Freelancehunt conducted its own survey among freelance developers to find out how the war affected their work, income, number of projects, competition, etc.
The profession of a developer definitely remains “male”, because only 10% of the surveyed specialists are girls. By the way, last year this figure was even less – 7%. The specialty is chosen mainly by the younger generation: 27.69% of freelancers aged 18 to 23 and 25.85% – from 24 to 29. It is interesting that there are developers 48+ (4.92%), which means that we can safely say that that all ages are submissive to programming.
There are some minor changes in my personal life. Last year, there were 31.64% of programmers who are married, this year – 43.08%. The number of those who are currently in a relationship has also increased: from 19.03% to 28.31%. 28.62% remain free. 35.8% of specialists have children.
42.77% of programmers have one higher education, 8.62% – several, 1.85% – a scientific degree. There are also students – 16.31%. It is interesting that among students 58% are Junior-specialists, but there is also a considerable part of Middle-programmers – 40%. Most developers know English at the Pre-Intermediate level (37%) and only 2% speak English at the Advanced level.
Kittens rule, if not the world, then Ukrainian developers for sure. Among the specialists surveyed, 56% have a pet — a cat. Programmers also write legendary codes in the company of dogs, hamsters, fish and parrots.
Most freelance programmers at the Middle level – 43% of them, Junior – 37% and Senior – 20%. At the same time, 56% of Junior specialists work up to 20 hours a week, 22% – from 20 to 30, and up to 1% prefer to work 50-60 hours. For Middle programmers, the situation looks somewhat different: 38% work up to 20 hours; 23% – 20-30 hours; 16% – up to 40 hours; 9% – more than 60 hours; 8% – up to 50 hours; 6% – up to 6 hours. 27% of Senior developers freelance up to 20 hours a week, and 25% work up to 30-40 hours. It is among the seniors that the largest percentage of those who work more than 60 hours a week, and among the Juniors – those who work up to 20 hours.
Developers still prefer independent work and use all the privileges of freelance. Only 12% choose a team of 2-4 employees, and 4% of the interviewed specialists indicated that they work in a team of 5-10 and 11+ employees. 25.62% choose freelancing as a side job. For 21.91%, this is the main employment, and they do not want to look for a permanent job in the near future. If there is a possibility of remote collaboration, then 24.07% would consider full-time work. 16.05%% would agree to leave freelancing, provided that the level of income would be no less. 6.48% already have a permanent job and do not freelance, while 5.86% would change freelance to full-time for other reasons.
Among the specialists surveyed, almost 65% earn up to $500 freelancing. Half of them are Junior programmers. Middle developers receive from $500 to $2000. Senior-specialists earn mostly from $3000. For 55.5% of developers surveyed, freelancing is not their main source of income. With the beginning of the war, 60% of the income fell, 29% – remained the same, 11% – increased. Earnings have become higher mainly for programmers with a specialization in Web programming.
The most popular direction among developers turned out to be “Web programming” – it is chosen by 43% of freelancers. Also in demand: PHP – 13.98%, JavaScript – 9.94% and Python – 5.9%. Among the additional directions most often indicated: JavaScript – 24.24%, Web programming – 15.91%, PHP – 10.98%, Databases – 6.82%, Python – 6.06% and C # – 5, 3%.
HTML/CSS became the most popular programming language — 28.26% of developers work with it. Also, specialists choose: PHP – 24.22%, JavaScript – 16.46%, Python – 9.63%, C # – 7.45%. Junior-specialists prefer HTML/CSS, Middle-specialists equally choose HTML/CSS and PHP, while Senior-specialists prefer PHP. JavaScript is chosen mainly by Junior developers – 49.09%, Middle – 41.82% and only 9.09% Senior.
According to the results of the survey, freelance programmers most often develop: websites — 48.39%; software – 21.63%; mobile apps — 13.09%; chatbots — 8.54%; utilities – 8.35%. Recall that freelancing is an opportunity to solve any problem, even if it requires a highly specialized specialist.
During the war, the average developer, according to the survey, began to work less – 57.5% of the number of projects fell. This is a normal situation, since for some time the entire market and all spheres froze. 65.8% of programmers decided to stay in Ukraine, 24.6% were forced to become internally displaced persons, and 9.5% left the country. At the same time, 68.5% plan to return to Ukraine. Almost all developers, and this is 81%, continue to work in their specialization. 18.7% of freelancers had to change it: 7.08% – due to an insufficient number of projects, 11.69% – due to a drop in demand for services. For 51% of specialists, the rates remained the same, 21% now take less money for work, and 27.6%, on the contrary, more.
Many note that now among soft-skills the skill to sell one’s services, experiment and not be afraid to try something new has become in demand. Almost half of the developers say that the level of competition has not changed, the other half – that, on the contrary, it has become higher. Freelance programmers do not forget about helping their native country – they donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, help refugees, IT-armies. Some became volunteers or went to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Novosibirsk State University, Troops and Volunteer Units. There are developers who decided to teach for free, thereby helping others to get a new profession.
Freelancing during the war, customers from all over the world continue to use the services of programmers. Some interesting projects that were closed with the help of Freelancehunt: website development for PPI affiliate program — cost 135,000 UAH; development of an online store linked to a telegram bot and instagram — the cost is 40,000 UAH; Jamstack website development — cost UAH 66,000.
As you can see, customers continue to invest in programming, while freelancers are ready to offer the most favorable conditions. For entrepreneurs and businesses in Ukraine, this is an opportunity to order the development of new web resources or changes to existing sites, applications at an affordable price, without hiring a staff member, but working with him on a project basis.
Source: freelancehunt
