Data scientists see largest pay growth in tech: Report

Their salaries here surged 11.3% in 2023, while software engineers’ pay dipped 0.99%

- Krist Boo

Software engineers have long been among the most highly paid tech professionals, but in Singapore, they are being overtaken by those working in artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber security.

The pay of software engineers dipped 0.99 per cent in 2023 compared with an 11.3 per cent surge for data scientists and an 8.24 per cent rise for cyber-security engineers, noted tech talent platform NodeFlair.

A chill in the metaverse world, a crypto winter and tech firms cutting hires enrolled during the Covid-19 pandemic have cast a cold spell over the tech sector, worsened by a drought in start-up funding in South-east Asia.

The implosion of crypto exchanges FTX and Binance, for instance, sent salaries for blockchain engineers tumbling 5.41 per cent in 2023, the firm said in its annual Asia Tech Salary Report released on April 8.

"In contrast to the preceding two years, during which technology salaries experienced substantial growth, there is now an overall decrease in salaries for various tech positions," the firm wrote.

But it did note that salaries are still higher compared with 2021.

Software engineers - front-end, back-end and full-stack engineers in NodeFlair's count - brought home median base salaries of $5,000 a month as juniors in 2023 and $11,000 as managers here.

Those salaries suggest that they make more than their peers in other industries.

A survey out in February noted that local graduates in the information and digital technology fields made the highest gross monthly pay at $5,500, although that was down from $5,625 in 2022.