By Sam Ancer
For prospective employers, Cape Town has some of the world’s most prestigious universities right on its doorstep, with the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch ranking in the top global universities for Computer Science and IT.
Remote work remains one of the most meaningful points of contention when it comes to employment, particularly in the coding community.
If you are looking for coding talent, it makes sense to find people where the exchange rate is favourable.
The same goes for if you’re working remotely, it makes sense to extend your dollar/euro/pound by living somewhere that’s not only cheaper, but also has a better quality of life than almost anywhere around the world.
One concern that you might have is around timezones. If you’re a European or British based worker/business then you don’t need to worry all that much.
South Africa operates on a GMT+2 time zone, so there’s at most a one to two hour time difference between Cape Town and a European based business.
If you want exact numbers, the average salary for a junior developer in South Africa is around $21 000 per year whereas the average salary for a junior developer in the United Kingdom is around $45 000.
You could hire two junior developers in South Africa to do the job of one in the UK and still save a bit of money.
As it stands South Africa has around 133 000 developers currently in the job market, but around a fourth of those are looking to change careers within the next few months, mostly focused around work/life balance, so there’s an untapped market of around 33 000 developers available for an opportunistic company.
But if you’re a foreign developer, why should you consider living and working in Cape Town?
Well, as we’ve said, cost of living is way cheaper, but let’s put that into numbers. If you’re looking for a three bedroom house with a beach view you can expect to pay around $800 000 for a 492 square metre house (5295.84 square feet) in one of the best neighbourhoods in Cape Town.
A house in London around the same size would cost you about $32 million.
Outside of numbers, there are plenty of benefits to living in Cape Town over a European city.
- Firstly the environment. There aren’t many places where you can enjoy a hike up one of the natural wonders of the world, and then enjoy sundowners on the beach.
- If you’re worried about having to meet new people, then we have good news for you. South Africa has been rated in the top 3 friendliest places for immigrants to live.
- You also have every convenience of 1st world living available to you, with great internet activity, awesome delivery services, safe and reliable public transport with Myciti buses, and anything and everything else you might come to expect from living in a modern, functional city.
So in summary, for both developers and employers, Cape Town has tons to offer. If you’re an employer you’ll have access to a cheaper market, with little to no drawbacks, particularly with a remote focused office. If you’re a developer, you get to make the most of your money while living in one of the best cities in the world.
If you’re an employer, please feel free to get in touch with us, as we have thousands of quality developers in our portfolio and would be more than happy to help you find the ideal developer to suit your needs.
If you’re a developer, also reach out, we can help you find that new career opportunity to make your new life in Cape Town all the better.
