Highest-paying programming languages in South Africa

Software developers using niche programming languages, such as Go and Ruby, are more likely to earn higher salaries throughout their careers than those using other languages.

This is according to OfferZen’s 2025 Developer Nation report, which is based on the survey responses from over 3,000 developers across South Africa.

The programming languages included in the survey were C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, PHP, Python, Ruby, SQL, and TypeScript.

Of these languages, Go was the most consistently high-paying language across all levels of experience.

The language used by companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and PayPal was designed by Google in 2007 and was publicly announced in 2009.

While the average compensation for Go developers with less than two years of experience was R24,000 per month, those who have been in the field for over a decade earn roughly R130,000 monthly.

It is important to note that the report did not indicate the percentage of respondents who use each language, which could have impacted the average compensation figures.

The report points to the top three highest-paying languages as particularly niche among South African developers, meaning the average salaries could be distorted.

Another niche language that remained in the top three highest-paying languages across all levels of experience was Ruby. 

The language’s creator, Yukihiro Matsumoto, who developed it in 1995, described Ruby as “simple in appearance, but very complex inside, just like our human body,” often saying he is “trying to make the language natural, not simple.”

It is the top-paying language for developers with less than two years of experience, with an average monthly salary of R28,000. 

Ruby developers working for four to six years are also the highest paid in their experience bracket, and those with over a decade of experience are paid an average of R120,000 per month.

While it is the lowest-paying language for those starting in the workforce, Kotlin begins to reward developers with more experience, eventually becoming the third-highest paying language for developers with over a decade of experience.

Kotlin is a cross-platform programming language designed to fully interoperate with Java. In 2019, Google announced it as its preferred language for Android app development.

Those with less than two years of Kotlin experience can earn roughly R16,000 per month when using the language. However, this can eventually reach R110,000 with a decade of experience.

Other notable languages include Java, Python, and TypeScript, the highest-paying languages outside the niche top three.

Software developers with more than ten years of experience using Java, Python, or TypeScript can earn an average monthly income of R100,000, R99,000, and R98,000, respectively.

The graph below shows the average salaries according to the level of experience of the developer using the language. TypeScript is in red.

Salary by city

The report also included the average salaries earned by developers in South Africa’s top cities, with Cape Town leading the pack across most experience levels.

Developers with less than two years of experience working in Cape Town and Durban earn an average monthly salary of R29,000 and R27,000, respectively. 

This was followed by developers in Pretoria and Johannesburg earning an average salary of R24,000 per month.

Developers with four to six years of experience earn the most working in Pretoria, an average of R54,000 per month. They are followed by developers based in Cape Town, Joburg, and Durban.

The report lists Cape Town as the city with the highest monthly compensation for those with over a decade of experience, at an average of R100,000.

Pretoria and Joburg follow at an average of R95,000 and R94,000 per month, respectively. Developers in Durban with the same experience level earn an average of R88,000 per month.

The report also surveyed respondents on whether they received salary increases, and if so, by how much.

Around 22% of the respondents said they had not received a salary increase. 1.3% noted a reduction, while 20.5% said it was too early to obtain one.

The most common increase for developers was between 1% and 5%, comprising nearly a third of developers who responded to the survey.

An increase of between 6% and 10% was also common, experienced by 29% of the cohort. Salary raises above 11% were slightly less common, with just over 11% receiving an increase of between 11 and 20%.

Only 5.8% had their salary increased by more than 20%.