How much do experienced IT employees earn?

Reports show that the Vietnamese brain drain is affecting employers and businesses.

A Vietnamworks report on wages and allowances for workers in the information technology (IT) sector shows that workers with two years of experience can receive up to $1,160 a month, or VND26 million.

Meanwhile, managerial officers and directors in the field in Vietnam can receive up to $1,840 and $2,929 a month, respectively (VND41 million and VND66 million).

New school graduates receive less, about $800, or VND18 million. The salary is much lower than experienced workers in the field, but is much higher than new school graduates in other business fields.

The report pointed out that Vietnam is one of the ideal countries for software outsourcing. Fifteen years ago, the IT industry was dominated by big outsourcing enterprises. However, more and more product software development firms have opened.

The highest demand is for the workers with two years of experience or more in software development.

When asked about current salaries, more than 50 percent of polled workers said the salaries are acceptable, while 12 percent were satisfied and 32 percent unsatisfied.

However, the good news is that 81 percent of IT firms said they plan to increase salaries for workers in 2017 by 6-20 percent. This is because businesses can see positive business performance for the year, and plan to set higher requirements for their staff.

The number of jobs in IT industry is now higher than ever and it is going to increase in upcoming years. The number of jobs has increased by two folds in the last three years. Vietnam now has 250,000 IT engineers, but it will need 400,000 engineers by the end of 2018.

Topdev.vn, a website that supports recruitment of software programmers, said a bridge engineer, trained domestically to work for overseas projects in 2016, could receive VND100 million on average, while a chief technology officer could get VND120 million.

The report showed that 30 percent of programmers are in Hanoi and 65 percent in HCMC, while only 5 percent are in Da Nang and other localities. Most programmers are 25-29 years old.

In 2015, FPT Software, the largest Vietnamese software firm, paid VND60 million a month to hundreds of bridge engineers working on site in Japan.

Meanwhile, Navigos Search, in its report, warned about a brain drain in the fields of IT and accountancy in the context of the ASEAN Economic Community which has created job opportunities in Southeast Asia.

Many IT engineers with good professional knowledge, fluent English and management skills have left for Singapore and Malaysia.

Nguyen Phuong Mai, managing director of Navigos Search, said she sometimes cannot find suitable candidates for clients because potential candidates wanted by clients had left for Singapore.
related news

    VN software giant signs deal with Slovak IT firm

    VINASA ready to choose top 50 leading IT firms

Mai Nam