots of great opportunities on

sound impressive at first, think about it this

offer to break ground with the Next Big Thing.

way, thats one in two mobile app developers

21

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

Are you more likely to develop applications and games using crossplatform tools, or using native methods?

100%

Native methods
80%

Cross-platform tools
60%

40%

20%

0%
Mobile Developer

Game Developer

Mobile developers are split down the middle

phone contacts, your camera, and more. These

on native versus cross-platform tools, whereas

kinds of tasks are best achieved through native

game developers have a clear preference

development. In contrast, the type of input

for creating their products cross-platform.

required for mobile games is usually pretty

There are many potential reasons for this,

minimal, often not much more than touch

though perhaps the most likely reason is the

functionality. When you dont need to dig into

different aspects of mobile functionality that

the meaty parts of a system, the advantages

the different developers will need to access.

of cross-platform development just get better!

Application developers may need to link your

22

APP DEVELOPMENT Salary & Skills Report

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Now that .NET is an Open Source framework, are you more likely to use it
in the future?
100%
Yes
80%

No

60%

40%

20%

0%

dd
ed
p

ve

De

pe

lo

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Ap

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lo

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In general, the answer is Yes. People are more prepared to give .NET a shot now that its gone OS!

Whats Next?
ll

Getting to grips with web

Professional Game Developers need

technologies, particularly JavaScript

to know Unity if they want to make

is becoming essential for all aspects

serious money from their passion. With

of application development, whether

the new Unity 5 just having arrived,

desktop, mobile, or creating games.

theres never been a better time to get

Why not grab our specialist JavaScript

started with the worlds premier game

bundle formulated specially for app

engine.

developers?
ll

ll

ll

Android rules the world of mobile.

If you want to stay current, you need

Its got the masses and the money

to get to grips with functional and

developing for it today. Learning how

reactive approaches to programming.

to develop for Android, its a valuable

If youre looking to get into these

skill, even if youre not directly involved

two exciting new areas, our Reactive

in mobile development, so why not get

Functional Programming bundle is a

to grips with our starter bundle?

great place to start.

23

Helping IT professionals to put

software to work in new ways
Founded in 2004 in Birmingham, UK, Packts

they need to get the job done whether thats

mission is to help the world put software to

specific learning on an emerging technology or

work in new ways, through the delivery of

optimizing key skills in more established tools.

effective learning and information services to

As part of our mission, we have also awarded

IT professionals.

over $1,000,000 through our Open Source

Working towards that vision, we have published

Project Royalty scheme, helping numerous

over 3000 books and videos so far, providing IT

projects become household names along

professionals with the actionable knowledge

the way.

Data Analyst

Editor

Design

Greg Roberts

Sam Wood

Chris Murray

Project Manager

Technical Advisor

Sarah Cullington

Ed Gordon

www.packtpub.com

Tel: +44 (0)121 265 6484

Published 2015