Have software development salaries increased in Christchurch?

It’s been a crazy past year with Covid causing major economic changes. I feel very grateful for being in New Zealand and in the technology industry.

The first couple of weeks of lockdown in Christchurch were extremely scary but we soon realised that IT just keeps going, we helped some businesses find contractors to help set up WFH, found some developers to help build Covid apps and after a few delays on some major development projects they just kept trucking. I guess the realisation hit home that the whole world is now being run on software and the technology industry never really stops, just sometimes pauses for a breath.

I spoke to a CEO of a software company and they commented that there’s never been so much reliance for businesses on SaaS products. I guess it’s like Xero or the Google Suite for our business Sunstone, we’re not suddenly going to drop these core applications that we depend on to run our business every day.

And life went on…we still needed pants to wear…albeit a lot more ‘active wear’ than suits or formal business attire these days, food for us, the kids & dog (or cat) and so on.

What we’re seeing is Covid has done is sped up digital transformations by about 10 years creating ‘the new normal’ that we all now speak of.

Work cultures in software houses have always been a little more flexible than other companies but the feedback I’m getting is that it really is ‘the mix’ of WFH and time spent in the office. Companies are adopting a standard 2 or 3 days working from home and 2 or 3 days in the office to connect with colleagues. Even hardcore introverts have told me they’ve missed their colleagues, the brain-storming and ease to throw ideas at each other, yes ‘the water cooler’ conversations that don’t warrant a call or email, yes we have ‘chat’ you say but is it the same? Is it as nice? NO. Human connection is something we all crave deep down inside…even if it’s just a little less than it was.

So how has Covid & ‘the new normal’ affected salaries in Christchurch & the South Island?

Two major things have happened in New Zealand firstly: the borders have been shut to non-NZ visa holders. At Sunstone we would normally place a number of overseas workers needing a visa so this is now zero.

Secondly WFH or remote working has increased. In the software industry it’s nothing new with people being able to work for overseas companies for years from NZ (as long as you pay your tax here) and I’d often see candidates returning from the UK or where ever & continuing to work on a development project from home in NZ maybe working 4pm - 12pm hours or whatever their arrangement was, and in some cases there’s people who have never left companies and have been full-time remote for years.

However with Covid,  companies have realised they have their development team WFH locally so why not hire another person that’s in another country – what difference does it really make? Or if they’re struggling to hire in the US why not resource it in NZ and pay someone over market rate here for the same budget in the US? You might have seen a blog I wrote on WFH before Covid struck and one key thing highlighted was being in the same timezone for stand-up meetings etc is easier for the team instead of waiting for Bob to wake up in Bolivia or some other similar scenario.

So how has this affected salaries? What it’s meant is that candidates have more choice as companies broaden their options regionally & globally and with everything online & the world being run on software skills are in very high demand again.

We’ve been working with south island companies that have been happy to consider WFH candidates across New Zealand to broaden their talent pool and this has worked very effectively.

We’ve seen many global companies hiring Kiwis at higher salaries as they’re being paid at US or European market rates. The feedback we are getting however is that candidates do like a mix of WFH & office (of course this depends on your personal situation) with many being quite happy coding away merrily at home on a large US salary. It all comes down to trust, this is nothing new for overseas companies hiring our good talent. Often overseas companies would fly people for interviews and once secured fly them over for team building events once or twice a year. But it does come down to getting on with your team and if this is manageable then power to you.

The advantage Christchurch companies have is that people want to work in an office together – human connection is important…

Often people have returned from an OE from the UK etc and would love to be in an office where they can meet people, a lot of our good friends, partners, wives & husbands over the years were met at work so it is very valued.

If you’re a software manager or team leader it’s easier to manage people in person too – being able to see body language, help out when someone’s struggling on a problem and be able to build stronger relationships by hanging out. This is the advantage for local Christchurch & South island companies to be able to retain good talent is to have a flexible work environment that offers both office & WFH.

So in conclusion we’ve seen more demand for software development skills & experience thus salaries have increased with the market now red hot.

I’m happy to give you these market insights if you’re planning your budget for the new financial year or you might be re-defining your personal ambitions or salary goals as you look to buy that new house or look into the future of where you want to be.

Feel free to get in touch with me about current salary market rates email me here paul@sunstonetalent.com

As always I’d be interested to hear your comments? And what you’re seeing out there in the market.

I'm Paul, I love coffee, dogs (and cats) & biking. Founder & Principal Consultant of Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting software development & IT roles including, web, digital, mobile, data, cloud, security & networks in Christchurch & South Island of New Zealand.