For 3 months we conducted a survey about digital professional’s career and remuneration, reaching several industries and different profiles of respondents.

The research reached 5 Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico).

We asked respondents about their personal and professional profile, demographic information, about the company they work for and about their aspirations for the future. In this article, we share some of the key findings with you.

Why we created this guide

This project was conceived with the objective of understanding the current working models and how the technology job market is evolving.

More than answering what shapes salary in the digital market, we wanted to understand how it relates to both employee’s journey and company’s culture.

We recognize the importance of stating what the market demands of candidates, and there’s no better way to do it than asking professionals of the digital industry how their actual experience is.

We hope you find the Salary Guide insightful to help you in your professional career. If you want to receive the full guide, register on our website.

Salaries: Key insights

We have analysed the results of our salary poll, checking what impacts the final remuneration and what are the trends for higher and lower salaries. Let’s dive into some key findings:

How location impacts salary?

Among the Brazilian respondents, most of them are living in Brazil. In a minor number, portuguese-speaking respondents are working in Chile, Peru, Colômbia and Central America.

Higher salaries are not necessarily related to more years of experience. While most respondents that earn until $3,000 have about 8 years of experience in their functions, the numbers show that respondents that make more than $5.500 count from 1 to 3 years of experience.

In general terms, higher salaries were less found than lower remunerations. In São Paulo, the most abundant remuneration rates are up to $3.500.

The higher salaries are mostly found in the big centers, like São Paulo and Santiago. In the lower salary rate, between $500 and $1.000, we can find several different cities, like São José dos Campos, Brasília and Florianópolis.

Are respondents satisfied with their salaries?

All respondents in the highest salary rate ($7.000+) answered 5 (Very Satisfied), the highest level of satisfaction.

Besides the higher levels of satisfaction are well distributed between 7 or more salary ranges, all respondents that answered 1 (Very Dissatisfied) earn up to $3.500. This information hints at a relation between low salaries and low satisfaction at work.

The dissatisfaction at work ends up taking candidates to look for another job. In overall terms, 47,1% of respondents are looking for a new job. But does salary impact that?

For people who earn up to $3.500, we notice an almost equal distribution between who is and who isn’t looking for a new job.

When we analyze the lowest salary range ($500 to $1.000) we see that 56% of them are looking for a new job, while only 25% of the highest salary rate ($7.000+) want to change jobs.

The impact of salary in people’s motivation to change jobs can be seen in this graphic. 23,4% of the respondents are motivated to change jobs to get a higher salary.

Does seniority matter?

Besides it’s not the only aspect that influences salary, seniority has a great impact in shaping it. We divided the salary ranges in 3 levels: $500 to $2.000, $2.000 to $5.000 and $5.000 to $7.000.

For the lowest salary range (up to $2.000), we can see Intern and Junior positions, the last one with 16,7% of respondents. But Senior and Middle positions stand out here, with 35,9% and 30,8%, respectively.

In the salary range between $2.000 and $5.000, leading positions are predominant, with 42,9% of Leads, 32,1% of Seniors and 19,6% for Heads positions. Juniors are a minority here.

Lastly, in the highest salary range ($5.000+), junior positions disappear. 40% of respondents in this category are Leads, 30% are Seniors and 10% are VPs.

Even though other factors influence the remuneration, it’s easy to see that experience in the function leads to more complex job roles and enhances salary.

Can a company’s maturity define salary?

Company’s maturity level does not exactly determine remuneration. We can notice the presence of varying salary rates in companies of all ages.

We notice the highest level of remuneration, $7.000+, only appears in companies with more than 15 years of experience. Meanwhile, the lower remuneration rate ($500 to $1.000) is present in companies with almost all levels of maturity.

We may be able to conclude that the best place to develop your career and grow your salary through promotions is in very mature companies, with more than 15 years in the market.

However, even in the newest companies, we can find high salaries in the average rate. As years go by, you can develop yourself professionally and grow at the company’s pace.

Download the Digital Salary Guide

Curious to find out more about the latin american digital profiles? Download now the Digital Salary Guide for free!

Opportunities for talents to access better jobs

With the Salary Guide in hand, talents have a great way to understand what are the aspects that most influence their remuneration, allowing them to make a better decision when moving to a new job or accepting promotions.

We also strive to help digital talents to understand how they can improve their careers by developing competitive advantages that will lead them to stand out of the crowd and be more aware of their professional profiles.
We have several open opportunities for digital talents to reach excellent professional positions in great companies of all sectors. You can check them here.

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